Strawberry Macarons

The inside out- chocolate covered strawberry... aka.. the strawberry covered chocolate!

Strawberry season is almost here! Yay! I didn't use fresh strawberries in these macarons though. I used something different.. as in.. strawberry concentrate oil. These were cute, good like all the others, and the flavor, well, it kind of tasted like strawberry milk tea, Trix, Captain Crunch, or strawberry wafers... ok that was a random blurb of foods. I don't know if it's because of the concentrate, or just the texture plus the strawberry-ish flavor, but really, the taste was not expected! I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't the strawberry I was looking for (tasted a bit artificial) I also added some powder out of the bottom of the bag of the freeze dried strawberries from trader joe's. I wanted more of a strawberry kick. I think I will stick to the freeze dried ones to make my strawberry powder/ flavor next time.

Is anyone out there sick of the macarons yet? I think I might be! Has anyone tried my recipe? I'm always afraid of people actually trying my recipe, because I fear that it wouldn't work out : ( I only made these because my mom saved me a few egg whites after she baked her pastries. I left these egg whites out, uncovered, for over a day! Yes, I finally did that, let my eggs denature.. in time. I don't know if it made a difference. I don't think it did. My mom was just afraid that the egg whites were bad if left out. (I believe they have antimicrobial properties making them safe, unrefrigerated?... A lot of recipes for macarons call for really aged egg whites (3 days?) )

Anyway, these macarons were quite tasty. I ended up making ..one.. sandwich... haha.. out of the 11 I could have made. No one really likes the filling in my family, so I just filled one with leftover frosting that I froze. Strawberries + Chocolate = !!!! Love !!!!

I've run out of ideas when it comes to staging my macarons.. they all look the same.. this was a twist on the norm... haha... doesn't even match.... : P That is the fabric in which I will make a new camera strap with for my upcoming vacation. My damask one is looking slightly worn.. already.. : /

Here's a link to my macaron tutorial if you would like a basic recipe. I added 1 tbsp of freezed dried strawberry powder/ piece to the food processor along with the powdered sugar and almonds. I added a few drops of pink gel food coloring. After the egg whites were whipped to an almost stiff peak, I added 1/8 tsp strawberry concentrate oil.

Here's a link to all of my other macaron recipes

I realized I've never taken a pic of a macaron that has been bitten into. I talk about texture a lot, and how the texture of this cookie is what makes it so special. So, here it is. The macaron, savored, in small bites. The shell, which is crisps and cracked, combines with a delicious semi-chewy, semi-melt in your mouth center, paired with a rich chocolate-y buttercream. (These strawberry ones were slightly more chewy, don't know exactly why... maybe the strawberry powder?) Yum yum yum!

I froze a few macarons... will update later on how they turn out when thawed... if Trader Joe's can do it.. so can I!... I hope : /

The Strawberry Concentrate Oil - Got this at Shackford's in Napa

Pretty in Pink!

Big Mac Love : ).. and these even do look like burgers, especially with that chocolate buttercream!

You know when your food is good when....
a bug lands on your macaron when it's in its drying stage.. and gets stuck.. and you take the tray to the 325 degree oven, and bake that poor bug to a nice crisp, not knowing that the bug is stuck on the macaron. Yum. : ) So yes that happened to me, I basically squat at my oven the entire 12 minutes and analyze the shapes and progression of each macaron. (I study their stages...I am weird.) I noticed this thing sticking off of a mac. It looked like a bug... and I figured.. yes, it was a bug, that got stuck, and is now basically done for. So post-baking, I examine the bug... it's quite dead, and embedded into the mac. I tried to take pics of it, and went to my sis's room to show her it. I was holding it up and the tv show caught my eye. I didn't say anything about the bug, and well... she grabbed the mac from my hand and took a slight bite..... she missed the bug. HAHA... but yes, took quite some convincing for her to finish eating the other parts of the perfectly good macaron. :-)

RIP bug- You had a wonderfully sweet last meal. I'm sorry I baked you.
To think.. my sister almost ate that! I'm sure it would have tasted the same... : ) .. perhaps this could have been a belated April fool's joke?