- This will make approximately 100 shells, or about 4 dozen cookies
- When practicing, I generally half this recipe to only make 1 sheet of cookies
- When making macarons, you will generally flavor the filling but not the shells
- You want to make the macarons the day before the event. You will store them in the refrigerator over night, and then take them out a few hours before to come to room temperature. This is because macarons are best when "ripened", or allowed to sit for at least one night and have the filling seep into the shells a bit. Otherwise, straight out of the oven, they can be too crunchy or hard
- Macarons shells freeze well! Filled macarons can also freeze well depending on the filling. Buttercream fillings freeze great. Put the cookies into an airtight container before freezing
- Everyones baking temperature and baking time vary depending on their oven - you might have to experiment a bit!
- I always separate egg whites myself by cracking the egg, passing the yolk back and forth between the shells while the white falls out, and then disposing the yolk and shell. I've heard carton egg whites can work for some people, however!
- When piping, I'd recommend twisting the top of the bag to create some pressure. As you pipe and lose batter, continue to re-twist to get more pressure in the bag
Ingredients
- 100 grams of egg whites
- 50 grams of granulated sugar
- 110 grams of almond flour
- 200 grams of powdered sugar
- Gel food coloring
Materials
- Oven (convection preferred)
- Sifter
- You have to sift the dry ingredients. Otherwise the cookies will turn out lumpy and might not rise correctly.
- Kitchen scale for measuring out ingredients
- You have to measure the ingredients by weight. If you measure out, say, three egg whites instead of 50g of egg whites, you might be off enough to mess up the cookie, and it won't puff up correctly
- Stand mixer
- 2 11 5/8" x 16 1/2" silpat baking sheets
- 2 ~16x12 baking sheets that don't warp in the oven
- Piping bags
- Large round piping tip
- Rubber spatula
- 4 printed macaron templates
Directions
- Measure and leave out egg whites on counter ~2 hours before you want to bake
- Line baking sheet with 2 macaron templates and put silpat on top
- Beat egg whites in the bowl of stand mixer until whites are foamy
- Add in desired gel food coloring. Don't add too much or it will affect the taste of the batter. The ending color will be lighter when it is fully beat and added to the dry ingredients
- Beat in granulated sugar and continue beating until egg whites just barely hit stiff peaks
- Sift confectioners' sugar and ground almonds in a separate large bowl
- Quickly fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula,until it resembles lava, or thick pancake batter. The batter will fall off of the spatula in ~2" large ribbons. Do not over-mix!
- If you under-mix, the cookies might be hollow and lumpy
- If you over-mix, the cookies might not rise
- Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip
- I fit my pastry bag over a cup in order to fill it. Makes it a lot easier!
- Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet, piping within (and not over) the circle. The disks will flatten out, so do not overfill the circles
- Bang the sheet on the counter a few times - this will release some airbubbles in the cookies and help flatten and make their shape a little more even
- Take a toothpick and gently correct where there were airbubbles in the shells
- Let the piped cookies stand out at room temperature until they form a hard skin on top, about 1 hour
- When there's about 20 minutes left of drying, pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees F on the convection setting
- Put cookies on middle shelf in oven so they don't burn
- Bake cookies until set but not browned, about 14 minutes
- It's better to overbake than underbake. When underbaked, the cookies will not come off the sheet at all. If overbaked, the shells might get better after "ripening" them
- Let cookies cool (about 15 minutes) completely before pulling off the baking sheets and filling
- This should make enough buttercream for the macaron shell recipe above, or about 4 dozen cookies
- Do not store this in the refrigerator before filling - otherwise it will get too hard and it will be difficult to fill the cookies
- After filling and refrigerating the cookies, the buttercream will firm up a bit
- For other flavors, change out vanilla extract with other flavored extracts. Alternatively, use a powdered ingredient (like cocoa or matcha) and add more milk to thin out the buttercream
- When piping, I'd recommend twisting the top of the bag to create some pressure. As you pipe and lose buttercream, continue to re-twist to get more pressure in the bag
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 1.5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp whole milk, half and half, or cream
- Gel food coloring
Materials
- Stand mixer
- Piping bags
- Large round piping tip
Directions
- Leave out butter on counter at least 2 hours before you want to make the recipe
- Beat softened butter for a few rounds with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed until it becomes fluffy
- Add powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn't blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter
- Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for a few minutes
- Add in desired gel food coloring. Don't add too much or it will affect the taste of the frosting
- If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add milk 1 tablespoons at a time
- Spoon into pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip
- Pipe a blob onto cooled macaron shell. Sandwich with another shell and you're done!
Any chance you'll post the vegan recipe?