French Raspberry Macarons

So most of the credit here must go to Food and Wine for their December issue with a bunch of macaron recipes in it. The Macaron Made Easy I think is what it was called. Anyways, mine are still a bit of a work in progress, i.e. they tasted great but the artistry department needs a little work. Mostly because I needed to let them sit a little longer before they went in the oven so they could set and be nice a pretty, which I should have realized since the humidity was up outside....meaning eggs take longer to set in a hard form like to whip eggs till stiff peaks and such. I don't know, all you bio majors figure it out for the science-y explanation. And then I didn't put in enough food coloring for the nice pink POP that macarons should have. So note to self is to add more next time. :)

Here we go! I shall put another post up when I make the chocolate ones. mmmmm.

Ingredients:

1 cup confectioners sugar (Lien that = powdered sugar)

1 cup almond flour (this is hard to find. probably need a specialty store. and EXPENSIVE!)

3 large egg whites, at room temp (this is key to getting them to whip the right way)

1/2 c. granulated sugar (so plain old sugar)

2 tablespoons of water

3-4 drops of red food coloring

1/2 c. raspberry jam

Here is what separated eggs look like:

Start by preheating the oven to 400. You will want your oven racks to be at 1/3 intervals in the oven, so separating the oven into three equal parts. This is to give more air space between the racks so that way the tops of the bottom pan of cookies gets cooked.

Then line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Then take a big bowl and a rubber spatula, mix the almond flower, confectioners sugar, and ONE egg white together. You want all of your dry materials to be just moist with the egg white. This is called your macaronade.

Next in a small saucepan (so a little pot), combine the water and regular sugar so you can create your syrup. This will help make the egg whites stay stiff in the almond flour mixture. Bring it to a boil and let it cook over high heat until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. (I know you don't have that at school Lien...but well, you know you would just be waiting for me to make these for you anyways.) While the syrup boils brush down the sides with a pastry brush and water as it will keep sugar crystals (or chunks) from forming and messing up your syrup.

I did this next part while my syrup was boiling since I knew that would not take long, however if you do this next part at the same time make sure you let your syrup sit for a tiny bit so that way it does not start to cook your egg whites. So while your syrup is cooking in another metal or plastic (not copper!) bowl beat your last two egg whites at medium high speed until they start to form soft peaks. That means that when you pull the beaters up (they are OFF at this point) from the egg whites the whites will come up with the beaters and then for the most part hold their shape but still droop down slightly. Then while keeping your mixer at high speed slowly pour in the hot syrup from the stove and beat the egg whites till they are firm and glossy. They will truly be glossy, and firm means they hold their shape when you lift the beaters out of them. Lastly beat in your food coloring so you will have bright pink cookies. Yes use the food coloring this is one of the wonderful things about macarons!

Stir in one fourth of the egg whites into the almond macaronade. This means to actively mix the two so it is a lot more forceful than the next step. Then FOLD in the rest of the egg whites. That means with a rubber spatula sort of flip the batter over onto itself so it is like you are actually trying to "fold" the batter up. This way you do not break up the little air pockets you have created in the egg whites, allowing the cookies to be puffy and meringue like.

Then transfer your batter to a large ziplock bag and snip off one corner so you will have about a 1/2 inch tip (in diameter that is). Then pipe into little mounds on your baking sheets so they are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1 inch apart. This was the most difficult part for me as I think I cut my opening too large, but don't worry if they don't look perfect here. After you are done, tap the pan, like sort of gently knock it against the back of the counter or something, so that way the little mounds turn into a more circular shape. Then let the cookies sit for about 15 minutes. You can let them dry longer if it is really humid out too. It will help the cookies to get a slightly protective shell on them to ensure they do not crack while baking.

Take your cookies and place them in the oven. Turn off the heat (otherwise they burn). Bake them for 5 minutes with the heat off. Then turn on the oven again to 400 and bake for 8 more minutes so that they puff up and are firm and glossy. Take them out and let them cool completely. Add your jam to half of them and place together, matching the top and bottom sizes. For the jam, you can pipe it but I just spooned it and it worked fine.

And those are my favorite dessert. :D