Monday, April 11, 2011

Macarons, the Next Gluten-Free Frontier

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Welcome visitors from Bob's Red Mill Blog! Thank you for stopping by. I want to briefly introduce myself and my connection with being gluten and casein free. First of all, my name is Christen. Husband Rich, and my two kiddos (almost 3 and 1) are my driving force and inspiration in life. You'll find much more here than recipes. Some of what you'll see include hosting parties, creating things for my kiddos and our home, travel, and also share bits from the adventures in our lives.
My journey with being gluten free started four years ago when I discovered I had a thyroid issue called Hashimoto's. There's a huge correlation between gluten & a whacked thyroid that can make or break future health. Honestly, it was a reluctant change, but am astounded and encouraged at the choices available now versus just four short years ago. At that time I also found I had an intolerance for dairy and eggs so you will find most of my recipes omitting or replacing these ingredients. I hope you find some inspiration here to add to your arsenal and come back often. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook so come connect and say hi!


Now. Onto my newest fear/obsession. Macarons. These delightful Parisian pastry's have me captivated at the sight of their colorful little selves. Not to mention that they are a gluten free delight, consisting of only 3 ingredients: almond flour (which Bob's carries), egg whites and powdered sugar. Sound easy enough? Welp, the ingredient list is where the ease of making these ceases. I can't fully vouch for how incredibly hard they are to successfully make, but in reading and researching them, the laundry list of steps is daunting. I got Hisako Ogita's i heart macarons as my guide in this plight. I've allowed myself a three-tries-and-your-out allowance, hoping it won't take that many. Anyone have advice they can give? Anyone else want to come over and we can pull our hair out together? Misery loves company!

1 comment:

  1. I think the trick is to control how fast the macarons are cooling down after you bake them. Just as with other recipes that use egg whites (soufles for example), if you pull them out of the oven too fast, they will collapse.

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