French Macarons

French macarons are one of my most favorite things to make. They are so pretty and delicate. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the feet grow in the oven telling you that your technique was perfect.

Seriously, doesn’t just looking at it feel good?

This recipe is a simple vanilla french macaron that you can color whatever you want.  Don’t use regular food coloring as the liquid messes with the delicate macaron batter. Gel  food coloring is better because it’s highly pigmented and a little bit goes a long  way.

I decorated my macarons with gold leaf as I made these for the same wedding where I made gold leafed cashew fudge. I wanted everything to be all matchy matchy.  

I filled mine with salted caramel buttercream as it’s my preferred filling. But you can fill it with jams, jellies, plain old caramel, or any other flavored buttercream you want. Just follow my super precise directions and I promise you’ll be on your way to dancing with happy feet 🙂

French Macarons

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• Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
• Yield: 30 macarons 1x

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Ingredients

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• 2/3 cup almond flour
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 4 oz egg whites, about 3 large eggs
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• gel food coloring

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Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 F
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the powdered sugar and almond meal.
3. The egg whites should be room temperature. You can do this two ways: 1) Leave out your eggs during the day or overnight 2) Submerge the eggs in lukewarm water for 4-5 minutes, or until they aren’t cool to the touch. I like usuing the water method personally.
4. Pour your egg whites into your mixer and mix on medium- low (setting 4 on my Kitchenaid) until it starts to foam. Once it’s foamy, add the cream of tartar. Let this mix for another 30 seconds, and then add sugar gradually in a smooth stream over the bowl as it is running. Once you add all the sugar- set that sucker to 10 and let it whip! At about 4 minutes- stop the mixture and check for stiff peaks. If it droops, then keep mixing and check in a minute.
5. Sift half of the powdered sugar/almond meal mixture into the bowl with the meringue. Add vanilla and gel food coloring.
6. Fold until you have incorporated all the dry ingredients and then sift in the other half the powdered sugar/almond meal mixture. Fold that in as well.
7. Now you can either fill a piping bag or freezer bag with the meringue. I used a freezer bag with the corner snipped off and it worked great for me. Cover your baking sheets in parchment paper or a Silpat if you have one. Pipe 3/4 inch circles by piping at a 90 degree angle (straight above) the baking sheet with even pressure and then swirling the tip when you release to make sure you don’t have a peak. IF you do get peaks- don’t stress it- use a lightly wet finger to push them down. Once the all the macaron shells are piped, bang the sheet 5 times on the counter and rotate and bang 5 more time. This flattens the macarons and lets the air bubbles out.
8. Now let them rest for about 15 minutes- 2 hours (depends on weather) to form a “skin”. The “skin” of the shells will firm up and prevent the macaron from cracking, so when trapped moisture wants to get out, it leaves through the bottom of the shell, creating the lovely “feet” of the macaron. You can tell they are ready when you touch the outside lightly and it doesn’t stick to your finger. They will also look a little shiny too.
9. Bake macarons one sheet at a time. Place rack on the very top level in your oven and bake for 13 minutes, rotating 180 degrees at 5 minutes. You’ll see the feet starting form if everything went right!
10. Cool macaron shells completely. This will help the macarons release easily from the parchment paper or Silpat. Now you can fill them up with whatever filling you choose and enjoy! You can store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the fridge, but make sure to let them sit out for 1 hour before eating them. Macarons straight out of the fridge are a funky texture that isn’t so tasty.

Notes

Adapted from Beach House Kitchen

• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 40 minutes

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