Macaron Madness!

Macarons are pretty much the most pretentious cookies on the planet.



I've been obsessing over these little suckers over the past few weeks; I've done about a dozen batches before my mother called her friend to get tips for me! Finally I got a batch that *looked* right! They have the little feet and everything! I adjusted the proportions from several recipes to make smaller batches to just do test runs. Here's my recipe:

1 egg white
40 g almond flour (I just measured sliced almonds out and put it in a my Magic Bullet)
60 g powdered sugar
1.5 tbsp granulated sugar
Piping bag (ziplock bag if you don't have one)
Parchment paper
Oven at 275-300*F

You probably want to make the dry mix first. Do this by measuring out the almonds and blending it with the powdered sugar in a food processor. Next, sift it all out to get a fine powder.
Egg whites! When whipping egg whites, start adding the 1.5 tbsp of sugar when the whites start to foam. Continue the beatings till morale improves. When you pull the beater out of the egg white, the egg white should come up stiff (and not collapse back down). Disaster can also strike if you beat the white too much so be on the alert!

Next, fold the dry mix into your stiffened whites in 4-5 batches. If you're colouring your macarons, put the food colouring in now. Fold enough so it's mixed in and the dry mix is no longer visible, but not too much. If nudged, the dough should slowly sink back down.

Now, fill your piping bag with the macaron mix and pipe little circles onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Leave space in between as they will spread out as they start to rest.

Let stand until film forms over macarons--a "skin" MUST form on the macarons. May take about 30 min. or possibly longer, depending on the humidity of the air; I find it best to make macarons when the weather is relatively dry. Test the macarons by gently touching the surface. If the dough does not stick, you're good to pop it in the oven. Let it bake for about 10-12 minutes.

When checking the macarons, they should have risen a bit to form "feet." They also should come off the parchment paper effortlessly if they're ready. If they're still stuck to the paper, they're not done yet! But watch them closely--if they stay in too long, they could crack, sag, or just get plain rock-hard.
Once again, this is a really pretentious cookie to bake, so don't be discouraged if you don't get 'em right in 10 tries. Seriously. Even professionals struggle with these.

To make a filling, you can use fruit preserve, whipped cream, peanut butter, Nutella or ganache, all which taste great! To make ganache, bring some heavy cream to a simmer and then pour it into a heat-safe bowl of chocolate or white chocolate chips. Stir until even and let it cool off until it's easier to work with. It should be like the consistency of Nutella when it's cool. If it's too liquidy, mix some flour or corn starch in to thicken it.

Fill your macarons with the filling of your choice and then they're free to eat. I have found them best at a day old, as the moisture in the filling seeps into the cookie at that point. Just store them in an air tight container and they're good for a couple days, but I doubt they will last that long! Happy baking! xx