Raspberry Macarons

I received my Pierre Hermé Macaron cookbook and began the preparations to create the same raspberry macarons the famed pastry chef first learned with.

Following his 32 step process takes some careful planning and attention to detail. After I got over the minor anxiety over having time things perfectly and obey the stringent temperature readings I got to work.

Here are some tips for making your own macarons... there are several things I learned through this process:

• The shells are reasonably basic. They take a lot of attention, but the flavor comes mainly from the ganache inside.

• The recipe states it will make 72... I came out closer to 40 with tons of raspberry preserves left over.

• Next time I think I will reduce the sugar slightly, because these are certainly sweet.

• They take a fair amount of time (about 4 hours). I now understand why they aren't inexpensive to purchase.

• Mine aren't nearly as pretty as his, because he uses a lot of food dye. Even though I have some that is professional grade, using dye makes me nervous. It just seems so much more artificial when I see how much I'm adding.

• Add the edible glitter before they set... I forgot.

• It might be good to have 2 of the decoMAX - one for piping the shells and another for piping the filling.  It worked very well and I loved how simple it is to fill, clean, and reuse. My Thermapen was also great for giving me an accurate temperature reading, which is vital.

• Best of all my French friend, Julie, said they tasted incredibly authentic and she couldn't believe I made them. Looks like I'll be teaching her how to make them soon!