First ever successful MACARONS!!!! (Attempt no 7!)

At last I've managed to make something that resembles a proper macaron!!!!!  For some reason these little meringues have been my baking nemesis but with the help of a shiny new KitchenAid mixer I've almost cracked it.  These were by no means perfect, the shells were very irregular in size as I didn't use a template and some were underbaked but they tasted great nonetheless!

I used the Italian meringue method for these which involves heating a sugar syrup to 118 degrees and pouring it onto whisking egg whites.  The first time I did this the syrup solidified as soon as it hit the eggs leaving me with a great big lump of crystalised sugar and an unhappy sounding mixer.  Undeterred I boiled up a second sugar syrup, whisked fresh egg whites and all went well second time around.

I didn't flavour these shells and filled them with a simple white chocolate ganache leftover from the damask cake I made previously.  Next time I'm going to try chocolate shells with a hazlenut filling and maybe some lemon ones with a sharp lemon curd.  The shells are very sweet so I'm not keen on the idea of a sugary buttercream filling, I think you need something tangy to stop them becoming sickly,

I've heard the French meringue method is more reliable so I think I'll give it a go to compare next time too.  Be prepared for lots of macaron posts coming up!!!