It all comes down to taste

With my girlfriends gathering for afternoon tea on Sunday I decided to make macarons. Everything that could go wrong did indeed go wrong. I took the egg whites too far and my swiss buttercream would not come together, no matter how long it was whipped (close to 45 min). It may have been something to do with the fresh strawberry puree I added.

Turns out had I stirred some air out of the meringue mixture I would have had a texture closer to that required for macarons. Because the last couple I piped did indeed develop feet with a smooth top. To salvage the buttercream I added a block of cream cheese. This did two things, smoothed out the filling and took a touch of the sweetness away.

I opted to transport the meringue/macarons by bicycle with the help of some egg cartons. They didn't look quite that good after an hour bouncing around in a basket at the back, but there were not many left!