Macaron Love

The french Macaron craze has hit America with full force the last couple of years.  I had my first real experience with macarons in France over 20 years ago at the famous chocolate shop in Paris called "La Masion du Chocolat".  After tasting them I wanted to learn how to make them but, they just looked too delicate and difficult to make.  

 A couple of months ago I decided it was time to learn how to make a real french macaron.  I took a class on the art of making these delicious little treats.  The teacher of that class's main focus was on making them look perfect.  I wanted them to look good as well, but more importantly I wanted them to taste good, and was having a hard finding a way to make them taste delicious and look perfect.  Then I met a wonderful cook at the Salt lake farmers market, She shared some of her Macarons with me and they were delicious.  She said, "they aren't perfect, but they taste good".  I liked that philosophy.  So below is my recipe for delicious (although sometimes imperfect looking) macarons:

Basic Macaron Recipe

pre-heat oven to 300

-68 gram egg whites, 

(covered and aged at room temp for 12-24 hours)

-34 grams sugar

-75 grams blanched almonds

-136 grams confectioners sugar

Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix until frothy. Add sugar a little at a time, scraping down sides of bowl.  When sugar is incorporated turn mixer to med high and beat until stiff peaks form.  

Combine almonds and confectioners sugar in a food processor until you can not distinguish the almonds from the sugar.  

With a spatula incorporate half of the almond mixture into the egg whites.  This first half you mix slightly vigorously just until almonds are incorporated.  The second half of the almonds mixture should be incorporated gently using a folding technique.  Fold in just until all is combine, not too much.

Fit a large pastry bag with a #6 or #7 tip.  Pipe a 1 inch rounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Now, if you want to try to be perfect you can down load a pattern you put under your parchment. Let Macarons sit on the counter for about an hour so a shell can form.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden.

cool and fill.