Am I macaron mad?
I’ve never actually seen, or even tasted a macaroon, but after reading post after post about these beautiful delicacies by many food bloggers I held them in the highest regard as one of the most delightful yet difficult petit fours in the dessert world. Because of the the difficulty rating that everyone seemed to give them, I’d never even thought about attempting them till yesterday.
Well, you can see how well that adventure went.
Call it sheer bloody-mindedness, but yesterday’s failure only strengthened my resolve to beat these meringue-based marvels into submission of the tastiest kind.
I followed these instructions pretty much to the letter
I was unwilling to try the same recipe, so after some googling, I found this recipe at A La Cuisine which I thought I’d give a shot, as, y’know, a real person had actually tried it and not some airy fairy chef. The only point at which I deferred from the instructions was the last bit - I was scared of over-mixing and I didn’t quite get it “flowing like magma”.
Look at those puffy, well-formed feet!
Mmm, macaroon-y goodness!
It worked out fine, except that after the first tray left the oven, I began to have a sneaking suspicion that my oven temperature was off. After they had cooled and I tried to remove them, they could not be pried off the baking paper to save my life. However, with the second tray I left them in much longer and they turned out pretty much spot on, as you can see above 
They are crunchy with a chewy centre, and a beautiful combination of flavour and texture!
Plain macaroon with bittersweet chocolate ganache filling.
I’ve adapted the original recipe ever so slightly as they were far too sweet for my liking (but tasted fine once paired with the creamy, intense, almost bitter dark chocolate ganache) with a few additional notes from my own learning experience today 
French Almond Macaron
Ingredients
3/4 cup (150g) pure icing sugar
1 cup (110g) commercial ground almonds (much drier than grinding them yourself)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp (105g) egg whites at room temperature*
1/4 cup (65g) castor sugar
pinch of salt
*measure out your egg whites the night before, leaving them out, uncovered, at room temperature to slightly dry out and thicken.
1. Sieve the almond flour and icing sugar seperately, then mix them together and set aside.
2. In a large, clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites with salt on medium speed till they are foamy. Increase the speed to high and slowly add the castor sugar (1 tbsp at a time), and continue to whip till you have stiff peaks (the whites should be firm and shiny).
3. With a flexible spatula, gently fold in the icing sugar/almond mixture into the egg whites till completely incorporated. The mixture should be shiny and ‘flow like magma’. When small peaks dissolve to a flat surface, stop mixing. Line a heavy baking tray with a silicone baking mat and parchment (the heavy tray and silicone mat are to ensure even heat distribution).
4. Pipe the batter onto baking sheets in 1 inch circles, between 1cm - 1.5cm tall. Firmly tap the baking tray against the tabletop to remove air bubbles, and leave in a dry area of the room to dry out for 1 or 2 hours to allow skins to form. You’ll know that the skin has formed when you can lightly press your finger against the piped form and bring it away clean without a single trace of wetness or stickiness.
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 160 degrees C for roughly 20 minutes with a wooden spoon to prop open the oven door, rotating the tray after 10 minutes for even baking. Keep an eye on them, and once the macaroon can be easily pushed off the parchment, remove them immediately. If they are still sticking to the sheet, they are undercooked.
6. Place the parchment on a cooling rack, and leave to completely cool. Once cool, pair them up with other halves of similar size, then pipe filling onto one half and sandwich them. Refrigerate to allow the fillings to harden and flavours to meld, and remove from refrigerator 20 minutes before serving.
They taste sooooo good!
Flavour & Filling Options
Ordinary Buttercream
100g butter
35g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean)
Beat together till well combined, then chill till firm enough to pipe.
or
Italian Buttercream
2 egg whites (60mL)
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, roughly diced
Whisk together the egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl bain-marie style (over a pot of simmering water) and heat the mixture, whisking often, for 3-5mins or till it feels warm and sugar has dissolved.
Remove from heat and whisk on high speed till stiff and shiny. Add the butter slowly, one cube at a time, and continue to mix till all the butter is combined. Add any flavourings and refrigerate till firm enough to pipe.
or
Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache
Equal parts bittersweet chocolate and cream
Melt bain-marie style, then mix till combined and leave to cool, mixing occasionally.
You can also:
- Mix in 1/4 cup strained strawberry jam into the buttercream.
- Sift in 2 tbsp Dutch-process coca powder with the icing sugar for the macaroon batter.
- Replace part of the almond powder with another nut powder such as hazelnut.
- Scrape seeds from 2 vanilla beans and add to almond meal mix. Add 2 tsp vanilla. extract to butter cream.
- Add 1 tbsp coffee powder to egg whites. Add 1 tsp coffee powder to butter cream.
- Mix pistachio paste into butter cream.
- Add a little lemon juice and zest to butter cream.
- Add 1 1/2 tbsp chestnut paste to meringue after adding icing sugar, and 1 tbsp to 1/2 butter cream and 2 tbsp to other 1/2 of butter cream.
- Add 2 tbsp matcha (green tea powder) to butter cream.
- Toast 2 tbsp sesame seeds then grind and push through a sieve. Mix into batter when combining icing sugar with almond meal. Process 2 tbsp sesame seeds and push through a sieve, then mix into butter cream.
Technorati Tags: macaroon, macaron, petit four
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Comments
Cin - that’s a shame 
Next time I make a batch, I’ll put some aside for you You can taste-test them for me and tell me how authentic they are to the real French product!
Well, I’ll be horn swaggled, now you’ve got me craving French Almond Macaron Sandwiched with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache!
Could I just come for tea? I could bring some dog biscuits for Mr Woofy.
Tanna - Mr. Woofy and I would love to have you over for some tea and macarons! I’ll put the kettle on and we can sit in the backyard and enjoy a nice cuppa with a couple of sweet bites! Oh, Mr. Woofy just asked me to remind you not to forget his biscuits
Rachel - I know! You should have seen me when the first tray developed feet - I was singing and dancing around like a lunatic
Ivonne - Thank you That means a lot coming from such a great cook and photographer as yourself!
Mmmm, I love macaroons! And almond is my favorite kind. Your’s look really beautiful. I can’t believe it’s your first time, they look like the kind you’d buy at a bakery.
Natalia - Shucks, thank you 
I could put it down to beginner’s luck, but I think it has to do with the recipe I used, it was simple, straightforward and easy to follow You should give them a try!
Paz - Thanks hon!
my hats off to you! The macaroons look incredible, like a seasoned patissier had baked them. I don’t think it’s beginners luck at all, it’s a gift!
Jen - aww man, you’re going to make me blush! I do seriously think that a combination of the dry air, cold and recipe are what made these turn out so well - we’ll see wht happens when I try then next
Lis - I know! Eek! It’s so exciting! My lovely French lass said that they were superb, which is fantastic as she grew up eating these things! Hurrah
Those picts are absolute beautiful specimens ! I don’t normally get quite THAT excited by pictures of sweets and such–but there is something there that is making my mouth water like crazy! **wiping**
Kevin - it’s the chocolate The macarons were good, but anything with bittersweet chocolate ganache gets pulse racing! Hehehe, glad you think they look purty!
What a saga!
I’m glad you stuck with it and found something that worked.
I too have a regular glut of egg whites because of all the ice cream I’m making. They wind up being used in very pointy cakes or in omelettes–I should try this macaron recipe–thanks!
j
Jasmine - Hehehe, thanks hon Egg whites are fantastic, they have so many uses What’s this pointy cake you speak of though??
Wow! These are beautiful and very delicious-looking.
So, a question though - how many eggs, approximately, make up 1/4 cup of egg whites?
Hi Faith - To be honest, I don’t think there’s an exact for the 1/4 cup and 2 tbsp measurement, and there’s also the problem of eggs having varying sizes and amounts of yolk. If you’re using eggs that are from a large pack (I don’t know how they’re sized in the US, but in Australia we get small, regular, large, extra large and jumbo), which is a total weight of 600grams, it would be roughly around 1 1/2 - 2 egg whites - but that is a really rough guess!
I’ve just used a metric converter and it says that 1/4 cup is equal to:
¼ litre(s)
250 millilitre(s)
0.53 or approximately ½ US pint(s)
8.45 US fluid ounce(s)
I don’t know if that’s going to help at all, but I hope so
Mmmmm, you’re making me miss macarons and I don’t have any plans to visit Paris again in the near future!!!