If you like almonds and chocolate, be prepared for a delicacy.
Prepare: 20 minutesmins
Bake: 20 minutesmins
Rest Time: 1 hourhr
Servings: 12macarons
Equipment
Digital Scale
Piping bag
Parchment paper or silicone mat
1/4" (6mm) round piping nozzle
Ingredients
French Macarons
¾cup(90g) powdered sugar
2large(60g) egg whites
½cup(50g) almond flour
⅛cup(30g) granulated sugar
2tbs(10g) cocoa powder
Chocolate Buttercream
¾cup(100g) powdered sugar
¼cup(56g) softened butter
2tbs(10g) cocoa powder
1 - 2tsp(5-10mL) milk
Instructions
Sift powdered sugar, cocoa and almonds together. Set aside.
In a 2 quart bowl or larger, use a hand mixer and beat eggs for 30 seconds, add sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form. If desired, add food coloring at this stage. Beat until just combined.
Add the dry ingredients into the meringue. Using a spatula, gently fold in the ingredients until batter becomes shiny and drips smoothly off the spatula. It should ribbon off and sink back into the batter within 30 seconds. If it doesn’t do this, fold until you see the change. Do not over mix or you will have flat cookies.
Place in a piping bag with a 1/4" (6mm) tip. Squeeze onto parchment paper or a silicone mat until 1 1/2″ (3.8cm) circles form, spacing 2″ (5cm) apart.
Let sit until a skin develops. This step will depend on the humidity in your environment. On dry days, it can take as little as 15 minutes. When it hits above 75% humidity, expect it to take 2 – 3 hours. Failure to dry the cookies will often result in cracks and cookies without feet. (Feet are the little ruffles that develop at the bottom of your cookies.)
Once the skin forms, preheat the oven to 300F (150C.) Bake 18 – 20 minutes.
Let rest 5 minutes and remove to a rack to cool completely before filling.
Buttercream Instructions
Blend sugar, cocoa, and butter together. You can use a mixer or mix by hand.
Add in milk if desired for a softer buttercream.
Notes
Cost savings tip: Want to learn how to make macarons and not waste expensive almond flour? You can substitute the almonds with regular flour. They will taste absolutely bland, but will let you learn how the process of macaronage cheaply.If you do not have a piping bag, you can use a plastic sandwich bag and snip off an end about 1/3″ (1 cm) wide.The peaks should be firm enough that the bowl can be tipped upside down without falling out. If they start to slide out of the bowl, continue beating. Do not over mix as you will get hollow cookies.When resting macaron shells, please be aware of egg safety guidelines and do not set out longer than their recommendations.