I love macarons, but I've always been too intimidated to try baking them myself. Every recipe I've found for macarons has a caveat: these delicate little pastries are notoriously temperamental, and it takes a lot of practice. You'd think that macarons would be easy to make; after all, you only need four ingredients -- almond flour, egg whites, granulated sugar and powdered sugar. But looking at photo after photo of flat, cracked, raw, misshapen macarons, it's pretty obvious that there's a reason macarons are ridiculously expensive (anywhere from $2.50 - $4.00 per teeny-tiny piece!).
A perfect macaron is small and circular, slightly puffed up, with a firm, smooth, dome on the top of the cookie and crinkly "feet" at the bottom. It's crunchy on the outside, chewy and moist on the inside. And it turns out there are a few tips and tricks to help you bake the perfect macaron. Every recipe seems to have a different set of tips -- but I found the ones that worked for me at Curious.com, and online learning site where you can sign up for video lessons for as little as 99 cents per lesson. Thanks to the tips and tricks in Curious.com's French Macaron Cookies lesson, The Pea and I were able to create these perfect little beauties on our first try!
Unlike the usual YouTube video tutorial, Curious.com features actual teachers, instructors, or experts on a particular subject matter. Curious.com's video lessons are segmented into steps, so you can do the lesson right along with the video and easily fast forward to the step you want to view or review. You can ask questions, and the teacher will get back to you. There are assignments you can complete, which the teacher will check and provide feedback on. Once you purchase a lesson or course (made up of several lessons), you can view it forever. And that's just about how long I intend to be making these macarons!
Disclosure: I received a credit on Curious.com so I could sign up for some of their courses and try Curious.com for myself
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