French macaron kind of seems there is more ways to mess them up than to make them right. Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and almond flour into a large bowl. The first sifting is to break up any of the big clumps and to remove any big pieces of almond flour if you have them. If you want the top of your macaroni to be super soft you are going to pulse them a couple of times in the food processor. Make sure you take it off and kind of shake it around a couple of times to make sure everything on the bottom is getting mixed up.

Do that about 10 times and sift the mixture into an actual bigger bowl and this time you will tap and if there are any big lumps remaining just toss them out. For the up, the egg whites you are going to add room temperature egg whites that have been aged in the refrigerator overnight and you cannot use pasteurized egg whites because they won’t turn out. Start whisking up those egg whites until they are a little bit foamy and go ahead and sprinkle in your sugar gradually like a teaspoon at a time so that way the sugar has time to incorporate into those egg whites and get nice and homogeneous.

Once the egg whites turn white and foamy and you can see some lines forming in the surface from the whisk, go ahead and add cream of tartar to stabilizes the egg whites. Once the cream of tartar is added whip those on medium until soft glossy peaks form. At this point go ahead and add in your flavoring which is vanilla so add the vanilla to the meringue during the soft peak stage and keep mixing on medium-high until you get stiff peaks that start gathering and bunching on the inside of the whisk until it is nice and thick for about 3 or 4 minutes. Add 1/3 of your almond mixture to the meringue, to begin with.

Start folding by just running the spatula under the batter and around the edges and then cut through the center until almond flour is mixed in. Continue with the rest of the almond flour and folding until homogenous and gently press the spatula on top of the batter while you turn the bowl and then agitate again. Your meringue is ready when it forms a ribbon off the spatula and the batter that settles almost dissolves all the way back into the rest of the batter but still leaves a bit of a line.

Fill the batter in the piping bag then place a parchment paper on a sheet pan and pipe small rounds about 1″ in diameter onto the parchment just until you are almost to the size of a circle and stop and lift it. Next, take your pan and drop the pan onto the table 5-6 times above the table to release bubbles. You should see little bubbles coming to the surface and you will also see little bumps so you can use a toothpick to remove big pockets of air trapped under the surface.

Use a very small amount of water on your fingertip to smooth any rough spots. Do this quickly because they start developing the shells really fast unless it is super humid and if it is humid you need to turn your ac on to warm the room and make them develop the shells. You can also take your finger and dip it in a little bit of water and push those down and you will get super smooth shiny tops. Set them aside near your space heater until you can touch them and they have a nice crust formed on the top this will take about 30 minutes – 2 hours or until a dry film develops over the surface of the cookie.

For the ganache, get semi-sweet chocolate you can use milk or dark and heavy cream and you could heat the heavy cream on the stove and pour it over like you make a traditional ganache but we are just going to microwave it. Place all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and microwave for one minute. Let sit for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth then heat for another 15 seconds if not fully melted. Place into the fridge for 20 minutes then whisk until smooth

After 35 minutes the surface of the macaron are firm you can press down a little bit and it does not damage the macaron and you can literally feel the skin. Bake at 320ºF for about 14-15 minutes or until lightly browned. If not quite brown baked, bake for an additional 1 minute. Cooled cookies should pull away from the parchment paper without sticking. If they do stick, they were not baked enough.

Let cool fully before removing from the parchment and filling with ganache. Take a couple that is of the same size and fill one with the prepared ganache you can use buttercream you can use curd and whatever you want it is up to you. Macaron tastes even better the second day so you can put them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Shells can be frozen for 6 months in an airtight container and take them out when you want them.

Ingredients;

  • 50 grams (0.5 cup + 1 teaspoon of almond flour) of almond flour
  • 114 grams( 1 cup) powdered sugar
  • 7 grams of cocoa powder
  • 57 grams egg whites aged overnight in the fridge and brought to room temperature
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 28 grams (1/8 cup) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt

Chocolate Ganache;

  • 2 ounces heavy cream
  • 2.5 ounces chocolate semisweet, milk or dark
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions;

  1. Preheat oven to 320ºF and line a 1/2 baking sheet with the macaron template and parchment paper
  2. Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and almond flour, twice if not blended.
  3. Pulse the mixture in a food processor 8-10 times to make the almond flour mixture even finer and texture and to blend the ingredients together.
  4. Whip the egg whites on low to frothy consistency and slowly add the sugar in thirds.
  5. Once the egg whites turn white and you can see some lines forming in the surface from the whisk, add cream of tartar, whipping on medium until soft glossy peaks form.
  6. Add the vanilla to the meringue during the soft peak stage. Then continue whipping on medium-high until you get stiff peaks that start gathering and bunching on the inside of the whisk.
  7. Add 1/3 of your almond mixture to the meringue. Fold your spatula under the batter and around the edges and then cut through the center until almond flour is mixed in. Continue with the rest of the almond flour and folding until homogenous.
  8. Gently press the spatula on top of the batter while you turn the bowl to take out some of the air from the meringue. Continue folding around the outside edge until the batter forms a ribbon and moves like lava.
  9. Your meringue is ready when it forms a ribbon off the spatula and the batter that settles almost dissolves all the way back into the rest of the batter but still leaves a bit of a line.
  10. Place parchment paper onto your sheet pan. Pipe small rounds about 1″ in diameter. Use a template if needed
  11. Drop the pan onto the table 5-6 times from about 5″ above the table to release bubbles. Use a toothpick to remove big pockets of air trapped under the surface. Use a very small amount of water on your fingertip to smooth any rough spots.
  12. Allow drying, uncovered until a crust forms on the surface. About 30 minutes – 2 hours or until a dry film develops over the surface of the cookie. For humid areas put a space heater nearby to help dry the cookies faster.
  13. Bake at 320ºF for about 14-15 minutes or until lightly browned. If not quite brown baked, bake for an additional 1 minute. Cooled cookies should pull away from the parchment paper without sticking. If they do stick, they were not baked enough.
  14. Let cool fully before removing from the parchment and filling with ganache. Cookies can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Shells can be frozen for 6 months in an airtight container.

For the ganache;

  1. Place all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and microwave for one minute. Let sit for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth. Heat for another 15 seconds if not fully melted.
  2. Place into the fridge for 20 minutes then whisk until smooth. It should be the texture of peanut butter.