French Macarons

1-7/8 cups (210 g*) powdered sugar
2-1/5 cups (210 g*) Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour
5 large egg whites, (150 g*), divided
1 cup (190 g*) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml*) water
(Optional) Gel Food Coloring

*Note about scale:
Macarons have an extremely low tolerance for error. Volumetric measurement can result in a HUGE variance in the amount of ingredients used. I would strongly suggest weighing your ingredients.

Almond Paste
Place ground almonds and powdered sugar into food processor, pulse about 20 times. Sift into a large bowl, discarding any large pieces. Do not push large pieces through sifter. Add 75g (half) of the egg whites to the bowl. Thoroughly mix together to form a paste. Feel free to be aggressive with your mixing. When combined, cover and set aside.

Meringue
Add remaining 75g of egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and set aside.

Meanwhile, put white sugar and water into a small pot, and turn on medium-high. Once mixture heats to 230°F, turn mixer to high and beat egg whites.

When sugar mixture reaches 244°F and egg whites have reached stiff peaks (but not dry), SLOWLY drizzle the sugar mixture into the beating egg whites. Make sure that the stream is slow and drizzles down the side of the bowl. 

Continue to beat the meringue until it reaches the ‘bird beak’ stage. Add food coloring, if desired, at this point and quickly mix into meringue. Don’t overmix. 

Add a large dollop of meringue (about 1/3 of it) to the almond paste. Work it in to make it easier to work with. It’s okay to be aggressive at this point! You don’t need to worry about knocking the air out with this small amount.

Add the rest of the meringue into the bowl and FOLD it in this time. Be gentle and careful not to overmix or over-deflate the meringue. The mixture is ready to be piped when it ribbons off your spatula. If it is coming off in large V shaped chunks it will need to be folded further.

Add mixture into a piping bag with a medium to large sized round tip (1/2″ works well). Fit a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. To make macarons uniform in size, you can draw circular stencils on a separate piece of parchment and place it under the one that you will be piping onto. (An easy way to to do this is trace around the bottom of a 1-1/2″ diameter glass). You can also invest in a macaron mat.

Hold the piping bag straight up and perpendicular to baking sheet. I try to make my macarons around 1-1/2” in diameter.

Once they’re all piped, lift the baking sheet straight up (6-8″ above counter) and drop it a few times to shake loose any air bubbles from the macarons. If some air bubbles still remain, use a toothpick to gently poke them out. 

Preheat oven to 300°F, or 275°F for convection oven. While the oven is preheating, it is critical to allow the macarons to sit for at least 30 minutes (preferably an hour) and form a skin. This skin will ensure the macarons bake up and not out, giving them those classic “feet.” You know the macarons are ready to be baked when you can graze your finger across them lightly and not get any batter sticking to your finger.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Your bake time will depend on the size of your macarons. Check them at the 15 minute mark, and if they are not ready, keep checking every minute. The macarons are ready when the tops are firm and do not move around their base at all. 

Allow the macarons to cool completely before attempting to remove them from the sheets/mats/parchment. When cooled, find “perfect pairs” of macaron halves and set aside to be filled with your choice of filling.

Filling Suggestions:
Chocolate Buttercream
Vanilla Swiss Buttercream
Raspberry Buttercream
Chocolate ganache
Dulce de Leche (Canned is fine)
Nutella

Sprinkling the tops with chocolate bits, sprinkles, nuts, etc. can be fun as well.

Final Note: Letting your macarons sit in the fridge for 1-2 days allows the macarons and filling to blend together, especially when your filling has a low moisture content like ganache.

Adapted from a recipe by foodduchess.com