Recipe Sunday: Macarons.

I was thinking that I really don’t put enough recipes on the blog. So, in order to remind myself to post more recipes, I’m starting “Recipe Sunday.” Every Sunday, I’ll post a recipe for something I’ve baked, with accompanying photos. OR if you’d like to get the recipe for something I’ve previously baked, OR want to see if I might have a recipe you’re looking for OR want to challenge me to bake it (and I totally will) email, facebook or tweet me (hee hee), or leave a comment with your sweet treat of choice, and I’ll feature that in a future Recipe Sunday!

Now on to the recipe….

For the inaugural Recipe Sunday recipe, I chose something I just made this past week, which I’ve gotten a few requests for the recipe of, and ultimately prompted me to start this whole Recipe Sunday thing to being with:

Macarons.

that’s french for “macaron.”

Now, I did not create this recipe myself. It was given to me by one of my teachers at school. I have no idea where he got it from, or if he created it, but it’s different from other macaron recipes I’ve used, and it’s also better. That would explain why he’s the teacher.

What you’ll need:

1 oz  Egg Whites

4 oz  Confectioner’s Sugar

4 oz Almond Flour

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

—————————————————–

1 oz  Egg Whites

2 oz Sugar

1 oz Water

What you’ll do:

In a bowl, mix together the first 4 ingredients (egg whites, confectioner’s sugar, almond flour, and vanilla). The result will be a thick-ish almond flavored pasty blob.

Put the second amount of egg whites in a mixing bowl with a whip attachment, and whip them to soft peaks. At the same time, heat the sugar and water in a pot on the stove to 230 F. Once it reaches that temperature, remove from heat and pour over whipping egg whites, and continue whipping until stiff peaks are formed. Fold this egg white mixture into the almond flavored pasty blob.

At this point, if you’d like to add color, do so.

Line a sheet tray with parchment paper, and with a pastry bag fitted with a round tip (anywhere from an #802 to #804 should work), pipe quarter-sized rounds. Once they’re all piped, dip your finger in water and push the “peak” down on each one, so they don’t bake with a point on top (and wind up looking a tad obscene).

Bake at 300 F for 8 – 10 minutes.

Once they’re cool, you can fill them with whatever you like. We used chocolate ganache, which is a very easy recipe:

What you’ll need:

4 oz  Dark Chocolate

4 oz  Heavy Cream

1 tsp  Butter

What you’ll do:

Bring the heavy cream to a boil. Pour it over the chocolate (cut small). Let it sit for a couple of minutes. Grab a whisk, and put it in the dead center of the mixture. Slowly start rotating it, to make an emulsion. While you are doing this, add the butter (also cut small), and continue rotating the whisk, until a homogenous and shiny chocolate mixture is achieved. Let it cool for a few minutes, then put it in a pastry bag with an #802 tip, and pipe on half of the macaron. I piped all the “halves” and then placed their corresponding top on, but you can do this however you see fit. Either way, the result should look similar to this:

bringing sexy back.

And there you have it. Thanks for tuning in to the first episode of Recipe Sunday. If you make the recipe, be sure to let me know and send pics (unless they look better than mine). kidding!