A macaron is a cream-filled and delicately flavored French confection. Note the spelling, which is with only one “o” – this is correct. The meringue-based confection is made from ground almonds, sugar and egg whites. Although the French take credit for the macaron, it is said that these cookies, without filling, had been produced in Venetian monasteries since the 8th century. It wasn’t until the 20th century when the first ganache-filled macaron was produced and sold in a Parisian pastry shop. Since then, macaron has become a very popular delicacy, particularly in Paris – and has been a trendy treat all over the world. Today, you will find all sorts of flavors and colors, with the color indicating the flavor of the macaron.
Store-bought macarons can be expensive but today, we are teaching you how to make this trendy pastry right in your own kitchen. Only use fine quality ingredients with precise measurements and carefully follow every procedure in this recipe to achieve the macaron’s crispy crust with a chewy interior. As you learn to make the macaron, it will surely be simple for you to create any flavor you want.
Ingredients:
This recipe takes about 60 minutes to make. Serves 28 macarons.
Meringue Cookies:
• 1 cup of almond flour
• 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar
• aged egg whites from 3 large eggs
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar
• 2 ½ tbsp fine white sugar
• ⅛ tsp pink gel food coloring
Filling:
• ⅓ cup of room temperature cream cheese
• ⅓ cup of room temperature mascarpone cheese
• 3 tbsp raspberry jam
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
To prepare the meringue, put almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and pulse for 2 minutes.
Sift the mixture to make sure there are no bits of almonds left. Set this aside
Using a stand mixer. beat together egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until you get soft peaks. This will take about 2 to 3 minutes.
Adjust to high speed and beat while gradually adding sugar until stiff and shiny.
Add food coloring and beat for 30 seconds.
Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Gradually fold in almond flour-sugar mixture. Make sure not to over mix the meringue.
Put the meringue in a round tipped piping bag.
Pipe 1 ½ inch rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure you have 2-inch space in between.
Carefully tap the baking sheet on the counter to release any air bubbles in the meringue.
Let the meringue dry for 15 minutes.
Bake in the oven at 300°F for about 16 to 20 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through the baking time.
Take the baking sheet of out from the oven and let the meringues cool for about 10 minutes.
Using a knife or a spatula, gently scrape the bottom of the meringue cookie to release it from the parchment paper. Set aside to cool.
While the meringue cookies are cooling, prepare the raspberry filling.
Whisk together all ingredients cream cheese mascarpone cheese, and jam in a bowl until smooth. Put filling in a piping bag.
To assemble the macaron, pipe enough raspberry filling onto the bottom of one meringue and top it with another. Give the macaron a squeeze to even out the filling.
You may immediately serve the macarons or keep in the refrigerator until your next snack.
Ideas And Tips:
• To make sure you get even sizes of meringue cookies, you can draw round templates on the parchment paper using a cookie cutter as a guide. You can also use silicone macaron baking mats which already have round templates on them.
• The process of aging egg whites reduces the moisture while retaining the proteins in the eggs. It increases the elasticity of the egg whites for better whipping which creates a better meringue. To age egg white, put it in a small bowl covered with plastic wrap. Keep it in the refrigerator overnight.
• If you are in a more humid area, you may have to let the meringue sit to dry for an hour before baking.
images – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZGjl2XavAI
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