French macaroons are at once crispy, delicate, soft and light as air. This makes them the perfect blank canvas for embodying creative flavours, colours and aromas.
Cuisine: French
Occasion: Birthdays, Family Feast, New Year
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Macaroons set time: 45-60 minutes
Baking time: 12 minutes per baking tray
Ingredients:
- 165 g white almond flour;
- 165g icing sugar;
- 150 g sugar;
- 115 g whites.
How to make French macaroons :
- Mix the powdered sugar and almond flour together and sieve through a sieve a few times. Twice 165g is the yield of the finished product, so I recommend initially taking a little more powder and flour, and sifting on a scale, so you know clearly when to stop.
2. Beat the whites at first on slow speed, then increase the speed and continue to soft peaks – at this stage add a little at a time, a thin trickle of sugar and if needed a couple of drops (no more!) of helium dye (a pinch of dry). Whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the peaks are stiff.
Using a spatula, very gently mix the meringue into the almond-sugar mixture – this step is called “maccarooning”. It is important to find the right moment to stop: the mixture should already be homogeneous but not becoming runny, the whites should already be combined with the almond flour, but still hold enough air bubbles. Different sources indicate a different number of strokes with the spatula, from 10 to 50. I think it’s obvious that you shouldn’t be guided by this point, it’s better to intuitively understand when you should stop: the dough should flow from the spatula in a continuous ribbon.
- Transfer the finished dough to a pastry bag and drop onto a sheet of parchment paper in circles about 2-3 cm in diameter. The distance between the circles should be about 2 cm, the pastry should be set strictly vertically, “cutting off” the pastry with a sharp movement to the side. A properly kneaded dough will have a “tail” spread in a few seconds.
- After that, it is necessary to lift the tray several times and tap it well against the table surface – so future macaroons will take a more regular shape, extra bubbles of dough will come out of the biscuits, the last memories of “tails” will disappear into history.
- Leave the baking tray with the biscuits on the table – the dough needs to air out so that the resulting crust will not allow air to escape during baking. After 15-20 minutes, gently touch the surface of the macaroons with your finger – if your finger is still clean, you can put the biscuits in the oven. If the dough sticks, leave for another 10-15 minutes.
- Bake at 150 degrees for 14 minutes. Depending on the specifics of your oven, the time may be a little longer or a little shorter.
Transfer the finished macaroons to a wire rack right off the paper and leave to cool completely, then remove from the parchment.
ENJOY!
