So lately I’ve been trying to focus on narrowing down our favourite recipes. Rather than having hundreds of favourites, making the top 20-30 “family favourites” and making them more often, and as a result creating memories/traditions around those recipes.
I definitely was hoping French Macarons wouldn’t be that family favourite. It’s not necessarily the easiest to make (although once you do it a couple of times it gets easier..) But, turns out it’s not the case. Everyone at home just lost their minds over these amazing cookies. They definitely secured their spot on the list of family favourite recipes and I keep getting requests over and over to make them.
French Macarons
Ingredients
100g egg whites (from about 3.5 eggs)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
80g superfine sugar
125g almond flour
125g powdered sugar
food colouring, if desired, 2-5 drops
1/2 tsp vanilla
- For the filling:
4.5oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
4oz cream
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
Directions
- Separate eggs very carefully, being sure not to get any yolks into the whites, or the won't whip. Egg whites whip best when they are at room temperature, so if you can, leave them in a bowl of a mixer, covered with plastic wrap for 40-60 minutes prior to whipping. Whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and whip on medium/medium-high speed to medium peaks. Add vanilla and food colouring, if using. Continue whipping while adding sugar in a very slow steam (over a period of 4-5 minutes) until stiff peaks.
- Sift almond flour and powdered sugar into a bowl.
- In 3 additions, add your dry ingredients to the whipped egg whites. Slowly and carefully fold in the dry ingredients until incorporated, prior to adding more. Keep folding over and over until it turns into honey-like consistency. That's right, we want it quite liquid, but stopping short before it becomes too liquid. The trick is getting some batter onto your spatula and dropping it in ribbons into a shape of "8." If the shape doesn't hold up at all, the batter is overmixed. The "8" needs to hold up but disappear in less than 10 seconds (and reabsorb fully into batter.) That's when the consistency is perfect. Move the batter into a piping bag fit with a medium piping tip. Pipe onto 3 parchment lined baking sheets into 1 inch rounds, 1.5 inches apart from one another. Tap on the counter a couple of times to release bubbles (poke some large ones with a toothpick if needed.) Leave on the counter for 40-60 minutes (to form a skin.) Preheat oven to 300.
- After your macarons sat for 40-60 minutes, bake for 13-15 minutes. I like baking one sheet at a time but you can bake two sheets at once (be sure the rotate the trays after about 7 minutes.) The macarons are done when they are sturdy and no longer wobbly. Cool completely on baking sheets.
- For Ganache. Heat cream gently. Pour over chocolate. Let sit for one minute. Add vanilla, salt and stir into homogenous ganache. Place into the fridge for 20 minutes to cool down, whisk until smooth and similar in texture to peanut butter.
- Spread ganache (or pipe it) in the middle of half of your macarons (turn them upside down.) Top with the remainder of cookies to form little cookie sandwiches. I prefer serving them after they chilled in a fridge for at least 6 hours, for them to soften. Enjoy!
