It's Here!!!

My oven finally arrived and was installed Saturday by my surprisingly handy husband!  Unfortunately, I am now faced with the daunting fact that I need to get to know my KitchenAid better.  You may not be aware of it, but macarons are very delicate and quite stubborn when it comes to their baking.  In fact, in French, macaron is a masculin noun, "un macaron", but honestly I think it should have been feminine; the cookie is quite a diva!  

So, I tested the oven with the temperature I use in the commercial kitchen in Milford but need to make a couple of adjustments.  The result wasn't catastrophic (I had many of these with my old oven!!), I only had to bake the cookies a bit longer; but next time, I think I'll try a higher temperature and a different baking sheet.  Overall, I am pretty happy with the result, I can resume experimenting with new flavors and colors during my time at home.

Today was productive, 6 batches of macarons, only 3 misshaped ones.  I finally got to try the blue colorant that hubby brought back from G. Detou, France.  It is a "Bleu Brillant" (I don't think I need to translate here) and I am delighted with its color.  Some of my friends are Jewish and I think the macarons will look great for a Hanukkah inspired gift box.  The ones I did today are vanilla flavored, I like the contrast between the white and blue, what do you think?

Finally, some excellent news for MacArons: Christmas season is going to be HUGE for me!  I already have quite a bit of orders and I am definitively going to make a profit for the first time ever.  I am also scheduled to have a sale on December 21st at One Corporate Park in Shelton.  I am slightly nervous about the amount of work that this will represent, but I am always up for a challenge.  My parents are arriving from Lyon in a couple of weeks; I haven't seen my mom for over a year and my dad for two years now and I can't express how happy I am to have them visit us for a couple of weeks.  My baking will have to happen in the wee hours of the morning so I get to appreciate the rest of the day with them!