Macaron Mania: The Recipes of the World’s Top Pastry Chefs

When I first wrote a recipe tutorial for French macarons in 2012, I couldn’t have imagined that, even to this day, it would be the most popular post on IronWhisk. Back then, the macaron craze was just gaining steam. Today, the almond-meringue cookies, which sandwich a ganache or jam filling, are ubiquitous.

Macaron Mania: Testing the Recipes of the World's Top Pastry Chefs

The macaron’s popularity means a plethora of surprisingly different recipes are available to play with. What, then, is the best way to make this famous cookie? Over the past few weeks, I have made it my mission to find out. After getting my hands on the formerly secret recipes of the world’s top pastry chefs, and baking dozens of batches and hundreds of macarons, my side-by-side tests and surveys provide the much-needed answers.

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Vanilla Panna Cotta & Poached Apricots

I realize that given some of the somewhat complex recipes and step-by-step tutorials I have in the archives one might incorrectly assume that something simple like a vanilla panna cotta would not excite me.

Vanilla panna cotta with amaretto-vanilla poached apricots and chopped pistachios. This can be in your face pronto.. if you click to get the recipe!

The best dishes, however, are often the simplest. The panna cotta, an Italian dessert as traditional as the tiramisu, epitomizes this idea. I am astonished that a dessert made from so few ingredients, simply stirred together and gently heated to a simmer, could be so wonderful.

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Tiramisu

Tirami sù literally translates from Italian to “pick me up”, a metaphor for “make me happy”. I can definitely understand why. With cocoa, espresso, and a touch of Marsala wine, tiramisu well definitely make you happy. Maybe even a little too happy.

A slice of homemade tiramisu cake. Want your own homemade slice? Make it! Click to get the recipe.

I’ve only had tiramisu once or twice before, and I wasn’t particularly fond of its flavour. With a really strong coffee taste and curdled mascarpone cream, tiramisu just didn’t sit right with me. Then I found out it’s not supposed to be that way and everything changed.

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