Almond stuffed Raspberry French Macarons

I was never a big fan of Macarons. I couldn’t understand the fascination about them. wherever and whenever I tried them, I found them quite average. Also not to mention, too sugary for my taste. I always thought “I need to go to Paris to try one of these just to find out if I am wrong about them?” I mean there has to be something about a cookie which makes people keep trying them again and again, every time they fail. Right? It turns out that I saved my husband boat loads of money!! I finally understood what the hoopla is all about, around them.

No other recipe has made me so happy on its success as French Macarons. There are so many opportunities to fail that it makes you jump with joy when you finally succeed. No wonder these cookies are called finicky. These cookies tested every bit of my patience even if it were my own fault. The first two times I made these, I decided to use homemade almond meal (with blanched almonds) and homemade powdered sugar. I spent a lot of time grinding the blanched ( I did dry them thoroughly) almonds in my coffee grinder. Grinding, drying, grinding, drying (grinding makes almond release fat). So next time, I mixed sugar with blanched almonds before grinding them. It helped a little. But when I tried to sieve it, all the sugar passed through leaving the almond meal behind!! And then I spent a long time pressing the meal through the sieve. Another time, I decided to cut down on the sugar because I found the macarons quite sugary. BIG mistake! Also the homemade powdered sugar is also not as fine as the store bought one. No wonder after doing all these alterations, my macarons turned out all weird.

I am not saying you cannot make these macarons with homemade almond meal. You can, if you can grind them as fine as the store bought meal. I feel that unblanched almonds make a much better almond meal. Reducing the sugar is not a smart idea either because sugar, here, is not just for sweetness. One of the most important requirements to get good macarons is accurate quantity of ingredients. Next important thing is the temperature. If your oven temp is off by a few degrees it could make or break your macarons. I had to buy a oven thermometer just to find out my oven temperature. Guess what? It was off by 10 degrees. If you can’t find a oven thermometer, that’s fine. My baking temperature has room for 5-10 degree here and there. You might get it right in one shot.

The third important thing is folding the egg whites with the almond-sugar batter. There is no set time as to how long you should fold it. Fold less and ruin your macarons, fold more and ruin your macarons again. You have to stop when it reaches molten lava stage. (will explain below in detail.)This is one of those recipes where a failed macaron tastes entirely different from a successful one. A failed macaron might be hollow, chewy, crispy, dry or stuck to the parchment paper. While a good macaron is a dream come true. It is everything that a failed macaron is not. We gobbled up all the macarons as soon as I made them. That should say something, right?

I have tried the macaron recipe from this awesome blog. Filling of the macaron is my own. She explains in great detail what can go wrong and why. But all said and done, don’t get intimidated by the above information. Just try it once and take it from there. Once you get them right, you will wonder why they are called finicky at all!!!

Almond stuffed Raspberry French Macarons

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 16 minutes

Yield: 15 shells

Ingredients

    For the macarons
  • 30 gms almond meal
  • 50 gms powdered sugar
  • 25 gms egg whites
  • 9 gms granulated sugar
  • pinch of cream of tartar/salt
  • 2-3 drops of strong red food coloring gel
    • For the filling
  • 15 almonds. sliced thinly and roasted (not chopped lengthwise but sliced with skin on. Or you can get store bought sliced almonds)
  • 3 tbsp. Seedless Raspberry preserve

Instructions

  1. Take cold egg and separate the egg white from the yolk. Keep the egg white, covered for 8-24 hours at room temp before whipping.
  2. Take 2 parchment papers and using a quarter or a cap of Gatorade, make about 15-16 circles leaving ample gap in between and around each circle.
  3. Line 2 heavy gauge aluminum baking sheets with parchment paper with the circle side facing down. (You don't want the ink or lead to come in direct contact with food.) Prepare a piping bag with a small round tip. Place the bag into a tall drinking glass. This makes the bag easy to fill hands-free.
  4. Blend almond meal and powdered sugar once in a processor and then sift them to remove any clumps. Keep aside.
  5. To the egg whites, add cream of tartar and lightly beat it with hand mixer for about 30 seconds. Once the egg whites are very foamy, begin sprinkling in the granulated sugar as you beat. Increase the speed to medium and beat the meringue to soft peaks. Add the food coloring. Beat it again to stiff glossy peaks. A peak formed, should hold itself firmly.
  6. Add about 1/4 of the almond/sugar mixture and fold in just until no streaks remain. Continue to add the almond mixture in quarters, folding until you reach the "proper batter". Initially the batter will be thick and sticky. As you fold in, it will start to thin out. When you are folding in the last of the almond/sugar mixture, observe the batter closely. Drop the batter from a height. If it mixes in with the remaining batter right away, You have over mixed. If it sits on top of the remaining batter without mixing, its under mixed. If it sits on top of the batter for few sec and then seamlessly blends in with the batter, STOP.
  7. Pour the batter into your prepared piping bag and pipe rows of batter (dollops a little bigger than a quarter) on the circles.
  8. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring up any air bubbles and quickly pop them with a toothpick.
  9. Allow the cookies to rest on a level surface for 60 minutes until they are no longer tacky to a light touch. This is important so as the "feet" form.
  10. While they rest, place an oven rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 315°F .
  11. Bake the cookies for about 16-18 minutes.
  12. Let them cool completely.
  13. Mix the preserve and almonds.
  14. Spread the filling on half of the macarons and top them with other half.
  15. If you can resist, cover and pop them in the refrigerator for 30 min so that the filling sets in.
  16. Enjoy!

Notes

Consider every instruction as a rule in order to get the macarons right.

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