Trial by macaron.

I took the excuse of a tea party to have another go at macarons. For the record, this is not simply a fancy way of saying "macaroon" - they are an entirely different confection. In the event, it would have been considerably less stressful to make macaroons...

After moderate success on my first attempt, I decided to go off a different recipe and to try a variety of colours and flavours. I settled on green mint with dark chocolate ganache; yellow vanilla with salted caramel; and pink rose with lemon buttercream.

Colours and flavours

I made three batches of the basic recipe, adding colour and flavour to the meringue before sifting over the almond flour and icing sugar and folding them together. I have learnt from experience that a genuinely tiny amount of gel food colouring is required for a pastel effect; simply dipping a cocktail stick in the pot and trailing it through the meringue is sufficient. The pink meringues could possibly have used a touch more colour, but they may also have been a little overcooked, and ended up a sort of rose-gold.

Last time, I was dissatisfied with the almondyness of the macarons, so I added a half teaspoon of almond extract to each batch. For the vanilla macarons I added two teaspoons of vanilla extract, for the mint I added one teaspoon, and the rose just half a teaspoon. I am very wary of the overpowering scent of rose, and it tasted pretty strong in the final batter. In the finished macaron opinions were divided as to whether it was just enough rose, or slightly too little. Next time I will try a whole teaspoon and see what happens. The almond extract was definitely worthwhile.

Mixing and baking

The recipe was very anxious about folding technique. The batter settled well so I think I got that part right, although repeatedly testing it felt somewhat neurotic. I piped the macarons in two sizes: four across the tray; and three across. I think the smaller versions were prettier, and will stick with those from now on.

The actual process of baking was frustrating. Last time, the macarons developed very nice feet, but cracked, and also tasted slightly overcooked. This recipe suggested a lower oven temperature of 150 degrees, which I thought should help with both of those problems.

My new kitchen has a new and very nice oven, with a clear door and internal light so you can see exactly what is going on. Unfortunately this simply got me kneeling, Bake Off-style, in front of the thing, muttering "rise, you bastards" as the macarons resolutely refused to develop the dainty little feet I never knew should exist until three months ago.

After some furious googling, I have concluded that the most plausible explanation is that the macarons were still too wet when I put them in the oven. The recipe stated to leave them on the counter to develop a skin for at least 15 minutes but up to a couple of hours, depending on humidity. It was an extremely humid day on Friday, and although I left even the first batch for at least an hour and a half I don't think it was long enough. I realised this when I put the last batch of green mint macarons in the oven, around three hours after piping, and they were genuinely dry to the touch. These were the only ones to even begin developing feet (see photo).

Two other factors may also have been at play: the lower oven temperature and using parchment paper instead of a silicon mat. I tried turning up the oven temperature by ten degrees with some of the pink rose ones, but they simply caramelised. Some of the macarons also stuck to the parchment paper, which never happens with silicon. Next time I will try the same temperature of 150 degrees, but use a silicon mat and ensure the macarons are genuinely dry.

Filling

I had planned on making salted caramel filling, but after despairing at my footless macarons I was in no mood to play around with boiling sugar, and bought Tiptree. Just to underline my lack of domestic divinity I then managed to overheat the cream for the chocolate ganache, which I have successfully made... more times than is good for me... and sulked as the cocoa butter split from the solids into an oily mess. Rather than go out again to repurchase cream; I let it cool and beat it with icing sugar and a bit of butter, making a sort of chocolate buttercream. I wouldn't have spread it on a cake but in the context of a macaron filling it actually worked out fine. I did manage to make a lemon buttercream, go me.

Texture and tasting

The first time I made macarons, I baked them several days in advance, then kept them in an airtight tin worried they would lose crispness. When it came to actually eating them however, I thought they were too hard. This time, I sandwiched them with their respective fillings, left them in the fridge overnight, then removed the clingfilm to let them soften on the counter during the morning. I then put them back in the fridge a couple of hours before serving, so the filling would be firm enough not to squidge out when bitten. This method worked really well, and I was very happy with the overall texture.

The flavour combinations are all classics and unsurprisingly worked well. Vanilla and salted caramel perhaps had the highest average score amongst the guests; but there were several people who strongly preferred either the rose and lemon or the mint and chocolate. I think the latter were my favourite. I would like to have another go at a rosier rose and lemon; and possibly a violet and dark chocolate combination.