Make your own Macarons!

A Macaron (MA-KA-RON) is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal and food colouring.

A lot of people are still figuring out if it is pronounced ‘Macaron’ or ‘Macaroon’.

So, let’s sort this out!

Aside from both being delicious and similar in spelling, macarons and macaroons are entirely different cookies. Who knew right?

First off, a macaroon is coconut-based, whereas a macaron is meringue-based. Macarons range in colour and flavours and macaroons are limited in variety.

Macaroon

Macaron

A typical Parisian-style Macaron is presented with a ganache, buttercream or jam filling, sandwiched between two cookies. Sort of like a sandwich cookie! YUM!

These delicious macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavours and just melt in your mouth!

Let’s make some!

 While we prepare, let’s get the oven ready and preheat it to 180 degrees.

What you will need:
1 1/4 cups plus 1 teaspoon icing sugar
1 cup finely ground sliced, blanched almonds
6 tablespoons fresh egg whites (Approximately 3 extra-large eggs)
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup finely ground granulated sugar
Food colouring of your choice

Step by Step:

• Add the icing sugar to the ground almonds.
• Whisk egg whites with salt until they’re super foamy. Gradually add granulated sugar.*
• Continue to whip until stiff glossy peaks form and then add food colouring you have chosen! With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the icing sugar mixture until it is all mixed together. How cool is it looking now!?
• Use a silicone baking sheet or line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Fit a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch round tip, and fill with your batter.
• Pipe approximately 2.5cm disks onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 5cm between cookies.
• The batter will spread a little. See the photo below for the technique we think works best!
• Make a circular outline and then fill in the middle for the easiest shape.
• Let them stand at room temperature until the outer edge looks “dry” – soft skins will form on the tops of the macarons and the shiny surface will turn dull. This takes about 15 minutes!
• Now, the oven should be ready!
• Bake the macarons with the door of the oven slightly open, until the surfaces of the macarons are completely dry. This also takes about 15 minutes!
• Take the baking sheet and put it on a wire rack so that the macarons can cool down.
• Once they are completely cooled down, verrrrry carefully peel off the parchment. Their tops are easily crushed, so we have to be super gentle removing the macarons from the parchment.
• Time to fill them up with deliciousness!

Jam Filling: (you can fill the completely cooled macarons with jam straight away!)

• Fill a pastry bag with the jam.
• To fill the macarons, once cool, lay them with their flat bottoms face up.
• On half of them, pipe about 1 teaspoon of jam.
• Now take the other side of the macaron and pop it on top like a sandwich.
• Macaron’s that are filled with jam are best served and eaten immediately.

Various Fillings:

Filling #1: Jam (strawberry or raspberry was our choice!)

A simple and fresh filling for macaron is to fill them with jam. We’ve made pink versions with both raspberries and cherries.

Filling instructions:

• Fill a pastry bag with the jam or filling (recipe below.)
• To fill the macarons, once cool, lay them with their flat bottoms face up.
• On half of them, pipe about 1 teaspoon filling.
• Sandwich these with the remaining macarons, flat-side down, pressing slightly to spread the filling to the edges.
• Macaron’s that are filled with jam are best served and eaten immediately.
• If filled with traditional alternative #2 filling, chill until firm, about 1 hour.
  (See below for a 2nd alternative traditional filling*)

Filling #2: Creamy 

The creamy filling is just a bit more complicated but worth it! If you choose the cream, remember you need the macarons to cool for longer (an hour) before you fill them up!

This is how you will make it:

 Traditional Macaron Filling:

What you will need:

3 large egg whites
1 cup of sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces

How to make it:

• Whisk egg whites and sugar together.
• Set mixer bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat mixture, whisking often, until it feels warm to the touch and sugar is dissolved. This should take three to five minutes.
• Whip on high speed until mixture is stiff and shiny, this also takes about three to five minutes.
• Now add the butter, one piece at a time, and continue mixing until the butter is all mixed in.
• Once the filling has cooled, you can add them to the macarons just the same way as you would with the jam filling!
• Noooooow, you can eat them immediately! Or you can store them in a super airtight container. They will last for up to two days in the fridge, and even cooler than that: up to one month in the deep freeze.

Enjoy them and don’t forget to send us your pics of your baked goodies, so that we can share your yummy creations with the world.