A macaron is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. The name is derived from the Italian word macarone,maccarone or maccherone, the Italian meringue.
(Source:Wikipedia)
French macarons are thin, flavorful meringue cookies that are sandwiched together with some kind of filling. The meringues are what make the cookies unique. They have a smooth, crisp shell and a moist, chewy interior. They are made with egg whites and lots of ground nuts, which helps them to attain that chewy texture without drying out and becoming too crispy, like a simple meringue cookie made with just egg whites and sugar.
The macaroon is often confused with the macaron; many have adopted the French spelling of macaron to distinguish the two items in the English language. However, this has caused confusion over the correct spelling. Some recipes exclude the use of macaroon to refer to this French confection while others think that they are synonymous.[3] In reality, the word macaroon is simply the English translation of the French word macaron, so both pronunciations are technically correct depending on personal preference and context.
Undoubtly, macarons are the most famous cookies of the world. With their colourful shells and tasteful fillings, they crown our coffee breaks and tea times. When you follow the right recipe, it is not hard to make your own macarons at home.
(Source: sortrachen.com)
Macrons comes with endless flavors. Here are few of them.
1. Classic French Macaron with Vanilla Buttercream Filling:
2. After Dinner Mint Macarons:
3. Hazelnut Macarons with Chocolate Frangelico Ganache:
4. Chocolate Raspberry Donut Macarons:
5. Lavender Macarons with Lavender-infused Chocolate Ganache:
6. Lavender Macarons with Lavender-infused Chocolate Ganache:
8. Real Strawberries and Cream Macaron:
10. Pistachio and Grapefruit Macarons:
11. Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Macarons:
12. Strawberry shortcake:
13. Gingerbread:
14. Cannoli
15. Hot chocolate:
16. Peanut butter and jelly:
17. Fruity cereal:
18: Red velvet:
19. Raspberry jam:
20: Cotton candy:
(Source: danasbakery.com)
The list of flavors will go on and on.
By now I am sure It must have made you excited to give this thing a try. Here I have found some good recipes. Give it a try. BREAK A LEG!
RECIPE FOR BETH'S FOOLPROOF FRENCH MACARONS
INGREDIENTS3 Egg Whites¼ cup white sugar (50 g)2 cups confectioners sugar (200 g)1 cup almond flour (120 g) (SEE NOTE BELOW)pinch of salt¼ tsp cream of tartar (2 ml) * You can omit if needed, just may take a bit longer to reach stiff peaks but the recipe will still work)
NOTE: If you cannot find almond flour where you live, check out this great video from my new friend Dzung at Honeysuckle Catering and she'll show you a great easy way to make it yourself! bit.ly/WZQ1fZ
RASPBERRY BUTTER CREAM1/2 cup salted butter (120g)3/4 cup powdered sugar (75 g)1 cup (150 g) fresh raspberries, worked through a sieve to extract 3 tbsp of juice
METHOD:Preheat oven to 300F degrees
Beat egg whites until foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar and white sugar for 8-10 mins.
TIP: #1 eggwhites should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.
Whip until they form a peak that stands upright. Think Seattle Space needle.
Then add the food coloring.
TIP#2 Color does fade as it cooks, so do a shade or two darker than you want them to be.
TIP#3 Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on :) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.
Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture.
TIP#4 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macaroons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. In my experience 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time. But again, it can be tricky, depends on how strong you are, Ha! So it can take a few tries to get it right. But when you do, the trumpets will blare and you will feel SO accomplished!
Transfer batter to a pastry bag.
Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.
TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20-30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!
Bake for 20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.
Meanwhile mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Then place sieve on top of a bowl the same size. Work raspberries through the sieve with a spatula, pushing them through, mashing them around until you extract their juice. You want 3 tablespoons of juice.
Add juice to buttercream, and whip until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)
Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell et Voila!
If not eating right away, keep refrigerated.
Master the French Macaron Easy Recipe - HoneysuckleRecipe
Adapted from marthastewart.com
Ingredients:
2 1/2 tbsp sugar1 cup powdered sugar3/4 cup almond flour2 large egg whites, room temperature
Directions:
Sift confectioners' sugar and almond flour until combined. Whisk whites with a mixer on low speed until foamy. Add sugar while Increasing speed to medium and whisk until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the egg whites into the flour and powdered sugar mixture and fold until mixture is incorporated.
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 15 minutes. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon filling of your choice (buttercream, jam, etc). Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months.
*makes 30 (approx.) cookies.
Have a good day making these babies! :)
