French Macarons with Frangipane (Almond Cream)

These tasty little treats never quite used to catch my attention before until I had a chance to actually taste them.  I remember one night, my husband and I had just had a fantastic dinner experience at a lovely restaurant in Downtown, and and as our waiter hands us our check, he gave each one of us a gingerbread macaron.  OMG...I nearly jumped off my seat!!  From the crusty outer shell, to the soft chewy center and the filling; oh! the filling...I felt as if though I had died and gone to food lover's heaven! 

A few months later, the owners of the restaurant opened up a Parisian style bakery down the street, where they sell macarons, among many other items; and I thought to myself: "Yesss!"   Finally somewhere I can indulge in these little things!  When I visited the bakery the first time, I bought about half a dozen of these babies and I paid about $12 for the whole thing...that's almost $2 for each one!  There was no way I was going to upkeep my new found addiction AND go broke!   I needed to look into learning how to make them myself...which is exactly what I did!

Now to start off, there is great debate as to whether or not you should age the egg whites used in the recipe.  Many recipes instruct you to place the egg whites uncovered in the fridge for 2-3 days so that they may age.  I've tried both methods time and time again, and I can't seem to note any difference in taste or texture.  Rather, I find that whenever I try making them, let's say, on a humid day for example, the texture of the outer shell usually comes out softer, therefore, I try not to make them on those days.  This recipe definitely requires a few trials in order to get it right.  So go on, go crazy making macarons every other week; I'm sure you or anyone else around you will mind!  

Macaron Shells:

• 140 grams almond flour
• 200 grams powdered/confectioner's sugar (Don’t make your own because it won’t work unless your processor is POWERFUL. The kind with cornstarch in it is okay.)
• 40 grams granulated sugar
• 100 grams egg whites at room temperature (about 3 eggs, but you will have some leftover - weigh it.)
• A few drops of the food coloring of your choice

Almond flour and powdered sugar:

• Run the flour and powdered sugar through a sieve or sifter over a mixing bowl, letting the fine particles leave the mass. Take the craggly mass, break it up with your fingers and run it through the sieve or sifter again. Rinse and repeat until you have little to  no more particles left. 

Meringue:

• Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy, about 10 seconds. Gradually, mix in the 40 grams of granulated sugar and turn your mixer up to high and beat the daylights out of it!  Beat it until you truly get glossy and thick looking stiff peaks, but not to the point where it breaks...think shaving cream.  At this point, you can add food coloring if you choose to, while still beating the meringue.  When you flip your beater upside down, the point of the egg whites should stick straight up. It should not wilt or curve over at all. You want a very strong meringue so that it’ll hold up when you incorporate the dry ingredients later on.  Don't worry about overbeating the egg whites.
  

Macaronage:

• Okay, this is where you need to work quickly but carefully. The goal is to get the almond mixture incorporated well into the meringue–and to not over mix when doing so.  Little by little, mix the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture into the meringue.  Theoretically, you want to mix in thirds, so you don't get overwhelmed mixing everything together all at once, turning the bowl every so often.
• When you see the mixture coming together, switch over to an "over and under" method of folding and repeat.  Eventually, the mixture will start looking like volcano magma, once it is well incorporated.  Remember not to over mix, or you will end up deflating the air from the macarons and you will end up with bad results.
  
  
  

Piping:

• My preferred method of piping consists of an over-sized ziplock bag.  I feel like I have more control of it, and I don't lose to much of the mixture at the end.  But you can use a piping bag with a tip if you prefer.  
  
• Set the oven to 300 degrees F, and prepare sheet pan (or 2) by covering it with parchment paper.  For neater shells, you may want to place a template under the parchment paper.  You can download the different template sizes by clicking on any one of the following templates: mini, small, medium, or large.
• Place the bag over a tall glass and fold over the edges.  Gently take the mixing bowl and pour a little over half of the mixture onto the bag.  Lift the folded edges from the top of the glass and twist shut the bag, then snip off the corner of one of the sides by about half inch.  If using a piping bag, place a round, medium sized tip at the end of the bag.
• Holding the bag upright, squeeze enough mixture to cover the circles on your template.  Repeat this process until you fill up your sheet pan, working quickly but carefully. Keep in mind that once the mixture has been piped on the pan, it will spread a bit, so try not to overflow the circle.  Once you're done piping, give the pan a couple of light bangs on the counter to get rid of any air pockets.  
  
• Allow your shells to dry anywhere between 20-40 minutes.  You will know that they're ready to go into the oven, when you gently touch the shell and they feel a bit spongy.

***While the shells are drying, make your frangipane.***

Frangipane
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar (or honey)
1 large egg
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon pure almond extract (or amaretto)

• In a blender or food processor, mix the almonds, sugar or honey, and blend for about 2 minutes.  Carefully add the hot melted butter and the egg and continue blending until you have a nice creamy texture, about 2-4 more minutes.  Set aside.
• Once the shells are cooled and have been paired, pour the frangipane into another plastic or piping bag and start piping the cream onto the shells.

Baking:

• Baking times vary depending on your oven.  Place the 1st pan of shells into the upper third part of the oven and bake between 12-18 minutes, rotating it once halfway through the baking process.  In my particular case, this is the time where I rotate the pan and place it in the lower part of the oven and then place the other pan of uncooked shells in the upper part to bake.  

Assembly:

• Once they are done, let the shells cool down for about 10 minutes and start pairing them.   Now you can start piping the filling on one of the shells.  When you place the other shell over the filling, do not push down, or else you will end up spilling filling.  Gently apply a bit of pressure so that the shells stay intact with one another.  
  
• It's best if you refrigerate the macarons overnight, once they're done, or at least for a few hours, at the very least.  This way it gives the filling a good amount of time to set properly.

Tips: 

• Important: Be sure you weigh, NOT measure your ingredients.  A small kitchen or postal scale comes in handy!
• Several bowls will be used, so make sure that you take out as many as you need ahead of time.
• Not crucial, but try to stay away from making these on more humid days, since the shells tend to take forever to dry on these days.