Making french macarons is my current obsession! I just love them!
On this blog, I'm just going to give the very basics on how to make the cookies.
TIPS
1. Allow the cookies to form a hard shell before baking.
2. Undercooking - Will be impossible to remove from the wax paper.
3. Overcooking - Dry cookies.
4. Allow the cookies to dry on cookie sheet before peeling off the wax paper.
5. Handle cookies with care.
On this blog, I'm just going to give the very basics on how to make the cookies.
TIPS
1. Allow the cookies to form a hard shell before baking.
2. Undercooking - Will be impossible to remove from the wax paper.
3. Overcooking - Dry cookies.
4. Allow the cookies to dry on cookie sheet before peeling off the wax paper.
5. Handle cookies with care.
RECIPE Makes roughly 30-40 cookies 3/4 cup almond meal 1 cup powdered sugar pinch of salt Meringue 2 large egg whites 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 drop of food coloring | SUBSTITUTION Almond meal substitution: Whole almonds (skin or without skin). Ground the almonds in a food processor until well grounded. Sift the almond meal through a sieve into a large stainless steal bowl. Discard the larger chunks left on the sieve. |
- In a food processor, mix the almond meal, powdered sugar, pinch of salt together.
- Sieve the mixture into a large stainless steal bowl and discard any large chunks. Set aside.
- In another stainless steal bowl, whisk the egg whites with a hand mixture until foamy.
- Pour in a tablespoon of sugar at a time while whisking the egg whites until you get a nice meringue. If you take the hand mixture out of the bowl and stiff peaks form, it's ready.
- Add a drop of food coloring to the meringue and mix until well-blended. This should take a few seconds.
- Grab the almond mixture and take a dollop of meringue with a spatula and mix into the almond mixture. It may look a little clumpy, so go ahead and dump the rest of the meringue into the almond mixture. Mix well until you get a thick, smooth mixture.
- Take the spatula and place it on top of the mixture. If it sinks within 10-20 seconds, it's ready.
- Before pouring the mixture into a piping bag, line a cookie sheet with wax paper and set aside.
- Pour the mixture into a piping bag and pipe several round dollops on the wax paper.
- Tap the tray on the counter on each side very lightly. Doing so will help release trapped air.
- Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour to form a hard shell on top.
- Rearrange racks in the oven to the very top and very bottom.
- Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Then, turn the heat down to 300 degrees.
- Place the macarons on either top or bottom rack and cook for 8 minutes. Rotate and cook for another 8 minutes. Check the cookies. If the center looks a little moist, cook for another 5 minutes and rotate for another 5.
- Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool on the cookie sheet.
- Slowly peel the cookies off the wax paper and sandwich them together with your favorite buttercream or ganache.
- Store cookies in the fridge.
Tip: The cookies improve with taste and texture the longer the cookies sit in the fridge.
Enjoy!