I really liked this challenge. I had never heard of macarons until I visited Paris last summer. A girl who was studying abroad there and showing my friends and I around kept raving about these things called "macarons" and how we just had to have them. For some reason, I was convinced they were a type of nut until she took us into a bakery and showed us tons of tiny cookies in all different colors and flavors. I loved the pretty colors and variety of flavors and couldn't believe I'd never heard of them before. Unfortunately, I was saddened to find that most bakeries in the U.S. do not sell macarons and finding them in the grocery store bakery was just not going to happen at all.
This challenge gave me a chance to try my own hand at macarons, and to have a taste of Paris in my own kitchen. I decided to make mint chocolate macarons because mint chocolate is one of my favorite flavors, and it's one I wouldn't mind eating a whole batch of cookies of.
My macarons came out a little sticky, but they tasted great, and otherwise were really good.
Here is the recipe from the Daring Bakers:
Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
Note: I added a drop of green food coloring to the batter to give mine their coloring. I would have used powdered food coloring but my supermarket didn't sell any and I don't live close to any stores that would sell that type of thing.
The filling I used came from Ms. Adventures in Italy:
"3 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate / cioccolato fondente, finely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/16 teaspoon peppermint extract
Melt chocolate pieces with cream in a bain marie/double boiler or in a plate over barely simmering water. When smooth, remove from heat.
Add butter and peppermint extract, until mixed completely. Let stand until cooled and slightly thickened.
Pipe or use a small spoon to put the filling between the flat halves of the macarons."
Note: I used half of this recipe for 40% (made with 2 egg whites) of the cookies. You can adjust it accordingly to meet your needs.
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