Dazzling Macarons

A lot of people say that macarons are hard to make, and I can see that, but when you really know how to do it, then it’s easier. Macarons are meringue based cookies with different flavored fillings. You can change the colors of macarons with paste food coloring, but all the taste comes from the filling.

Les macarons ne sont pas facile a faire! Il faut bien suivre la recette et vous y arriverez! (La version française est si dessous, en rose)

My tips for macarons:

• Always use paste food coloring, liquid food coloring will destroy your batter’s texture.

• Make sure that when your macarons come out of the oven, the macarons have feet on them. (the feet on macarons are when the macarons have a little bubbly bottom and a little bit on the sides)

Bon à savoir: Utilisez du colorant alimentaire en pâte, et non du colorant liquide (sinon votre pate sera trop liquide).

This recipe should make about 40 macarons

Ingredients

For the base of the macaron

• 205 grams of icing sugar (1 ½ cups)

• 190 grams of almond flour (2 cups)

• 144 grams of egg whites, in two different batches 72 grams each (4 eggs worth)

• Paste food coloring (not liquid food coloring because that will ruin the batter)

• 190 grams of caster sugar (¾ cup and 2 tbs)

• 60 ml of water (⅔ cup)

• Sprinkles (optional)

Ingredients pour les [+/- 40] macarons

205 g de sucre glace

190 g d'amandes en poudre

144 g de blancs d’œufs, séparés en 2 bols de 72 g chacun (4 œufs en tout)

du colorant alimentaire en pâte

190 g de sucre

60 ml d'eau

For the ganache (you can use any ganache you want, but this is the one I like)

• 100 ml heavy cream (⅓ cup + ⅛ cup)

• 300 grams of white chocolate (10.5 oz)

Pour la ganache, suivre ma recette ici. (Je n'ai pas mis la recette française pour la ganache ci-dessous, mais vous la trouverez en cliquant sur le lien) Notez bien qu'il va falloir que la ganache soit dans le réfrigérateur pendant 2 heures, alors commencez par la preparation de la ganache.

Directions for the ganache:

(I would recommend that you make this first so that you can put it in the fridge while you are working on the macarons)

Place finely chopped chocolate into a heat-proof glass or metal bowl. We microwaved ours to melt it a bit.

Heat cream on the stove top until just simmering. If it’s boiling, the cream is too hot and could separate or even burn the chocolate. Once you see little simmers around the edges, turn off the heat and immediately pour the warm cream over the chocolate. Stir until smooth.

Place plastic wrap over the top of the mixture so that no air gets in, and place in the fridge for 2 hours.

Remove from the fridge and whip the ganache with an electric mixer.

Directions for the base of the macaron

Put your almond flour and icing sugar in a food processor and pulse it about 16 times because you don’t want to over do it. Putting it through the food processor will help it get super fine. You can also put it through a sifter but I had a hard time with that.

Add 72 grams of egg whites to the ground almonds (almond flour) and icing sugar and then mix it into a paste with a spatula. Make sure that you don’t stir it too much because if you do then the oil from the almonds is going to start coming out. Before you are finished mixing, add the paste food coloring. You want a strong color because it will get lighter.

Cover your batter with some plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge while you do your next step.

Put your caster sugar and your water together in a pot over the stove. If you have a candy thermometer, great! You’ll need to check how hot your caster sugar is getting: it should reach 118 °C (230 °F). If you do not have one, then you can just watch it and when your caster sugar is fully melted, pour in the caster sugar and water down the side of the bowl with the egg whites. Mix for About 5-6 minutes. It should turn into a meringue.

When it’s done it should not be too stiff and it should flop over when you take your wisk out of your batter. With a spatula, carefully add one spoonful of the meringue to the almonds and sugar mix. When that is all mixed in, add the rest of the meringue in and carefully fold over the meringue into the mix. You do this to make sure that you don’t knock out all the air that you just added with your stand mixer or with your hand mixer.

When you're done, the batter should ribbon off your spatula and not sink back into the rest of the batter right away. And if it ribbons off with a V shape, then it’s not ready yet. Pour your batter into a piping bag. Be careful as the batter will be very liquid. Prepare a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, on which you will pipe the macarons. If you want, you can slip a template underneath it. You can print one or draw one if it helps. But there needs to be about an inch between them because they will expand.

Pipe the batter out onto your cookie sheets. This needs to happen very quickly because the batter is very liquid. Tap the cookie sheet against the table because that will bring all the air bubbles up to the top of the macarons and then use a toothpick to patch them back together. Now is when you can add the sprinkles on top.

Let the macaron bases sit on the counter for about 15 - 45 minutes. When they are done sitting around, they should have formed a skin on top so you can skim your finger over it and no batter will get on your finger. Bake the macarons at 330°F or 165°C for about 12 minutes.

Slide the macarons off the cookie sheet to let them cool off. Let them cool for about 15 - 20 minutes.

Pipe a little blob of ganache on half of the macaron shells and pop the others on top!

Version française

1. Commencer par mixer le sucre glace avec la poudre d'amande dans un mixeur. Passer au tamis (il faut que la poudre soit la plus fine possible, enlever les impuretés).

2. Ajouter 72 g de blancs d’œufs à la poudre d’amandes et mélanger à la maryse, mais faire attention de ne pas trop mélanger. Ajouter le colorant, couleur de votre choix !

3. Placer un film plastique sur le mélange et placer dans le réfrigérateur.

4. Battre les autres 72 g de blancs d’œufs en neige.

5. Ajouter le sucre au 60 ml d’eau dans une casserole. Chauffer jusqu’à 118 °C ou jusqu’ à ce que le sucre soit bien fondu.

6. Laisser couler le sucre fondu sur les bords du bol de blancs d’œufs et mixer jusqu'à ce que les blancs soient bien figés. Vous avez maintenant une meringue.

7. Ajouter un peu de meringue dans la poudre d’amande et mélanger délicatement. Continuer d’ajouter la meringue en mélangeant, petit à petit.

8. Mettre la pâte à macaron dans une poche à douille et faire des petits tas sur une plaque recouverte de papier sulfurisé puis laisser reposer les macarons pendant 15 à 45 min.

9. Préchauffer le four à 165°C avec une plaque à l'intérieur pour qu'elle chauffe.

10. Enfourner la plaque de macarons sur la plaque déjà chaude pour 12 min de cuisson (10 min pour un four à chaleur tournante) et porte entrouverte.

11. Une fois cuits, sortir la plaque du four, et verser un peu d'eau sous la feuille de papier sulfurisé. Cela va dégager de la vapeur qui permet de bien décoller les macarons. Laisser les macarons refroidir.

12. Il ne reste plus qu'à les fourrer avec la ganache de votre choix ! Bon appétit !