I love macarons. They are all the rage right now but they are also very hard to make and it's fun to find a new challenge and master it. They also taste really good! I've read about what other people are guessing the next big trend will be. I haven't seen anything really exciting just yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's going to be elaborate three layer cakes or something crazy like one dessert stuffed into another dessert (like the brookie, my friend Sophia spotted this).
This is the third time I've made macaroons and I think this is my best result so far. My first attempt came out a little chewy (but not bad) and the second pretty good.
I made my first batch all the way back in 2008. Before they were hip! These were vanilla and lemon
These second ones my sister and I made. They were chocolate peanut butter.
This recipe is from April 2010 Delicious magazine.
I thought rose water would be a good flavor for a delicate macaron
Ingredients
175g Icing sugar
125g ground almonds
3 large egg whites (should measure about 90g)
75g caster sugar
½ tsp rose water
pink gel food coloring
Vanilla Bean Filling
1 cup butter
1 pound icing sugar
1 vanilla pod
1. preheat the oven to 160 C. Whizz the icing sugar and ground almonds in a food processor till fine and then sift into a bowl (I don't have a food processor so I skipped that and they came out ok. They'd be smoother with this step).
2. In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks, then gradually whisk in the caster sugar until thick and glossy. Stir in the rose water (or any other flavor you want) add the food coloring.
3. Fold half the almond and icing sugar mixture into the meringue and mix well. Add the remaining half, making sure you use a spatula to cut and fold the mixture until it's shiny and thick, ribbon-like consistency as it falls from the spatula. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle.
I wish I had used more color. It faded when it was in the oven a little bit
4. line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Pipe small rounds of the macaroons about 3cm across, onto the baking sheets. Give the baking sheets a sharp tap on the work surface to ensure a good 'foot'. Leave stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to form a slight skin. This is important - you should be able to touch them lightly without any mixture sticking too your finger. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.
With my batch I got 13 macaroons but they were on the large side
Vanilla Bean Filling
1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the icing sugar ½ cup at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate the frosting, then return to medium. This should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be pale and fluffy.
3. Cut vanilla pod in half and scrape into bowl, and beat until frosting is smooth.
When the macarons are cooled down spread or pipe the filling between two of them. Invite your friends over for a fancy tea!
