French Macarons Recipe
Recipe from Bon Appetit
Makes 3 dozen sandwich cookies
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 Cup, lightly packed, Sifted Almond Flour (sift first, then measure. use large pieces for something else)
- 1/2 Cup Egg Whites (from 3 large eggs – it’s ok if measurement is a bit over or under)
- 2 Tablespoons plus 1/2 Teaspoon Granulated Sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Position one rack in the top 1/3 of the oven and one rack in the bottom 1/3 of the oven.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift powdered sugar and almond flour into large bowl.
Using a mixer (not by hand or you won’t get the correct consitency), beat egg whites, sugar, and pinch of salt in medium bowl until medium peaks form. Medium peaks are when you lift the beater and a peak is formed that then has the tip bend over. The tip should not stand straight up (or you’ve over mixed).
Fold in egg white mixture to almond flour mixture.
Working in 2 batches, fill pastry bag fitted with 1/4″ diameter plain pastry tip with batter (batter will be thin and will drip from bag). I did this step in 1 batch using a disposable pastry bag (nothing to clean up, and this batter is really sticky) and no tip. I just snipped a 1/4″ opening in the pastry bag.
Pipe batter in 1 1/4″ rounds on baking sheets, spacing 1″ apart (cookies will spread slightly). I used the “blob” method and a swirl method. I found that making 4 rotations made a nicely shaped cookie (they were slightly larger than 1 1/4″).
Let rest on sheets at room temperature 20 minutes.
Bake cookies 5 minutes at 375 degrees Farenheit. Switch the position of the baking sheets (top to bottom, bottom to top) and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees Farenheit.
Bake cookies until puffed and golden on top, approximately 10 minutes.
Cool cookies on sheets placed on a cooling rack. Carefully peel cookies from parchment paper.
These can be made a day in advance. Store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
The fillings are up to you, but I used the chestnut cream and the spiced ginger caramel that I had made earlier.
(Source: whathefr)
