French Macarons–Not as hard as I thought :)

You know you’ve seen them!  They are everywhere and in every colour.  They are a great accompaniment to any dessert table and because you can make them any colour, they match perfectly with everything.

I’m talking about the French Macarons.  I’ve made coconut macaroons before and well, love them.  These are a wee bit different because they are made with almond flour. Something that doesn’t appear at your regular grocery store.  I got mine at Whole Foods but you can certainly order it online.

So this was more an act of “can I make them?”.  Because I honestly don’t think I’ve ever tried them and that’s usually where I like to start my choice behind what I’m doing.  I also like to try something that so many people have stated aren’t easy to make.  I love a good challenge.  I was also intrigued by the “aging” of the egg white.  I was always told not to eat eggs that have been out, even sealed, more than a couple hours and the recipe wants me to have them sit out for 24 hours.  It was perplexing and therefore I had to give it a go!

So after hunting down almond flour and aging my egg whites for 24 hours, I started to put things together.  Now the recipe calls for sifting and more sifting and more sifting.  I usually use my sieve but the mesh is too small and the almond flour never went through, so there’s my first challenge.  The recipe also says once you mix the almonds flour into the eggs it will be smooth and glossy.  Well I got glossy and not so smooth in that you could still feel and see the almonds.  So again, not sure if that’s right or another challenge I need to fix.  I also piped mine too big, I think, because the recipe says it would make 30 macarons and I got 18, oops!

So they came out of the oven and looked good.  Still not as smooth as other pictures I’ve seen and didn’t wait long enough to remove them from the sheet after baking, so they stuck.  Patience isn’t something I got a lot of.

I went simple with the centers, just plain white chocolates (my fav) and since it’s really all about never having them before, why not?

So the verdict is…OMG

I’m a believer!

I’m still not sure they are right, but they look pretty good and they taste, well, DAMN!  So if you know what I did wrong, please let me know.  I’d love to hear from the experts!

So if you’re like me and never tried them before because either you’ve never heard of them before or you thought they were too hard, GO FOR IT.  Hey, if I can make them, so can you!  Just follow the recipe!

I asked several people about their recipes and in the end they were the same but the directions were different.  So from Ma Cake in Australia I used their recipe and then used Martha Stewarts directions because I don’t do celcius.

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 large aged egg whites, room temperature  (leave them out in an air tight container for 24 hours)
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup caster sugar

1. Pulse confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes.
3. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.
4. Place batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks.
5. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
6. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 10 minutes.  I have a convection so I didn’t have to turn them, but if you don’t then turn the sheet half way. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.
7. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macarons stick, Martha says to spray water for steam to help release, well I just used a really sharp knife to remove them from my silpat.)
8. Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon filling.

So Rowan just got home from pre-school and picked one up.  She asked if we could share and I said sure.  I asked her what she thought and she said they were “pinktastic” with two thumbs up!  So that’s a fairly good endorsement.  She loves almonds which is weird for a 4 year old but she’s also much more adventurous than her sister. But when Abby got home, she gave her two thumbs up too!

So go forth and give it a go!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Mingle Monday
Melt In Your Mouth Monday