French Macaroons, & GIVEAWAY!

Today my friend Holly and I got together and made some macaroons. We had been wanting to take on the challenge for a while, and we actually tried to make them yesterday and hit a road block with the egg whites, but we persevered today and finally got them done! Also, Derek, who is a French food connoisseur said they tasted good! So, basically, this recipe rocks!

 

Original Recipe: Cakejournal.com

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cup ground almonds (make sure to grind more than 1 1/8 cup, it has to be that when they're grounded not before!)
• 3 egg whites, aged 1 day at room temperature covered with cling film
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:

Mix the powdered sugar together with the ground almonds in a food processor.

In a large bowl, whip the egg whites with a hand- or stand mixer. 

As the egg whites start foaming, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue whipping until the mixture is glossy and stiff. 

You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the meringue sliding out!

Fold the dry mixture into the meringue using a spatula. 

Add food coloring if desired and fold until fully mixed. 

The mixture should flow like a ribbon when you hold up the spatula. 

Don’t overmix! If you want to test if the batter has good consistency, just dollop some batter on a piece of parchment paper. If the dollop slowly “flattens”, you’re good to go! If not, just keep folding.

If you want to color your macarons, it’s generally better to use powdered food coloring, or pastes that are low in liquid.

If you, like me, find it difficult to fill a pastry bag with only two hands, put your piping bag in a tall glass or jar.

Fill your piping bag and pipe the macarons onto baking sheets, I usually end up with two sheets. 

Remember that the shells will “flatten” once you’ve piped, so don’t make them too big. About 2,5-3 cm (1 inch) is enough.

Let them set for 60 minutes to form a dry skin.

Heat the oven to 300°

Bake for 10-12 minutes in the middle of the oven. 

Keep a close eye on them the last couple of minutes as they brown easily. 

You can test if they are done by touching the tip of a macaron, if it “wobbles” they are not done.

Let the shells cool completely before removing them from the baking sheets. 

If you have trouble removing them from the paper, put them back in the oven for a couple of minutes. 

Pipe your filling of choice on a shell and sandwich together with another shell.

Vanilla swiss meringue buttercream

-2 large egg whites
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 cup softened butter (cut in pieces)
-1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together egg whites and sugar in a heat-proof bowl. Put the bowl in a double-boiler with simmering water. Keep whisking until the mixture reaches 65 degrees C (150 degrees F). Remove from heat. Start whipping the mixture with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until it is white and fluffy, like meringue. Whip until cool, this can take up to 10 minutes. Add the butter slowly, piece by piece and keep whipping for another 3 minutes. If the mixture looks soupy and grainy, don’t give up! Just keep whipping and it’ll come together. Add the vanilla or any other type of flavoring and whip until fully combined.

Don't forget about the GIVEAWAY, it closes next Friday, so get your entries in!