The Macarons book begins with a short overview of the ingredients and equipment used in the recipes. Then, it moves on to the shells. There is a recipe for a French meringue and an Italian meringue shell. Both of the shell recipes are spread over a few pages, and several of the steps in the shell recipes are pictured. The ingredients in the recipes are listed both by weight and by volume. There is also a problem and solution section.
The second chapter has fillings. There is a chocolate ganache filling recipe and a buttercream filling recipe, each with about 10 flavor variations. The other main filling recipe is for a homemade jam filling.
The third chapter consists of three main decoration ideas: macaron lollipos, tower of macarons, and sugar decorations for macarons. There are many, many colorful pictures throughout the book, though the book is quite small (about the size of a baby board book). The type in the book appears to be about an eleven or twelve point font.
Although I feel there are issues with the meringue recipe I certainly enjoyed experimenting with the different buttercreams and ganache that are in the book. That being said there are some issues with these recipes. For example with the ganache I recommend that you don’t heat the chocolate but rather the cream and pour it over the room temperature chocolate. Also go easy on any of the essence or oils! Put in a drop or two, then mix, then taste and then a few more if needed.
Just a couple notes – there are some designs pictured on the macarons, but there are no explanations as to how to acheive those designs, which is too bad. Also, all of the recipes call for piping the shells and the fillings with a pastry bag and a #8 tip.
The book itself has some wonderful ideas and beautiful clear pictures. The different buttercreams and ganache are yummy, but the macaron shell recipes need some fine tuning.
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