Macaron Mayhem (aka Macarons, take 1)

I spent the weekend with my sister, Ms Red, who lives in Bunbury (about 2 hours south of Perth, for those following from the east coast). The plan was to have a baking bonanza. She wanted to have a second attempt at melting moments, after she confused custard powder with cornflour in round one. And I wanted to have a go at macarons. They have been popping up everywhere lately, most notably with Adriano Zumbo on MasterChef, and I've been meaning to have a go, and work out what all the fuss is about - are they really that difficult?

The short answer is, yes. Mine were not a complete failure, they taste good, and I've got the filling down pat. But they most definitely did not have that macaron signature hight, known as 'legs' or 'feet', nor did they have a crisp, crunchy shell. So (at least) another attempt is required!

Example 1 - a perfect macaron

Example 2 - my macarons

I used this recipe from taste.com.au for the shells, and the filling was based on this recipe, from Gourmet Traveller. I had some trouble with the shells recipe, I ended up using another 3 egg whites, just to get a reasonably wet mixture - there was no way I was going to be able to combine all that almond meal with 5 egg whites!

I'm currently chasing a better macaron recipe (what's that saying? 'A bad tradesman blames his tools...'), and I hope to have another go, with better results soon.

-Alphie