Specialty macarons

I offered for my friend's birthday/going away to make some macs.

Honestly, it's a skill check to make sure I haven't lost the touch.

Here, for instance, I can stand to do better at the batter and the piping.

That said, they pied beautifully here...

... no complaint here...

... or here.

Going back to the piping thing... here's why.  When they're not flat, as they're supposed to, when you put the cookie together, it makes it difficult to 'lay down', and became a rolly polly.

This is even worse... it pied too high.

So, the final flavors are: Thai Tea (brown), Panda (Green), and Durian (yellow).

There's a sheen to them because they're thawing and the humidity is really not a mac's friend.

For the filling, I was debating what would work, and decided to go with a buttercream.  Thinking was that if we use the buttercream for cupcake frosting, it should hold the filling fine.  Not as good and ideal as ganache, but ever since I lost my touch on white chocolate ganache, I haven't been able to make a decent one.  While I can always do a milk chocolate one, some times, it's just not the same.

For the Buttercream frosting recipe, I tried a few and it's quite simple.  

Need: 1/2 c unsalted butter at room temperature (that's 1 stick usually)

1.5tsp of whatever flavor you're doing... I have pandan and durian.  

(The Thai Tea was already came in a spread format)

1.5c of confectioner's sugar 

(you don't have to do that much, try out the taste vs. sugar ratio) 

Food coloring if needed.  (lucky for me, neither really needed any)

Instructions: Cream the room temperature butter till fluffy, then add in the sugar until fully corporate and then add the flavor(s) and beat them together.

Then beat in the milk and then the food coloring (as desire).

Overall, they don't stand well when you put them in the fridge and harden.  That's a problem because the key to a decent mac is that you can freeze and unfreeze when you're ready to serve.  When you take it out, it started to shape shift, that's an issue because your cookie can runaway or run around from you.  So, play around with the consistency too. 

Results came out ok by my standard.  Sweet for some friends, awesome for some Brit Ex-Pats, and gained a 3 year old fan even on the durian flavor.  I can't complaint.