French Macarons
These pretty macarons below are French macarons, which I used green tea buttercream as the filling.
The other macarons on my blog are actually Italian macarons that I made using the Italian meringue method. I think the French meringue method is much easier than the Italian meringue method while making macarons.
French macarons, in my opninion, look better than Italian ones. However, I have to admit that Italian ones taste a lot better with softer insides. But, because French macarons are so much easier, I know that I will be making these more. The photos below are still French macarons - I just used some red food coloring and used a different filling than the macarons above.
On my Italian macarons blog post, I actually said that macarons weren't that tasy as much as other cookies. I still agree. At the same time, there's something really obsessive about macarons and I find myself making them again and again.
Now that I've tried the French and Italian method of macarons, I want to say that for the French method, practice makes perfect. But for the Italian method....it's a little harder. But right now since we're looking at French macarons, I'll say that you just need to know some tips about acheiving the right consistencies...Today I'm sharing those important steps about making French macarons.
French Macarons (Yields about 15 Macarons)
Ingredients
-110g almond meal -100g powdered sugar -84g egg whites -80g sugar -liquid food coloring (optional) -buttercream of your choice
Steps
First, line two pans with parchment paper. You may want to use a macaron template by sliding printed out papers with circles under the parchment paper.
Prepare your piping bag by fitting it with a wide, round tip and placing it in a glass. Fold the tip of the piping bag so that once it is filled, the batter does not slide out. Fold the edges of the piping bag outwards over the glass as well.
1. Sift together the almond meal and powdered sugar about 3-4 times until very powdery and fine. Discard any large bits of almond that do not go through the sieve. This step is important for smooth macaron surfaces.
2. With a hand-mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. It is very important to have stiff peaks, not soft peaks, when making macarons. Add the liquid food colouring (I added some drops) and beat until incorporated. Ensure that even after adding the liquid, you still have stiff peaks.
3. Add the almond meal and powdered sugar to the meringue. This step is very crucial, called the macronage. Fold and smear with a spatula until the mixture is like lava and falls in ribbons. You have to obtain this consistency for a macaron batter. Once you've reached it, do not mix any further.
4.Fill your piping bag with the macaron batter. You might want to fill it with half of the batter then pipe the other half later.
5. Pipe mounds of batter on the lined baking pans, twirling and lifting off after each pipe. You can make the macarons any size you want, just make sure that as you pipe, you space the macarons out and pipe them round. Although macarons do not spread during baking, they spread during piping!
6. This is a very important step as well: drying. Today the weather was humid so I had to dry the piped macarons for 4 hours. Ensure that you dry them until they are dull and tacky. If you do not, feet will not develop however good you made the macaron batter. Once the shells are dry, you can slide out the paper templates (if you used them).
Preheat your oven at this point to 150 degrees C.
7. Bake the macarons in the oven for about 15 minutes until they are slightly golden brown around the bottom edges. Let them cool completely.
8. Make the buttercream of your choice, transfer it to a piping bag with a plain tip, and pipe buttercream onto one side of the bottom of a macaron shell. Then gently press on another shell, creating a sandwiched cookie.
Enjoy!
Macaron recipe adapted from honeykki. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxSaqEbJh2s