First of all, I would not attempt to make macarons without a kitchen scale. A kitchen scale is not expensive and I also use it weighing Paska loaves to French Bread loaves for even baking.
You will just need to zero out your scale after you put a small bowl on it and then you can pour in your almond flour until you have 100 grams and then use another small bowl, zero out the weight and weigh out your powdered/icing sugar.
I do not weigh my eggs. I use eggs fresh from our farm and haven't found that I need to age them ahead of time.
You can use any filling you prefer, I love using heavy cream that has been whipped and very slightly sweetened. I use a whipping cream stabilizer so that the cream stays firm. You can use a bit of instant pudding to have the same result.
I make my recipe small so that I am only baking one pan. That way, if I want to make different colours, I am not trying to divide the batch up to add food colouring.
You can use a macaron pan but I use a heavy cookie sheet with no sides. I used a sharpie pen to draw 42 little circles onto the pan. I put a sheet of parchment paper over top and then pipe my macaron batter evenly using the template I can see through the parchment. After you have made macarons for a while, the size will become second nature but at first, it is helpful to follow a shape to make them even in size.
The last piece of advice I have is that if at first, you don't succeed, try it again. Mine didn't turn out the first time and I've had some less than photo-worthy macarons through the years but I enjoyed the challenge of making macarons that are as beautiful as they are delicious.
- 100 grams almond flour (ground almonds) about 1 cup
- 100 grams icing/powdered sugar
- 2 medium egg whites
- 2 grinds sea salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- a drop or two of liquid food colouring of your choice
- Preheat oven to 3oo F (not convection)
- Run the almond flour and icing sugar through a sieve into a large bowl. Stir it together to make sure it is well blended. Discard any bits of almond that didn't fall through the sieve. Estimate the amount you have discarded and add that amount of ground almonds into the sieve to make up for the amount you are discarding.
- In another very clean glass bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the two egg whites until foamy. Add the food colouring. Slowly begin to add the granulated sugar and continue to beat until the egg whites are thick and glossy. Whipped egg whites should not move when the bowl is tipped.
- Transfer the beaten egg whites into the almond mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the whites into the almond mixture. Fold the two together just until the batter falls from the spatula in a wide ribbon.
- Spoon the batter into a piping bag that has a 1/4 inch circle opening.
- After you have piped out all your macarons (this recipe will make 42 circles) give the pan a few good taps on the counter to help settle the batter and to release any air bubbles under the surface.
- Let the macarons sit until they are no longer tacky and feel dry to the touch. This could take about 30 minutes. If the macarons have a little tip on them, gently press it down.
- Bake the macarons 8 minutes, open the oven to release the steam, shut the oven again and bake another 8 minutes or until the macarons feel firm.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before trying to move them or trying to fill them.
- Fill with your favourite buttercream or the filling below
Rhubarb Compote with Strawberry Cream Filling
- 2 cups chopped red rhubarb
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon minute tapioca
- Combine rhubarb, sugar and tapioca and allow to sit 15 minutes.
- Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake in the oven until the rhubarb has become tender and the tapioca has thickened the sauce. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Strawberry Cream
- 1 tablespoon strawberry gelatin/jello
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 package Dr Oetkers Whip Cream stabilizer or 1 tablespoon instant vanilla pudding
- Dissolve gelatin and boiling water in a custard cup (or similar sized bowl). Stir until all the gelatin has dissolved. Allow gelatin to cool to room temperature before adding to the whipping cream.
- Beat heavy cream and sugar and stabilizer/instant pudding in a medium bowl. As the cream starts to thicken, add the room temperature gelatin and beat until the cream has thickened.
- Put the Strawberry Cream into a piping bag with a star tip.
To Assemble
- Match the macarons into teams of two. Keep the best macarons for the top)
- Put a dab of Rhubarb Compote in the middle of half of the macarons and pipe the strawberry cream over top.
- Put the matching macaron top over the filling and gently press together. Refrigerate up to 24 hours or freeze. They freeze beautifully.
Macarons filled with buttercream (icing sugar and butter) will keep well in the refrigerator for several days.