French Macarons

macarons

Soft and elegant meringues with a delicious filling, macarons are capable of putting even the best pastry chefs to the test. These delicious and refined pastries, typical of the French culinary tradition. The real secret to making a great macaron is making sure that you don’t recognize the boundary between the filling and the shell.

Ingredients:

  • Fine-grained almond flour 125 g
  • Icing sugar 125 g

  • Egg whites 90 g
  • Sugar 135 g
  • Water 32 g
  • For the ganache:
  • Fresh liquid cream 90 g

  • Egg whites 90 g
  • Sugar 135 g
  • Water 32 g
  • Vanilla bean 1

Preparing:

To prepare the macarons, it is preferable that the egg whites are separated from the yolks a day before and stored in the fridge, in a bowl covered with film with cuts, to let the humidity out. Then they will have to be used at room tempera

Stir with a whisk until a creamy and lump-free consistency is obtained. Keep aside and go to make the syrup. In a saucepan, pour the water first

Then the granulated sugar and heat it over high heat. Pour the remaining 42.5 g of egg whites into the bowl of a planetary mixer and turn it on only when the syrup starts to boil. As soon as the syrup reaches a temperature of 120 °, reduce the speed of the mixer and pour it flush over the whipped egg white.

Continue to whip until the mixture reaches 50 °. The egg white must be stable and shiny. Now incorporate the egg white to thture. To make the shells, pour the icing sugar and almond flour into a bowl1.

The almond flour must be very fine-grained, if not, you can sift it 1-2 times. Mix the two powders with a whisk or spoon. These two elements together will form the powdered sugar and almond flour used in equal parts. Insert only 45 g of the dose of egg whites inside.

e first mass, to do it take 1/3 and add it to the almond mixture11. Gently mix from bottom to top. Incorporate the remaining egg white in 2 more times.

When you have incorporated all the egg white, proceed with the real macaronage, then mix with energy to give the mass an elastic and shiny structure. The mass will have to flow and remain on the spatula.

Transfer the mixture into the piping bag equipped with a 12 mm smooth nozzle. Then squeeze the mixture making piles about 2.5 cm wide, trying to make them all the same size and spacing them apart.

french macarons

After making all the piles bake your shells in a static oven at 150 ° for about 15-18 minutes. This varies on how many pans you will bake in the oven and the type of your oven.

While the macarons are cooking take care of making the white chocolate ganache, then first chop it finely and transfer it to a rather narrow container, but with high edges to favor the emulsion and not let air inside. In a saucepan pour the liquid cream and add the seeds of the vanilla pod.

Bring the cream to a boil and as soon as it starts to boil pour 1/3 of it into the container with the chocolate. Start emulsifying with an immersion mixer and add half of the cream again.

Emulsify and add the remaining cream. Once you have a smooth ganache, add the cream butter and emulsify once again with the blender. At this point, transfer to a low pan.

Cover with contact film and let crystallize in the refrigerator for 2 hours. As soon as the macaron shells are cooked, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.

After 2 hours, transfer the ganache into a piping bag with a 10 mm smooth nozzle. Turn only half of the macarons, so that the next one will be turned upside down.

Stuff the freshly turned shells with the ganache. The filling should be abundant and weigh about 1/3 of the macarons. Close by overlapping the corresponding shell on the ganache. Transfer to a tray and leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours covered with cling film, before serving your macarons.

Storage

Macarons can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week, covered with cling film.

Advice

If the almond flour is too moist you can spread it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, dry it in the oven for about 1 hour at 45-50 °, stirring occasionally.