A Christmas Gift Idea For The Baker On Your List
If you like to give unique and different types of gifts for the holidays, I would like to recommend a macaron kit for anyone on your gift list that loves to bake. What are macarons you ask? They are a French pastry made from egg whites, sugars, almond powder and food coloring. The outside of the cookie has a baked meringue texture to them and let me tell you these little cookies are scrumptious!
It is macaron and not macaroon just in case you think I can’t spell worth a hoot. These little pastry cookies do not have coconut in them like the other tasty dessert.
Is A Macaron Kit Necessary?
Oh it may not be necessary but it will assist the baker in making these delightful treats in their own kitchen. Listen, even the pros sometimes have trouble making these little bites of delight. It is rather important to have the cookie base (top and bottom) to be relatively uniform. The macaron kit provides a cooking tray that has marks on it that you place the batter from the “pen” onto. This insures that the bases will all be the same size and fit nicely when you put them together with the filling. The tray or mat is made from silicone and fiberglass which also helps keep the heat distributed and uniform for a perfect base for your macarons. The macaron kit also has a tool called the pen that you fill your batter into and then squeeze the batter onto the tray.
Lekue Macaron Kit with Decomax Pen and Baking Sheet
A Video Review of the Macaron Kit
I like they way this gal gives the pros and cons of the macaron kit. I think you will, too.
What type filling with my macaron?
The macaron kit will come with a little pamphlet that will give you recipes for the macaron base and filling ideas. Actually, you can put just about any kind of filling that you desire in between the top and bottom. You can also flavor the cookie bases with flavoring, too.
A few tips about making macarons
When using the macaron kit to make a batch of these delightful cookies, I and others who have used it would recommend that you place the mat on a cookie tray before placing it in the oven. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, after piping the batter onto the tray you should let it sit for about 20 to 30 minutes so that a crust starts to form. This allows the cookie base to rise but not spread into an unwanted shape. Before placing the tray and cookie sheet in the oven, pick the sheet up and drop it onto the counter a couple of times. This action helps get rid of any air bubbles that might still be in the batter. It prevents cracked and bumpy looking cookies after you have baked them. The second reason for using the cookie sheet is that it gives you better stability when placing in the oven and removing from the oven.
I do not often suggest kitchen tools and appliances as a Christmas gift because it could be considered rather impersonal to the one receiving the gift. But, with that being said, I do recommend this little kit for the gal or guy on your list who loves to bake. This is a the type of item that they probably would never get for themselves and shows that you did put some real thought into a gift that they would enjoy. Besides, you just might be the beneficiary of a batch of the macarons when they have made them.