Macarons

Okay – let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Actually, you might not even even know it’s there. It’s named “Baking at High Altitude is a Finicky Bear”. Did you know that? SO true! And even True-er when it comes to Macarons. I wish it was just in my head, but I went to a local bakery and they had macarons on display. I asked about the process and the poor person gave me the sadest face and confirmed the truth. Macarons are crazy hard to make at this altitude.

Good news though – crazy hard doesn’t mean impossible. I have full confidence in you. The only way you will fail is if you quit trying.

So – let’s get to it!

Ingredients:

1 C. Powdered Sugar

2 C. Superfine Almond Flour

5 Egg Whites – Room Temperature

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Vanilla

2 drops GEL Food Coloring or ½ C. Cocoa Powder to make them chocolate. Yes Please!

Filling:

1 (8oz) pkg Cream Cheese

2 C. Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Dash Heavy Whipping Cream

Instructions:

In a food processor, combine powdered sugar, almond flour and cocoa powder (if you’re making the chocolate). 

To be sure it’s the finest of fine, sift into a large bowl. 

Beat the whites and the salt with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Like, you should be able to tip the bowl over your head and shake it without anything falling out. I’m being a thousand percent serious, but you better be pretty sure your peaks are stiff before you test that out.

Add vanilla and food coloring (if not making chocolate). Gel is important because it’s a more vibrant color and because the liquid food coloring will affect the texture of the macarons. Not in a good way, in case you were wondering. 

Stir just until combined.

With a spatula now, fold in almond flour mixture a little at a time. The texture you’re going for at the end of all this folding is like wet sand. You know it’s mixed as much as it should be when you do the figure eight test. 

What’s that you say? Thanks for asking, it’s when you can dribble batter off the tip of your spatula across the top in a figure eight without the ribbon of batter breaking. If it breaks, it needs more folding. If not, it’s ready!

Now we pipe.

Put the batter in a piping bag, or one of those nifty plastic thing-a-ma-roos with a lever. Use a big round tip. Cover your cookie sheets with parchment paper, just do it, it’s fun. Pipe three dots across the narrow part of the cookie sheet and four dots down, including the row you did first. Twelve total.

Good mathing guys!

IMPORTANT! Lift the cookie sheet about an inch off the counter and DROP IT! For reals. Do this five or so times. It releases air bubbles to make a smooth macaron.

And everybody LOVES a smooth macaron.

Plus, also, it relieves stress. I recommended dropping cookie sheets whenever you feel squished. It helps, I swear.

ALSO IMPORTANT! Once all the macarons are piped, let them rest for 30-60 minutes. You should be able to run your finger along the top and they feel dry. No sticking. 

There are a lot of important things going down in this recipe. Don’t you feel way professional doing all these important things?

Yeah, me too.

Bake at 300F for 17 minutes. Try to remove a macaron right away, carefully. If it sticks to the parchment paper, they need to bake a little longer. Just a minute or two. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling by whipping the cream cheese, gradually adding the powdered sugar, stirring in the vanilla and adding cream just until the consistency is thick and creamy. Put it in a piping bag.

The macarons need to be completely cool before filling. Just dollop icing in the center of the cookie, leaving a little room along the edge for the icing to spread out when you smush the two halves together to make a sandwich.

Smush is my new favorite word.

Let rest 24 hours in an airtight container before eating. Like so many things, they are totally worth the wait!