#COOKING: MACARONS RECIPE

Macarons. Happy Pride! To celebrate inclusion and diversity, we thought we’d finally conquer our fear of baking Macarons. These gave me major anxiety but I am pleased with the results first time out. Pride is about being fearless, being accountable and embracing yourself and all your flaws. While these weren’t perfect and smooth, on the inside and taste wise, they were the real deal. We loved them and these festive treats certainly embody that spirit! To be a better baker means having a deeper understanding of processes and ingredients and while we appreciate the process, we are just as happy supporting our local bakeries when they’re re-opened and buy them there! Shout-out to Tasty whom we got a few ideas from. Believe me, a lot of research went into this before I decided to give this a go! 🌈

Macarons:
1 cup Almond Flour, sifted three times
1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted three times
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated organic sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp sea salt
4-5 drops red food colouring

Butter Cream:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tbsps whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Rainbow Sprinkles for decoration

Instructions:

1. In large bowl, combine 1/2 tsp salt, almond flour and icing sugar. Ensure these are all sifted three times.

2. In separate bowl, beat egg whites and 1/2 tsp salt with handmixer till stiff peaks form. You should be able to flip bowl over and nothing moves. Gradually add granulated sugar.

3. Drop in food colouring and vanilla into egg whites and fold gently with spatula till colour is even.

4. Add flour mixture into egg white mixture bit by bit and combine gently with spatula. When ready, you should be able to lift spatula and draw a “figure 8” with batter. 

5. Scoop into piping bag with a circular tip and pipe each corner of baking sheet. Place parchment paper over it, using paste on corners to secure it.

6. Pipe Macaron batter evenly in circles over parchment paper. When done, take baking sheet and tap it on counter 3-5 times gently to rid of air bubbles and even out batter. Distribute sprinkles on-top.

7. Let sit for one hour.

8. Preheat oven at 300°F. Bake for 17-21 minutes depending how large your Macarons are. You’ll know they’re done when they don’t stick to the wax paper.

9. Allow to cool about 20 minutes out of oven and gently use spatula to remove from parchment paper and transfer to a tray. If they stick to paper, peel them off gently, taking a sparing amount of warm water and rub against back of cookie till paper peels off. Be gentle and do not over-wet.

10. Cool in fridge quickly for 20 minutes while you prepare Butter Cream.

11. Whip butter in large bowl till creamy. Add icing sugar, vanilla and cream till you get a thick icing.

12. Scoop into piping bag and pipe onto “foot” of Macarons leaving a bit of space around the edge. Place another Macaron on-top and gently press into a sandwich.

13. Place in air-tight container overnight, room temperature before serving.

Gallery:

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A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on Jun 14, 2020 at 8:16am PDT

(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)