Macaron Class at Paris Ritz

7 pm, 18 mars, jeudi

I am at the right place and the right time for my

macaron class at the Ecole Ritz Escoffier

Bear comes along to observe and is instantly in love with the Ecole Ritz chef bears. Our aprons, towels, recipes elegantly await us. Everything is detailed and thought out to make our adventure into macaron land easy and efficient. The class cost 70 euros for 2-3 hrs. The recipe (in Fr and English) is proprietary so I cannot share it. The link above will give you class dates. Bear watches closely, not missing a trick. And there are many tricks to observe. Our professor, maitre and guru is Chef Didier Steudler. Chef Steudler could not be more charming, informative and generous with his knowledge and experience of the Ritz techniques plus the tricks of other well known macarons makers. 

Chef Samantha assists and aids me translating all the macaron tips. No detail in macaron-making is left to chance. We are a just 8 students and all questions are answered. Chef mixes the "Italian" style meringue to the correct consistency. Filling the pastry tube is demonstrated with all potential pitfalls eliminated. The correct way to hold the bag is at 35 degrees. The shells are created in 3 steps. Every step is hands-on and we get a chance to try out each step. Our efforts must wait 30 minutes before entering the oven.
*Note the metal clips to hold the pastry paper in place so cookies never move or slide about. We head downstairs into the chocolate kitchen to see the upcoming Easter eggs in production. Naturallement there is a giant chocolate bear (22 kilos!)Back upstairs we touch the "skin" of the shells lightly. They are ready for the oven. Chef tells us many macaron secrets. Bear is taking notes furiously.
Voila! Into the four/oven go our efforts.
After just 8 minutes Chef Steudler opens the door to let in a bit of air. And then again after 12 minutes - special tricks of the macaron trade.

Meanwhile the caramel garniture/filling is cooking away. Did I mention we're making macaron caramel au beurre sale/salted butter caramel?

The perfect macaron filling-all of the techniques and methods are geared for the home cook at Ecole Ritz Escoffier.

To add the caramel filling to the baked shells, the pastry bag is held straight up.

Our chance to wreck havoc on the macarons-to-be.

The class is a ball. Everyone is very friendly and there is a lot of giggling, though not much tasting until the end...ahem

Voila! Perfect little caramel macarons ready to pop into boxes - our reward for working so hard. Ha! This class was too much fun.

We each get a glam certificate to hang on the wall at home as a reminder to practice, practice, practice our macarons.

Chef Steudler happily poses with fellow classmate, Dan.
C'est mignon non?

Ahhhh, the boxes filled with our macarons.

 Bear awaits patiently for his box.

I can highly reccommend the Ecole Ritz Escoffier class to all obsessed macarons lovers.
You'll be delighted I promise.

BONJOUR RITZ MACARONS!