French Macarons

 

Okay, so I’m going to be honest —French Macarons are one tough little cookie to make, but you can make them. Yes, I’m talking to you. If you’ve tried to make French Macarons and failed, no big deal try again you will succeed. I promise! I should know a little about this. I tried making this impossible stubborn cookie like five times before I finally made something that resembled a French Macaron. So, I know how it feels to be defeated. Don’t let it get you down.

A bit of advice before we begin: you will need to be patient, and most of all you must follow the directions carefully. Okay, let’s get started! *Items additionally needed: parchment paper and a large canvas piping bag with a large round tip.

+ 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
+ 3/4 cup almond flour
+ 2 large egg whites, room temperature
+ Pinch of cream of tartar
+ 1/4 cup superfine sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Okay, so pulse confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a food processor. Next it’s important to sift the mixture. Set aside, we’ll add it later.

+ Whisk whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy.
+ Then add a pinch of cream of tartar and keep an eye on it while you whisk. Stop whisking when soft peaks form.
+ Reduce speed to low. Add superfine sugar, slowly and little by little.
+ Increase speed to high. I set a timer for 8 minutes for whisking. Keep whisking until stiff peaks form.

Remember the flour/confectioners’ sugar mixture we set aside? Sift the mixture over whites. Fold until mixture is runny. This is important,  I’ve made “French Macarons” without this last step. They didn’t rise and I was very sad. So make sure you fold the mixture until it’s runny! *Your arm should be tired by now.

Now here’s the fun sticky part, scoop the mixture into a large canvas piping bag. You’ll want to have a large round tip. Lay out some parchment paper and pipe little round macarons. *Note: in order to get a smooth top, I begin piping in the middle first and end on the side of the macaron.*  Let your liquidity macarons stand at room temperature for 15 minutes (I sometimes will double the time just to be sure, I’m little paranoid).

Whew! Okay, here’s a photo of some tasty French Macarons to encourage you! We’re almost finished!

Now it’s time to bake these little suckers. Reduce your oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake one sheet at a time for 10 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through (5 minutes). *After each batch increase your oven temperature back to 375 degrees.* Allow time for the oven to reach 375 degrees again, then continue baking your next batch of French Macarons.

Allow your macarons time to cool. Again, I’m paranoid and a bit of a perfectionist. I allow my macarons to cool and relax over night. The next morning the macarons are nice and smooth on the bottom. If I don’t allow them to cool over night, they are usually hollow on the inside, which frustrates me. That’s just my personal preference, they will taste the same either way!

 

Okay, so now let’s talk about filling. The sky is the limit, but here’s two ideas. For the chocolate filling above I used Trader Joe’s Almond Chocolate spread. Here’s the recipe for Buttercream filling:

+ Seven tablespoons of butter, I used dairy free butter
+ Two egg yolks
+ 3 1/2 tablespoons of milk, I used almond milk
+ 1/4 cup sugar
+ One teaspoon vanilla extract

Allow butter to set at room temperature a bit to soften, then smash until it’s creamy. Using an electric mixer whisk egg yolks and add sugar slowly. Mix until the mixture lights to a creamy antique white. This will take awhile, you’ll want to make sure that you can no longer see sugar in the mixture. Add milk and combine well.

Pour mixture into a small saucepan, and whisk consistently on low heat. Your arm should be tired while whisking. You don’t want your mixture to scorch! Cook and whisk until mixture is thick like custard. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Spread on your French Macarons and enjoy!

One more thing! You can add food coloring and different flavours to your french macarons. I didn’t and I think they are still pretty! I sprinkled gold sugar (from this Etsy shop) to the tops, and love the way it turned out!

Have a question? Comment below!