Macarons: the most beloved French dessert. These little sweet bites can seem very daunting to make for, well, everyone except for the experienced baker. I have narrowed down the easiest- and effortlessly delicious- recipe for first time macaron makers (like myself.) After scouring Pinterest for way too long, I figured out the basic ingredients and tips that will make these macarons much more manageable. I referenced the blog Ahead of Thyme’s recipe for the basic macaroon cookie (linked at the end of the article) for the proportions and grew from there. I chose to turn my cookies pink and make a raspberry buttercream filling so they are perfect for Galentine’s day tea!
Ingredients:
¾ Cup almond meal/flour
1 Cup powdered sugar
2 Egg whites
¼ cup sugar (granulated)
½ tsp vanilla extract
For the filling:
Half a stick of butter (about ¼ cup)
1 Cup powdered sugar
~1 tsp milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
~2 tbsp wild raspberry preserves (jam of choice)
Making the cookie:
1. Mix powdered sugar and almond flour into a bowl to set aside for later; make sure there is no chunks.
2. Crack two eggs and separate so you only have the egg whites. In a large bowl beat the egg whites with an electric beater until they are expanded and fluffy so when you pull the beater out they stand up. This will take some time so don’t be discouraged, it took me about 2-3 minutes. After that, add the granulated sugar to the eggs and beat again until the the formula becomes shiny and the points are stiffer when you take out the beater. This will take an additional 2-3 minutes, but it is so important! Add the vanilla extract and beat one more time until it’s evenly mixed in.
3. It is now time to add the powdered sugar and almond flour mixture that we all forgot about during our journey with the eggs. Add this mixture gradually, folding it in until all of the dry ingredients are in and then fold until there is no visible dry ingredients. Once it is thoroughly combined, do not keep mixing! It will look glossy but that is what you want.
4. I separated my batter and put a drop or two of pink food coloring into one half because I was getting to the February Valentine’s day spirit, but this is completely optional.
5. Put your batter into a piping bag with a half inch piping tip. If you do not have this, then no stress! Get a handy dandy Zip-Lock bag and snip one of the corners, it might be harder to control but it will still work. Pipe about one and a half in circles as perfect as you can onto a parchment paper lined baking tray, these will be the exact shape that your cookies bake into. Tap the tray on your countertop so all the air bubbles get released and the cookies are flat on top. This will create a smoother cookie (next time I will spend a little more time at this step making my macarons picture perfect.)
6. Set your oven to 325 F and let your cookies sit for 20-30 minutes so the tops can have a nice glazed look to them. After this, bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on how hot your oven tends to be) and rotate your tray halfway through your baking time. You will know when they are done when the cookies have risen slightly so they have that cute frilly edge that macarons have, do not overbake! They should be able to come off the pan with no effort. Set to cool on a cooling rack while you make your filling.
Making the filling:
1. Beat your butter, milk, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Add powdered sugar until you get the consistency you desire, but it shouldn’t be so thick that is is hard to pipe. This is pretty much a basic frosting.
2. Add the wild raspberry preserves and mix until thoroughly combined. Keep tasting and adding raspberry until you reach your desired flavor (and because it tastes like heaven.)
3. Add this to a piping bag with a smaller tip and pipe onto the bottom of half of the macaron cookies. When piping the filling make sure you focus it on the middle and not the outer edges of the cookie because when you sandwich them the filling will spread and you do not want it leaking over.
4. Sandwich the cookies with filling to the cookies without and tah-tah! Marvelous pink macarons.
Ahead of Thyme blog referenced in the beginning: https://www.aheadofthyme.com/2017/02/classic-french-macaron-with-vanilla-buttercream-filling/
All photos were taken by Kate Rutz-Robbins