Citations

My favorite website to use for citing sources is citation machine. I've been using it since elementary school and am comfortable navigating through the site. As part of the research component of our courage project, I am citing the three sources I used.

          

Research

 

Before starting to experiment, I'm starting by getting more familiar with the background history. Including: the history of, how-to's, and other facts.

Note: These are my personal notes from the sites Les Petits Macarons, Indulge with Mimi. and Sweet and Savory by Shinee.

What should I expect from a macaron?

The shell should be shiny with an outer crunch at the first bite. Texture should not be to soft so it dissolves into the filling, or too thick that only the crust is felt.

A proportional foot around the shell of the macaron: A foot is the small ruffled lining that circles each shell.

The interior of the cookie should be "soft, moist, and only slightly chewy." The whole macaron together should not taste too sweet.

History/facts

Catherine de' Medici brought macarons to France in 1533 after marrying Henry II.

"Macaron" originates from Italian "maccherone" or "macaroni". Macarons did not just refer to a cookie, but a savory dish as well. 

A French-English dictionary from 1673 refers to macarons as "'little Fritter-like Buns, or thick Losenges, compounded of Sugar, Almonds, Rosewater, and Musk, pounded together, and baked with gentle fire.'"

The macaron obviously became famous in France, where different cities evolved the popular dessert "into their own specialities." 

Recipes for French macarons began in the middle of the seventeenth century.

Macarons as we know it- two shells with a filling- became popular more recently from companies such as Ladurée.

*WHAT I KNOW*
1. Macarons are French cookies made of almond flour, icing sugar, egg whites, and sugar.
2. You whip the egg whites and sugar into a stiff meringue and combine it with the flour and icing sugar in a strict technique called macaronage: carefully folding both components until the right consistency.
3. Macaron batter should not be too runny or thick, about the consistency of a thicker pancake batter. It should be a piping consistency where it doesn't spread too much once piped.
4. You let macarons sit before baking until it dries and forms a skin (where you can touch the batter and nothing sticks).
5. In the oven, the macarons should bake at a low temperature to help the rise, drying out, and forming of the feet.
6. Once cooled, the macarons can be sandwiched with a filling (i.e. buttercream, jam, curd). 

Infographic Feedback

This week, we each received 2-3 pieces of feedback from our classmates on our visual infographics. Here's an overview of what my peers thought of my proposal:

"Your website looks very professional and I can tell you worked hard on your infographic. Some things you can work on are describing which ingredients you will need and where you will get them."

My response: The ingredients I will potentially need are almond flour, powdered sugar, gel food dye, egg whites, sugar, and flavorings as well as a filling (buttercream, jam, icing, etc.). I am planning on buying these ingredients at Target, Trader Joe's, Safeway, and/or amazon.com.

"I really like your idea and I think that it's very creative. One question I have is how this takes courage. Are you going to give some to a food bank? Do a bake sale and donate the earnings to charity? or something else?"

My response: I have tried many times in the past to make successful macarons- and failed. Since then I haven't really tried anything very ambitious, so I decided this courage project would take courage because I haven't had much of that to pursue this goal. Also, I'm not planning to donate any earnings to organizations. Learning this skill is more for my benefit in baking experience.

"I really love how you were really clear with what you hope to accomplish, and how you are going to get there. I also love how your visual is appropriate for the topic, and how it adds to your big idea. The only suggestion I have is that: maybe you could make your font bolder/larger, or easier to read. It wasn't that hard to read, but it was a little more effort-inducing."

My response: I tried to make the text a little clearer by downloading is as a jpeg and pdf. But my last and only resort that worked was taking a screenshot and pasting it onto the post.