Macarons

French Macarons

Active Time: 35 Minutes          Total Time: 1 Hour 40 Minutes – 2 Hours          Yields: 24 Macarons

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup fine sugar (if the sugar is fine it helps prevent grainy macarons)
• Gel food coloring (liquid food coloring doesn’t give as nice a color and can throw off the consistency)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Filling of your choice

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper (not wax paper). Whisk together confectioner’s sugar and almond flour. Sift the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, into a large bowl. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until frothy. Gradually add fine sugar and continue to beat until stiff and shiny, and stiff peaks form. This will take about 5 more minutes. Transfer the egg whites to the bowl with the almond flour mixture and fold in until combined. Add food coloring and vanilla and continue folding until batter falls in ribbons and you can trace a figure eight in the bowl. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch round tip. Pipe 1 1/4 inch circles onto the baking sheets, about 24 per sheet. Firmly tap the baking sheets against counter 5 times to release air bubbles. Let the macrons sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour, until no longer sticky to the touch. Bake each baking sheet about 20 minutes. Transfer to a baking rack and cool. When they are cool, peel off parchment paper. Some of mine stuck, but they come right off if you hold them over a steaming mug of hot water. Sandwich around chosen filling. It is recommended that you let them rest with the filling in them for 24 hours, but if you’re impatient you can eat them immediately.