Ice Cream Macarons

Last week, ICE Chef Instructor and co-author of Les Petits Macarons Kathryn Gordon, lead the way through four exciting hours of cookie making and ice cream churning. In this seasonal baking class, we tried our hand at making four delicious flavors of ice cream, including Mango Kulfi and Coconut Sorbet. Typically, macarons are filed with buttercream, ganache, jams, caramel or fruit curds, but who can really argue with indulging in a sweet icy treat on a hot summer day? After preparing the ice cream, we focused on the more important task at hand — baking perfectly round, well-footed macarons.

Many things come into play when making French macarons. To ensure that you get off on the right foot, here are a few essential tips: *Avoid making macarons on a rainy day and if it is humid, whip the meringue mixture more stiffly before hand-folding in the dry ingredients or the cookies will spread too much. *Do not over-whip whites. They should never be grainy or breaking down. This can cause a cracking effect (but so too can high heat or humidity)

When piping the meringue on a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet, pipe until the mounds are about a quarter-size in diameter, stop squeezing and pull off without pulling up. If you pull up the cookie will have a tail and will not have a smooth top once baked. If you’d like to learn more about macarons, pick up Chef Kathryn’s book, Les PetitsMacaronswhen it hits stores on October 4, 2011.