Macarons are like magic to me
Hi there, friends! Today, I’m here to share a tried-and-true recipe for making the most delicious macarons in the comfort of your home. So, a perfect macaron should be chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. It should have those classic feet and a smooth top.
Ingredients ( for 30 macarons )
- MACARONS
1 cup almond flour (95 g), finely ground / 1 teaspoon salt, divided / 1 ¾ cups powdered sugar (210 g) / 3 egg whites, at room temperature / ½ teaspoon vanilla extract / ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 g) / 2 drops pink gel food coloring.
- VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
3 tablespoons heavy cream / 1 cup unsalted butter (230 g) / 2 sticks, at room temperature / 3 cups powdered sugar (360 g) / 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Step-by-step guide
First, you want to let the egg whites come to room temperature for at least 30min before you start. Having the egg whites rest will result in a much fluffier airier meringue. And to separate your whites from your yolks you can use this tool.
Now we can move on to our dry ingredients. So you want your dry ingredients to be really fine to ensure that smooth top, this is the time to break out your food processor if you have one so we are to add our dry ingredients to a food processor, we’d recommend pulsing it at least 10 times. Still, you really can’t go too far here the finer the dry ingredients the smoother your top is going to be even if you buy extra fine almond flour it’s not going to be that smooth you might get a bit of a lumpy surface if you don’t have a food processor fear not, your macarons can still be delicious they might just be a little, they might just be a little lumpier on top. Another tip to get that really smooth surface is to sift your dry ingredients a few times after you have pulsed them in the food processor, this is just going to ensure a really smooth top so you can get those picture-perfect macarons :
Now we are going to move on to our wet ingredients.
Start off by beating the egg whites with a pinch of salt, that’s just going to help stabilize them. You also want to use the whisk attachment to bat some extra air into your meringue, So you are going to bat the egg whites just until they get really frothy and are no longer translucent. That’s when you want to start adding the sugar really gradually. If you add too much sugar at once, it’s going to deflate all that beautiful air that you just whipped into the meringue. Once all the sugar is added keep beating until you get stiff peaks. Once your meringue is good to go, you are going to add the vanilla extract. You don’t want to do this too early or you are not going to get those really big beautiful stiff peaks lastly, we are going to add our food coloring. I recommend using gel food coloring because it gives you a much more vibrant color using liquid food coloring is going to thin your batter out and it’s going to fade during baking.
Now we are ready to combine the wet and dry ingredients. So first, add a third of the dry ingredients to the meringue. Now we are going to macronage. The texture should look like wet sand ribbons. Try to do the figure 8 method, once it’s all incorporated go really slowly and keep practicing that figure 8 until you have got it that will really ensure that you don’t get too far. Once you can make a figure 8 with the batter without it breaking, you are good to go, stop here and do not keep mixing.
Now that the batter’s ready we are to start piping our macarons fill the piping bag, and with the round tip put 4 dots of the batter in each corner of your baking sheet then place the parchment paper on top, this is going to help secure the parchment paper so it’s not going to slide all around as you are piping. The parchment paper will really dry your macarons out which is what you want.
The classic size of the macaron is about an inch and a half wide. You can buy a template for piping.
Once the macarons are piped, it’s time to drop the tray, make sure you do not skip this step! Dropping the tray is going to help eliminate any air bubbles, and it also going to ensure that you get a really smooth surface on top. Let the macarons rest at room temperature for 30-60 minutes. After that, you want to bake the macarons at 300 degrees for 17 minutes. If you have an oven thermometer. This is a really good time to use make sure your oven’s not running too hot or too cold or the macarons aren’t going to come out right without baking. Don’t open the oven door, if you do, you could deflate the macarons.
If your macarons are sticking to the parchment paper after this, it just means they are a little underbaked. You can just pop them back in the oven for a minute or two.
When you take the macarons out of the oven let them cool on the baking sheet for 15 to 30 minutes. When they are done, transfer the macarons to a wire rack to fully dry out and cool before filling.
Now we are going to work on our filling. We are going to go with a really classic vanilla buttercream and we will talk about ways that you can get a little fancy with your fillings a bit later on. So first you are going to cream your room temperature better once it’s really beautiful and fluffy, you are going to sift your powdered sugar into the bowl. Once everything is combined add the vanilla, then you can add one or two tablespoons of heavy cream and mix until it’s incorporated.
Now that the buttercream is done, add it to a piping bag again fitted with a round tip. Pip a dollop into the cookie that’s a little smaller than the size of the actual cookie then press the two sides together and you are good!
Now the part that takes the most patience out of this entire process is that we’d actually recommend that you wait at least 24 hours before you eat your macarons. This will help them develop the best flavor and texture. It’s worth your while to let them rest.
You can flavor your buttercream, you can make chocolate ganache lemon curd… The possibilities are truly endless.
In conclusion, those are the basics of how to get started making macarons, I hope you like it. Remember to be patient, take your time, and practice, practice, practice. With a bit of perseverance, you’ll soon become a master macaron maker!