D e l i s i o u c i t y

Hello old friend, who turned out to be my enemy! Yes, this is exactly what the macaron au sucre cuit is. Ever since my last attempt at this method of macaron-making a couple of years ago, I have not had the interest nor the desire to go by this said method again. I recall sometime ago about how the au sucre cuit (with cooked sugar, i.e. italian meringue) method have not been very forgiving to me, which is rather strange seeing that almost everyone on the blogosphere claim that it is THE recipe that’s more reliable, compared to macaron au blanc monté (or the french meringue method). Well, here I am, begging to differ! You see, I think I’ve been hit by an italian meringue jinx. Is there such a thing? Look it up and maybe you will find my face. The first couple of times I tried the sucre cuit method, it worked like a charm. And like everyone else, the macaron shells were perfect – puffy, domed, beautiful frilly feet, crust not too thin. But for some reason, it stopped working for me. The hot sugar syrup seized in the mixer bowl, tangling itself onto the mixer beaters; and then the shells… oh the shells! They cracked, or worse still, baked with hollows in the middle. Now of course after almost three years of making macarons (and more years obsessing), by now I know why exactly these failures happen. The hollow for example, is a result of variations in oven temperature, if not baking at a low temperature causing the macaron to not rise appropriately and uniformly. But back then, when I first started out, these reasons were unknown to me, and as you can imagine, agitated me to the point of having episodes of mini-breakdowns. I think I might have documented those at some point or other. One only needs to run a search in the search box up there ^_^

Having run a wee business selling macarons before I left Brunei, I swear that the only reliable macaron recipe for me is the french meringue method. Macarons are so finicky you see, and I had already experimented way too much (and wasted way too much). The au blanc monté may be more sensitive to moisture and humidity of the day, but for some odd reason, it almost always works. So what, I hear you ask, was it that compelled me to revisit the italian meringue method, that I finally succumbed to it and as a result, stayed up all night just to ensure they *at least* do not crack? Well, nothing momentous really.. just the thought that a fellow baker of mine has been telling me how much more reliable the sucre cuit method is for him (yes I mean you Ben); and the fact that after a few googled-pages later, I realized I had to conquer this ”fear of failure by syrup” lest dreams of tangled sugar on my beaters haunt me! I was itching to prove myself skilled and knowledgeable enough to know about dealing with any possible hiccups.

And so I sifted sugar, and processed the almonds, and dried them in the oven (because they were a bit moist), re-sifted, and made sure my sugar syrup went up to 160C and no more, and I macaronnaged (and went a couple of folds too far – hence too much spreading), and made sure I hung my new oven thermometer well, and sat right in front of the oven all night, staring at the rising macarons …. only to be proven that I still can’t master the italian meringue method! Reason being? Somehow the shells had horrible hollows (or holes, rather). And they were super chewy, which makes them unpleasant to eat, at least to my palate. The pictures you see here may show how perfect they are outside, but there’s no hiding the disappointment I had for the obvious lacking in robustness that every macaron piece should possess. Gaaaa!!

Admittedly, perhaps I can be a little too hard on myself sometimes. After all, these macarons were edible and perfectly fine – absolutely nothing wrong with them (to the undiscerning eye.. sorry!) And because I am forever in love with real vanilla beans and anything vanilla – the buttercream filling (made using swiss meringue method, hah!) more than compensated for the unsatisfying bite into these hole-y shells. Actually they don’t look all that bad from here, only a bit like they had some yeast-action on breads. Anyway, if you are up for the challenge, here’s a typical au sucre cuit recipe that you can try, which also documents the method step-by-step. Hurrah! As for me, I now proclaim myself ‘thrown in the towel’. Bye bye sucre cuit!