I am Impressed......sort of.

So there we were, 10 am and nothing to do. So son#1 and I went shopping and brought the few things on my cookery list that I could afford. More eggs was a must, for more ice cream. Plus a few other bits including a baking tray for my upcoming attempt at Macarons.
While he finished off the first batch of raspberry ripple, insisting that I would need the container so it needed emptying ( yeah right!); I got on with the first batch. Result? disaster! serves me right really, I had halved the ingredients as it was a test batch, and must have got them wrong, because the batter was way too thick. We cooked them anyway to see what would happen, and whilst they were in no way macarons; they were edible and scrummy so we kept some to crumble into the next batch of suitable ice cream.
Well I wasn't about to give up, so I trusted myself to David's expert hands and tried again; full ingredients this time. Result? success! Ok not a rip roaring success, they didn't have 'feet' and a few had cracked. Also I think the mixture was still ever so slightly too thick because the little peaked caps didn't sink, however the meringue mixture this time did actually look like meringue, and the folding in went well.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Not perfect, but I don't care. This is the first ever attempt at meringue, let alone macarons: and I at least got a feel for the mixture which I can now 'perfect'. I think it had too much air in it because bubbles were an issue on the surface, so maybe a slightly looser mix, and letting them sit for longer may help; the second batch were definitely smoother having sat for 30 minutes before they went in the oven.

I made a delicious coffee ganache for the centres, which son#1 hates so his had Nutella in! there was far too much of the coffee filling though so I froze a large amount, I hate waste so I hope it defrosts  as usable.

A tasting session when son#2 came in from school declared them to be 'DELICIOUS!' so I took the photo quickly as there are now of course none left.

I need a decent piping bag though, so the next attempt will have to wait until next week, I will definitely be making them again and son#2 is already thinking up flavours to try out. Whilst they are a lot of effort to get right, they are well worth making and the perfect way to use up all the egg whites left over from the ice cream making. Next of course I will have to perfect the 'feet' and try to make them without the 'caps' although, I have to say; they do look cute.

Next of course was the empty tub of raspberry ripple that need replacing. My first one had been made with custard powder, and whilst the kids loved the taste, I was unhappy with the texture. Of course now I am expert at a home made custard base, it behoved me to try again. Unfortunately the raspberry has spread into the ice cream rather than rippling, but..........it looks nice and tastes divine so a happy accident really.