Macarons for national macaron day.

March 20 was national macaron day.. And I made these.


And here I am on March 28 posting about it. Just a little behind. I was caught up in doing nitty gritty spring cleaning/rearranging all week, and I'm happy to say that I only have 3 closets, 1 dresser and the pantry left to organize.

Back to macarons, I had a few failed attempts after my first success. I haven't had the chance to buy almond meal (flour) so I've been using my food processor to grind slivered almonds. And I couldn't find the right mix between super chunky almonds and almond butter. I learned my lesson. This time I only pulsed a few times, then sifted, then pulsed, then sifted more, then pulsed, and on and on until i had the right amount of flour on the scale. It was tedious, and I hope I find almond meal at a store soon, but it did in fact work.

For these I used the recipe from an article by tartelette called Demystifying macarons. Download it here. It is a really useful step by step tutorial for making french macarons.

P.S. i saw she&him last night and it was ahhhhmazing. But more on that next time..

French Macarons with chocolate ganache

100g egg whites, aged (in a covered container on the counter for 24 hours, or microwave for 10-20 seconds before using)
50g granulated sugar
200g powdered sugar
110g almond meal

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add granulated sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue.

Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse. It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almonds with it evenly.

Add them to the meringue, and start to give quick strokes at first to break the mass and then slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes.
Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flatten on its own, you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple more folds.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inchs in diameter) onto parchment paper or silpat baking sheets.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on their size. Let them cool completely before filling.

Pipe or spoon your filling of choice on one shell and sandwich with another.


To make the filling:
Melt dark chocolate in microwave safe bowl. Once melted, add cream until desired taste and consistency.


*I'm working on getting my layout to work with bigger pictures in the post. But for now if you would like to see them enlarged, you have to click on them.