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Macarons

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French Macarons are small almond meringue sandwich cookies not the coconut macaroons that are shaped like mounds.

Macarons are in almost every pastry shop window and display case looking pretty and petite in all colors of the rainbow and variety of flavor.

They are crisp and light meringue cookies with a slight chew and thin layer of flavoring in the middle, a perfect one bite treat.

While the ingredients are easy to get, the method of making them takes a bit of practice. Getting everything ready, mis en place, so your workflow will be uninterrupted is important.

The first challenge is to make sure the egg whites contain no trace of yolk, ideally room temperature and your bowl and whisk are clean so the egg whites will whip up foamy and stiff. This can take a bit of practice.

Next you want to make sure you measure and sift the almond flour and powdered sugar (along with any dry ingredients like coco or espresso powder if using). This is to avoid any lumps in the batter and easy mixing.

The mixing itself is probably the key part to success. It is called “macronage” and you want to make sure that your batter is well mixed with no lumps or dry pockets, it should still be quite fluffy and airy but it needs to flow. There are a number of recommendations of how to gauge the batter such as making a figure 8 with the batter, counting how long it takes for the batter to flatten out when dribbled back and more. It should look like a thick pancake batter with plenty of air in it. Practice is ultimately the best tool.

Now you fill the bag and pipe out the little rounds, there are baking mats with rounds marked on them and I usually take the one I have and place a sheet of parchment paper over it and pipe the shapes. When finished I pull the stencil out and place it under the next sheet of parchment.

Pipe the batter in slightly circular motion while pushing down to avoid pointed mounds, a double layer is usually good and lift the bag up from the middle. Don’t worry about the little tails or tips, you will come back when you are done piping and use your finger dipped in water to smooth them over.

The cookies need to dry in room temperature for about one hour so the skin forms on the top and they get the characteristic “shoulders”, the lift on the side of the cookies. Improper drying often leads to a lack of the shoulders on the sides and cracks or mounds in the middle instead. Take notes as you work so you can fix any problems next time.

When the cookies have dried, bake them in a preheated 300F oven. I bake for 20 minutes, turning the pan after 10 minutes. Every oven is different and most have hot spots so pay attention to how they come out and adjust for next time if needed.

When the cookies are baked, let them cool and dry on the sheet before removing them, often warm macrons will tear apart if you try to remove them while warm.

When preparing them in advance,  I usually place them in an airtight plastic container with a few paper towels to absorb any moisture. If you do this make sure they are absolutely cool and dry to avoid condensation.

I usually fill them a day or two before but even the same day is good. Some fillings may be a little wet and lead to soggy cookies if they are filled too far in advance.

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