French Macaroons

Somehow I have been afraid of making French Macaroons. I love baking, trying new things and I have baked so many different kinds of cookies, cakes, dessert and so on. But I would always tell myself "French Macaroons...? That looks so difficult and I guess it's better to leave them to professionals".
Last Wednesday, I started craving macaroons. This was pretty unusual as I normally crave cookies and muffins. Also last week I had already baked blondies and made white chocolate truffles. So one of my friends response was "Is that what you are going to make today?". Then I thought, "why not?" Thus my adventure of macaroons began.
What I was afraid of is failure. But I found that if you strictly stick to the recipe and with proper tools, it was quite easy to make.

French Macaroons

Makes about 16 filled macarons


Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups plus 1 teaspoon icing sugar
• 1 cup ground almond or almond powder
• 6 tablespoons egg whites, room temperature(if you are using egg white from 3 extra-large eggs, separate eggs in advance and leave the egg white for a day at room temperature)
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• food colouring (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Shift almond powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together icing sugar and almond powder. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to high and gradually add sugar. Keep whipping until stiff glossy peaks form. Add food colouring and keep whipping. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the icing sugar mixture. 
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch #4 round tip, and fill with batter. Pipe 1-inch disks onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. The batter will spread a little. Let stand at room temperature for 45 minutes, until a soft skin forms on the tops of the macaroons and the surface looks dull.
3. Bake, rotating halfway through, until macaroons are crisp and firm, about 8 minutes. Stick a wooden spoon in to keep the door of the oven ajar. Let macaroons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Gently peel off the parchment.
4. Fill a pastry bag with the filling. Turn macaroons so their flat bottoms face up. On half of them, pipe about 1 teaspoon filling. Sandwich these with the remaining macaroons. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. 

The most important thing is to avoid over folding when you add icing sugar and almond powder mixture. Also if you under fold, your macaroons will look like baked meringues. Know where to stop. I would recommend around 55 to 65 folds. Trust your instinct, if the batter started looking shiny, smooth and creamy, you can stop.

Swiss Meringue Butter Cream

 

You can use anything you like for filling, caramel, jam, chocolate, etc. My favorite is this butter cream, since you have egg white on hand, why don't you try?

Makes 1 cups

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp egg white or 1 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 76g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk egg whites and sugar. Set mixer bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and keep whisking, until it feels warm to the touch and sugar is dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer bowl to the mixer, and fit with the whisk attachment. Whip on high speed until mixture  holds stiff, glossy peaks. Add butter, one piece at a time, and continue mixing until the butter cream is smooth.Add in any coloring, jam or flavors you like, and beat into the mixture for an additional minute.

For the macaroons in the picture, I used red food colouring, Kirsch jam and a little bit of rum.  Also yellow food colouring for macaroons. It is fun paring different colours and flavours!

Enjoy!