French Macaron Baking 101

Over the weekend, I took a Macaron Baking 101 class, of the French variety (not the coconut kind) through Skillshare, taught by the very sweet and very knowledgeable Kristen Joerger. It was a bit of a long and involved process, but I love these cookies so much that it didn’t seem like it.

We started with making the filling, splitting up into two groups. I was on the chocolate ganache team, while the others made a blackberry buttercream filling. The chocolate filling was the easier of the two – We weighed out the chocolate (we used grams in this particular recipe, because Kristen believes it’s more accurate), poured the hot heavy cream a little at a time into the chocolate, gently whisking in between. After letting the chocolate mixture cool to a comfortable temperature, add the butter and let cool in the refrigerator. And voila, you have your chocolate ganache!

Then we started on the French Macaron shells. For this we combined almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites and cocoa to color the shells brown. We had to sift through the mixture to ensure there were no large clumps. Then for the meringue, we whipped egg whites (on high speed) in a mixer, and quickly added hot sugar water to it. It was kind of cool to watch the mixture thicken, and transform into a marshmallow-fluff consistency.

The next step was to fold the meringue (1/3 at a time)  into the almond/powdered sugar mixture in big sweeping motions. It is ready when everything is completely incorporated and the batter runs in a slow, thick ribbon off the spatula.

Fill a pastry bag with the macaron batter, and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Then start piping the macaron shells, by holding the pastry bag at about 90 degrees to the sheet and pipe straight down, cutting off the shell when your circle is about an inch. Below, are the purple macaron shells for the blackberry buttercream filling.

Let the piped macaron shells rest until they no longer stick to your finger when you lightly touch the top of them, which takes about 10-20 minutes. Next, bake them in a pre-heated oven, at 325 F for about 12 minutes. Make sure to turn the pan halfway through. They are done when you lightly tap them and they don’t move too much. Once out of the oven, carefully twist the macaron shells off the parchment and let the shells cool completely before filling.

 

Here is a recipe for the Macaron Shell, taken from Gourmet or Gourmand:

• 1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 cup almond flour

• 3 egg whites at room temperature
• 3 Tb. granulated sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar
• coloring: only powder or gel

1. Blend the confectioner’s sugar and the almond flour in a food processor.
2. Begin to whip the egg whites in a stand mixer until they start to froth. Add a pinch of cream of tartar, and as they foam up more gradually add the granulated sugar. Beat until stiff.
3. Add the almond mixture to the egg white mixture and fold until the mixture begins to flow “like magma”. I would say this will take about 40 – 60 turns of the spatula.
4. Fill pastry bag fitted with 1/4 ” tip and make 1 inch mounds on cookie sheets lined with parchment. Let sit for at least 20 minutes.
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.