As I post this in February 2022, we are 1 month shy of the 2 year mark of the pandemic. I wrote the paragraph below in May 2020 when we were only 2 months into this mess. For some reason I never posted it or shared it. I was going through my previous posts and drafts yet to be published and felt a renewed spark of motivation to put time and effort into this blog. So I decided to share it even though it’s from the past.

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Like many people in quarantine, many of our favorite days are happening in a new way this year. My two favorite days of the year are my birthday and St. Patrick’s Day. Both happened during quarantine this year so I couldn’t celebrate in the typical way. Despite this, I tried to make the best of each day, and they were certainly memorable. But after these two day happened in the middle of March and the middle of April, I didn’t have any more fun plans to look forward to.

I needed something else to do or anticipate. Luckily the Gallery Pastry Shop here in Indianapolis hosts pastry classes. I had always wanted to take one, but it wasn’t usually feasible with my work schedule. But now that I was working from home, I had more flexibility with that. And these classes were now being offered live online through Zoom since things were still closed down. So I signed up for one a few weeks after my birthday.

A Gallery Pastry Shop employee dropped off the ingredients at my door on the day of the class so I didn’t need to go anywhere or buy anything extra. They even had the option to buy pink sparkling wine with the class so of course I did! And the instructor even made a funny comment about my champagne during the class when I was drinking it with my camera on. There were about 8 other people in the class with me.

The instructor went through step-by-step how to make macaroons as we all followed along. It was nice to be in my own kitchen using my own utensils and equipment to make these. I’ve never made macaroons before, and I’m glad that I had a live instructor teaching me how to do it. It doesn’t seem like an easy pastry to make for the first time simply by reading a recipe. He gave many tips along the way to help you tell if your batter was done being whipped or if your cookies had a skin on them which they need before baking. I think this would have been difficult to convey all these nuances by a written recipe. It was great to have the live, helpful pointers and tips along the way. We also made a chocolate ganache for the inside of the shells once they baked and cooled. But the ganache had to set up overnight so I had to wait on that. But in the ingredient kit, they also brought a pre-made raspberry cream (which was incredible) so we could fill the shells that same day.

My macaroons tasted really good, and I think they were the correct texture. I need more practice piping, as my shells weren’t quite as flat as the instructors. Instead they had little points on them so they couldn’t sit flat. But I was still quite impressed with myself for this being the first time I’ve ever tried making them. And they are a hard pastry to master - even baking professionals say this! But because of this class, I do have the confidence to make them again on my own. The class occupied an afternoon, gave me something to look forward to, and provided me with something yummy to enjoy after!

Better Late Than Never