Macaroons

My oldest daughter LOVES macaroons!  I took a macaroon class from Maison Robert (bakery in Chamblee). Now you can make the macaroons yourself at home! The hardest part is piping the macaroons down.

I learned to make 3 types of macaroons at the class- salted caramel (probably my favorite), raspberry, and chocolate.

Macaroons (~recipe from Le Maisson Robert)

(N=36 for each macaroon recipe)

Salted caramel filling

Ingredients

·         Granulated sugar (210 g)

·         Salted butter (100 g)

·         Heavy cream (400 g)

·         Salt (2 g)

·         Milk chocolate (150 g)

·         Dark chocolate (50 g)

·         100% pure chocolate (100 g)

Directions

1.       Heat cream and salt in sauce pan (FYI- want cream hot and boiling when caramelized sugar done)

2.       Heat sugar in sauce pan. Slowly melt sugar in sauce pan adding a small portion each time. Heat until carmelized. Then add butter and heat until melted

3.       Add cream to melted butter and sugar mixture.

4.       Pour cream/butter/sugar mixture onto chocolate to melt and stir

5.       Leave chocolate mixture our and set it out at night. You want to make this at least 5-6 hours beforehand. If you make it ahead of time, make sure to take it out of the fridge for 5-6 hours before making macaroons

Chocolate filing

Ingredients

Milk (2%) (125 g)

Heavy cream (50 g)

Dark chocolate (350 g)

Sweetened unsalted butter (2.4 oz) –room temperature

Directions

1.       Heat milk and cream in sauce pan

2.       Pour onto chocolate to melt

3.       Break butter into piece and put on top of chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth

Raspberry filling

Ingredients

·         Unsalted butter (6 oz)-room temperature

·         Confectioner’s sugar (3 oz)

·         Raspberry marmalade (~ ½  cup or to taste)

·         FYI- can use flavored extract, but add in slowly because flavor can be too strong

Directions

1.       Mix ingredients together

Macaroon cookies

Ingredients

·         Powdered sugar (5.5 oz)

·         Almond flour or almond meal (4 oz)- you can buy at Trader Joe’s or whole foods

·         Egg whites (3 oz)

·         Granulated sugar (2 oz)

·         Pinch of cream tartar

·         807 piping tip and pastry bag for piping cookies

·         Silicon baking sheet

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 300 degrees (275 for convection oven)

2.       Beat egg whites at 2^nd to highest speed. When whisking egg whites, add a pinch of cream of tartar. For egg whites, you can use an emersion blender to beat gently so they pour easily.

3.       When egg whites start to appear foamy, gradually add sugar.

4.       Beat egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks

5.       Sift flour and powdered sugar. Sift twice to ensure blended and fine texture

6.       Fold in half of sugar/flour mixture, and then add second half. Mixture should be loose but still have structure. Be careful not to over-mix.

7.       Pipe cookies onto silicon baking sheet, placed on top of a metal baking sheet.

a.       Tips: Pipe with the bag being straight. Keep tip down and then wipe off along the edge of cookie and lift piping bag. Want the cookies to all be the same size. Can level off the cookies so they don’t have a pointed top with your finger or spoon.

8.       Bang out cookies couple of times to level off the batter.

9.       After place cookies in oven, turn temperature down to 275 degrees and bake for 10 minutes

10.   Then rotate cookies and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes (chocolate macaroons might take a little longer to bake)

11.   When macaroons are done, the cookies should be firm

12.   Let cookies cool and then match bottom and top of cookies

13.   Pipe filling into cookies

14.   To store cookies, can freeze for 2-3 weeks. If plan to eat immediately, should store in fridge.

15.   Other options:

a.       For salted caramel macaroons, can add some sea salt to cookie before baking. Can also add other types of decoration before baking.

b.      For raspberry macaroons, can add 1-2 drops food coloring into egg white/sugar mixture if want cookies to be colored

c.       For chocolate cookie, take out 0.25 oz powdered sugar and replace with 0.25 oz unsweetened cocoa powder. For chocolate macaroons, also added a drop of red food coloring into cookie mixture