Camparoonies!

Still searching for the perfect macaroon. Since my walnut macaroons were such a horrid, but delicious, failure, I decided to increase the difficulty level.

Can you guess the secret ingredient in these egg whites? Hint: It is pink and it tastes vile! No, it isn't pepto bismol. (That tastes good.) It's Campari. I evaporated off the alcohol first.

I don't like Campari much, but tomorrow I'm visiting some friends who do. They should be impressed.

They won't have the slightest idea how much harder it is to make a macaroon with a liquid ingredient. In fact, I think it is impossible to make a proper one with liquid in it. But I won't let a little thing like that stop me.

I used one more egg white than last time. (So that is 3 if you're counting, along with 1 cup each almond flour and confectioner's sugar. And the zest of one mandarin, to make the Campari taste better.)

The batter had almost the right feel to it, and I managed to get some nice roundish drops. I let them dry for about an hour, hoping to get the shiny top. No luck. I'm sure it is because of the liquid ingredient.

Anyway, they cooked-up pretty good. The didn't spread-out like those horrible walnut monstrosities (that tasted real good). Still, they aren't too bad.

For the filling, I made a simple buttercream with more Campari. Grapefruit would have worked well as a filling flavor, but I didn't have any around. Here they are all ready to go. I have no idea how I'm going to transport them. They are somewhat fragile.

And the taste? Well, these aren't likely to become a big seller at Laudrée any time soon. But they aren't bad. And the texture is actually very, very close to correct.

After going to all this work, I understand why these things cost 2 euros each in a cheap neighborhood patisserie. Let's see, 16 filled macaroons comes out to 32 euros, or about $50. Somebody better appreciate this!

Mmmmm.