they have feet!

As most of you know I could spend a good 2 hours every day looking through my Instagram feed (if we are not following each other find me on Insta @remembereverythingyoucan). One of my favorite bloggers/creators/moms is Holly. Holly is hands down of the most amazing bakers I follow. She loves macarons. No, not the coconut ones - the French ones. (more to come on that) Holly makes macarons for fun and to sell at her local farmers markets and for special occasions. Simply put her pictures of macarons inspired me, and what do I do when I feel inspired? I rally friends to experiment with! I would say that I have created a healthy obsession with the French macaron. They are simple, they are beautiful and they are fun!




Three weeks ago I met up with a good friend (Ms. Erin- pics below) and we set out to spend a Friday evening of trial and error to make at least 1 successful macaroon. That was the goal, 1. Turns out when you mix awesome margaritas, bumpin' 90's toons and the two of us together - seriously epic things happen!




Erin and I scoured the web for Macaron recipes and we still decided that Holly's was the best to go by. We set to work - let me start this part by saying this is a SCIENCE! There is no 'kinda' in this process. You have to follow the recipe precisely, these beauties are finicky. Also, don't save this for a rainy day- humidity=sad macarons and don't rush yourself. This took Erin and I from 5 PM to 12 AM - so prepare yourself for that.




Recipe: adapted from Holly - ABM
275 grams finely ground almonds
360 grams icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 cup egg whites (from about 7 eggs) aged at room temperature for 6 hours
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt


We wanted to try two colors so we split this recipe in half and made blue and green macarons. (Bust our the metric conversion chart - we had to too :)  )


Step 1:
We let our egg whites sit out 3 hours for the first batch (blue) and almost 5 hours for the second batch (green). Our suggestion is at least 6 hours and up to overnight. By the second batch we could see a serious difference.




Step 2:
Take the ground almonds place them in a food processor, you want these to be very very fine. We pulsed ours probably 5 or 6 times. Then place in a bowl and sift in the powdered sugar, whisk these two ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Set aside.




Step 3:
We used a KitchenAid mixer and strongly recommend it! So remember that when we speak to the speed of mixing. You may need to adjust you mixing times or speeds to meet your mixer.


Add the egg whites, granulated sugar and salt to the mixing bowl and attach the whisk attachment. Turn the mixer up to a 4 and whip for 2 minutes (use a timer) If you want to add food coloring do it now. Only use GEL food coloring, the liquid version will mess with the science.


Increase the speed to 6 and whip for 2 minutes.


Increase the speed to 8 and whip for the final 2 minutes.


You should have VERY stiff peaks -I'm talking like the best hair mousse you have ever seen stiff.




Step 4:
This is no joke the hardest part. Your arm will literally burn from the workout you are about to get. If you think that you will need to stop at any point go get your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, teenager, neighbor or friend and have then keep going when you get tired because this need to happen quickly and consistently.


Grab a silicone spatula and poor about half of the ground almond/sugar mixture into the egg whites. Start by folding the two into each other. You will notice that you can see the texture of the dry ingredients - you need to use the back of the spatula an press/spread it against the side of the bowl while you are turning the bowl. (I know it sounds crazy, we watch MANY a YouTube video to figure out this skill) You need to do this until you feel the mixture is well incorporated and with out taking all the air our of the egg whites. Once that batch it combined you need to add the remainder of almond/sugar mixture together and do it all over again. ;)


It took us about 3-5 minutes each time to get this ready for the piping bag.


Our favorite instructional YouTube for "Macaronnage" is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rMIJmG14CM




Step 5:
Fill a piping bag fitted with a #12 tip with the batter.




Step 6:
We placed a silicon mat on a baking sheet and found this yielded the best macarons. In a pinch you can use wax paper. We liked the mat because the bottom of the macaron held up very well when we removed them. You need the "shell" to remain intact so that the filling doesn't ooze through.


Pipe circles onto the mat or wax paper leaving at least an inch between each one. When they are all piped, hit the tray against the counter a few times this will get all of the air bubbles out. Let sit on the counter for AT LEAST 15 minutes. If you have the time let them go even longer. This is allowing the "shells" to harden which helps to prevent cracking when baking.




Step 7:
Place the shells in a 300 degree (F) oven for 13 minutes. The timing is hard here. If you know your oven runs high on the temperature side or cooks things more quickly then recipes state adjust this as you see fit.


At the 6 minute mark open the over for 3 seconds and then close it. This lets moisture out.




Step 8:
Remove from the over after 13 minutes and slide the silicon pad or wax paper off of the sheet. You must let the "shells" cool completely before you attempt to remove them or they will break.




Step 9:
Complete until all macarons are baked.




Step 10:
Fill the "shells" with any filling you want. We went way simple on this round because we wanted to focus all of our energy on the cookie itself. We used jam, peanut butter, nutella and honey.




This was one of the most fun things I have ever done! Erin made it such an awesome time! #oneawesomeperson

Piped and set

 

They have feet! (Feet are the sign of success in macaron world - those beautiful edges on the side are the feet)

 

 

This is look of pure happiness! Also, for those of you that don't know this is Erin!

 

Batch 1 - filled with PB and J and Nutella

xoxo - Amanda (and lots of inspiration form the very amazing Erin)