Tracey's Rose And Vanilla Macaroons

Hi Caroline,

I really enjoyed the class and bought the blossom mats you mentioned and a fair bit of kit from Lakeland. My husband thinks it would be cheaper to send me to Paris to buy macarons direct - I'm not against that, but was determined not to be beaten by so few ingredients :-) 

Your email was perfectly timed, as I made some today for Mothers Day - I hope they last that long, but as you mentioned, they need your undivided attention and I could only give them that today! They are by no means perfect, but SO much better than my last 6 attempts! 

 I used a dehydrator to dry them out and that made the process a lot quicker. I bought one two years ago to dry cherries, as I rent two trees in Kent. We had 30 kilos last year and dehydrating them means they last for ages. So, I thought I would experiment with drying the shells. My 'foot' is still not perfect, so maybe I dried too much? 

The pink are rosewater, the others vanilla. I can't wait to try chocolate, but 'till Lent ends I wont, as that will test my resolve too far! For the filling I did the buttercream from the Hisako book. First batch was good, second split a bit and it's not looking as good. I will have another go as I found it easy in the microwave.

I will send another photo when I make the chocolate ones. Thanks so much for a really interesting class and I will look out for a follow up.

Best wishes -Tracey I.