Okay, macarons are not easy. I spent an entire day in the kitchen, burnt my thumb, and attempted SEVEN times before I got it right.
So many things go into macaron success: Oven temp How long you beat the egg whites How many times you fold the egg whites with the almond/sugar mixture How large or small you pipe them Where your oven rack is How much food dye you add The list goes on...
Here is my foolproof way of making macarons (for MY oven). But remember, each oven is different so don't expect to succeed the first time! Good luck :-)
Ingredients:
Macarons
120 g ground almonds 240 g icing sugar 144 g egg whites (room temp is best) 72 g granulated sugar Marshmallow filling 4 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Prepare a piping bag with a 1/2 inch circular tip and put in a tall glass. Set aside. In a food processor, combine almond flour and powdered sugar and pulse about 10 times until everything is super fine. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in sugar and beat for another 5 minutes until stiff peaks form. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down and nothing will fall out. Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites and using a spatula, mix roughly 40 times. You should be pressing the air out of the egg whites against the side of the bowl as you mix. The consistency should be like 'lava'. You can test it by being able to write a figure-8 with the ribbons falling off the spatula. Move just half the mixture into the piping bag (too much will be heavy and leak out the tip). Pipe rounds using a 1.75 inch macaron template underneath your parchment paper - you can easily find this with a google search. Hold the piping bag straight up and pipe rounds that JUST fill the circle on your template. Once complete, let the macarons sit for at least half an hour until the outsides are no longer sticky. Bake for 16-18 minutes at 300 degrees. Remove from oven and let tray sit (I find it's best to let it sit overnight so they are easy to peel off the parchment). Melt 2 squares of bakers chocolate and place in a narrow glass wide enough for a macaron shell to be dipped. Dip one half the shells in the chocolate mixture and let dry for at least an hour. In the meantime, make the marshmallow filling. Marshmallow filling Fill a pot with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer. In a separate heatproof bowl, mix together egg whites, sugar, cream of tarter and salt. Bring heatproof bowl mixture overtop of the simmering water and whisk until it reaches 120 degrees F. Remove from heat. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip until peaks form and when you lift it with a spoon, it holds its shape. Using a piping bag with a star attachment (it's pretty with this) pipe star blobs of marshmallow filling onto the other half of the un-dipped macarons. You can either toast the marshmallow filling with a blow torch if you like that true campfire vibe, or leave as is. Both are delish! Top the marshmallow filling with remaining chocolate dipped macaron shells.
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