10 Ways to Make Traveling with
Kids a Breeze Sponsored by Best
Western With macarons, precise
ratios are everything. An exact
ratio, measured precisely in grams
with the aid of a kitchen scale,
yields perfectly crisp and delicate
cookies. We learned our macaron
ratios from the great French pastry
chef Pierre Herme, along with the
technique of using an Italian
meringue: a hot sugar syrup beaten
into softly whipped egg whites.
This creates a more stable mixture,
which will help yield a batch of
nice and even little cookies
perfect for filling with luscious
pomegranate ganache. To produce the
pink tint for these, we prefer
powdered food coloring, since the
colors tend to be more true.
Unfortunately, natural,
vegetable-based powders don't
produce colors that are intense
enough, though if you're looking
for pretty pastels, they'll work
beautifully. Gels and liquid colors
can come in a variety of
intensities, but be careful: You
can easily add too much liquid to
your batter, throwing off the
proportions. This could change the
consistency and affect the final
cookie.