I will find any excuse to bake macarons. It’s starting to become a small problem because I haven’t quite figured out what to do with the leftover egg yolks after making so many batches. From all the different blog posts out there about tips and tricks for perfect macarons I can’t remember anyone mentioning the addictive nature of these funny little French pastries. So I’m telling you now… I am addicted to baking macarons. Mac Tweets is only one excuse for baking macs. Thankfully I’m not the only one enamored with them allowing me to indulge in a few while the majority are eaten by my kids.
Mac Tweets Mac Attack for April is all about chocolate. Once I read about the challenge I could not get the idea of chocolate marbled macarons out of my head.
Basically, I whipped up a basic almond macaron recipe and mixed half the batter with 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Then I alternately the two batters in the pastry bag before piping them on the baking sheets.
Pretty right? Unfortunately, these didn’t turn out like what I pictured in my head. There were eight shells in the batch that did not crack and developed feet the correct way. I must emphasize that less than perfect does not mean less than delicious. Also, the color after being baked did not have the same lovely contrast in the unbaked versions.
None of these went to waste. My daughter has been taking macarons in her lunch for school every day. These were the 3rd favorite of the flavors that I’ve made so far with Basic Almond being her top and Blueberry Ginger her second.
Try It You Might Like It 
Making French Macaroons is on my list of things to do this year… it’s so intimidating with all of the “failing” stories out there. Good to know that even if they don’t look right, they still taste great!
Wow you get major points for going for the swirl! I also ma always on the hunt for way to use up those pesky leftover egg yolks.
Nice marble macs! BTW I use egg whites from a carton and have never had any issues. No aging and no leftover yolks!
Love that you will find any excuse to bake macarons. We’ll give you another exciting excuse in May. The marbling is beautiful and I love your mac energy. Thank you for joining us at MacTweets.
Thanks for entering my giveaway =). I actually just bought myself a second silpat so I wouldn’t have to bake one tray with the silpat and one with parchment anymore 8)
What a great site and so glad to find someone addicted to macarons. Love your swirl effect! I have the same problem as yourself: trying to eat the macarons before the kids scoff the lot 😉
I think they’re still very pretty though. Can I ask how long you spend doing dishes everyday? You seem to be baking WAY more than I do, and I am very tired of the perpetual mess in my kitchen…even thinking of giving up blogging unless I can hire a leprechaun to pop out now and then who washes my dishes and wipes up the mess on my counters. 🙂 You seem to be more a pro at this than me and any tips would be grand. My hubby is great at any dishes involving a meal, but anything else has been chalked up to, “You broke, you bought it” mentality.
Thankfully I have a dishwasher and neither of my kids are involved in extra activities right now. I have a little bit of an advantage considering I work on an 80% schedule. I get home around 3:30 everyday so that allows for some baking during the week. I do try to do the most labor intensive cooking on the weekend. I feel like I’m always either emptying the dishwasher or filling it back up, an existential cycle.
My husband though will have NOTHING to do with the dishes. He’ll cook dinner which is nice but otherwise the kitchen is my domain. A little bit of not minding a mess sometimes helps too. 🙂
I like your inventive spirit–the swirl technique may not have turned out the way you wanted, but I’m sure they still tasted yummy. I always make a flan/custard out of leftover egg yolks. Let me know and I’ll e-mail an easy recipe to you. 🙂
What I do with my leftover yolks is make a custard. I make a quick Choux and make some puffs…then I get two French treats out of my carton of eggs! Cream puffs and Macarons!