Macarons

Macarons

The gift giving season is coming. You want to bake something impressive, but everyone is on a diet after Thanksgiving. What to do? How about macarons? Macarons are almond meringue cookie sandwiches. These cookies are dairy and gluten free. They are not the easiest thing to make, but they leave a lasting impression if made correctly. I made them for some special, so should you. Here is the original recipe :http://www.sweet-sundays.com/home-main/lemon-macarons-with-chocolate-ganache-filling

1. First separate 4 eggs and age the egg whites for a few days in the fridge. I used the remaining egg yolks for creme brulee. 

2. Combine 165 grams of both almond flour and confectioners sugar, and a little bit of salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. You do not want to make almond butter... unless you want almond butter.

3. Sift the contents of the food processor with a sieve. This is an annoying step, but very necessary. If you are left with a lot of large almond particles like I did, you will need to add the leftover into the food processor and repeat this step. You could do this step ahead of time to break up the cooking process.

 I had to repeat quite a few times.

 4. In the bowl of your stand mixture, add the 4 aged egg whites, 150 grams of granulated white sugar, and 0.5 a teaspoon of cream of tarter. The cream of tarter helps stabilize the egg whites as you whip them. Whisk the contents by hand to dissolve the sugar.

5. Whip the egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium speed for about 11 minutes until stiff peaks form.

Stiff peaks... Don't you wish you could make your hair do that?

 

6. Once you have stiff peaks, gently combine the almond flour in by using long strokes going from one end of the bowl to the other. Don't just mix in circles. This will knock out the air that you worked so hard to get in the batter. When 90% of the almond flour has been incorporated into the batter, add in your flavoring and food coloring. I chose this particular recipe because the VIP I was making the macarons for loves citrus and how could I let him down. I added 1 teaspoon of lemon extract and 5 drops of yellow food coloring. I think I should of used 6 or 7 drops.

90%

100%

 

7. Put the batter into a pastry bag and carefully pipe out your batter into circles slightly larger than half dollars onto a silicone pad or parchment paper lined baking pan. I got a macaron silicone pad that made it much easier. It had grooves to pipe the batter in.

8. Drop the pan from a few inches onto a hard surface. This will help take out any larger air bubbles from the batter.

9. Let your piped batter dry out for about 30-40 minutes. This is essential to getting feet on on your macarons. Feet is the ruffle around the macaron. Your oven will need to be at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, so time preheating accordingly. 

Notice how much less shiny and dull the batter is after you let it sit.

10. Place your macarons in the oven one sheet at a time for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 9 minutes.

11. Once the macaron shells are done cooking, let them cool at room temperature for about an hour.

12. Take one macaron shell and spoon on some filling. I used cookie butter, but looking back I would of used something else less strong. Maybe some peanut butter cream.

13. Sandwich the filling with another macaron shell that is about the same size.

I put them in a fancy box to up the wow factor.

This was the second time I made macarons and I still messed up most of them from poor piping. I was still able to yield some passable one. Don't be discouraged if they don't come out like you hoped. Try try again!