today tammy and i attempted to make french macarons for the first time.  i have to admit i was terrified.  every blog that i read about macarons talked about how finicky and temperamental they are.  you have to do this or that in order for them to turn out.

so many rules!  ahhh!

so needless to say i was a bit worried.  but with tammy by my side i knew that with her we would have the best shot at them actually coming out.  we searched for recipes and came across one for powdered strawberry and vanilla bean macarons.  yum!

i am so happy to report that for our first time, our macarons came out pretty darn good.  of course as you can see from the picture above, we have a bit to improve upon.  when i was piping on the filling, i totally overstuffed them.  oops!  we also didn’t ground up the almonds enough.  so the macaron shells came out much more bumpy than they are supposed to be.  but overall at least they look like macarons.  so that’s a good start!  i was most excited that our macaron shells actually came out with feet!  hooray!

oh and we did learn that you have to let the macarons it out once you pipe them on to the cookie sheets.  this allows the shell to harden and set.  you see, some of the recipes said to let them sit but others said that you didn’t have  to.  so  tammy and i tested it out – with the first batch we let them sit out for 45 minutes.  they turned out like they are above with fairly smooth tops and pretty feet.  but then with the second batch we didn’t let them set at all and put them right in the oven after we piped them out.  and they turned out like this…

fail.  though they tasted good, they definitely were not as they should be.  but now we know exactly what we need to do the next time.  i can’t wait to try it out again.  it actually wasn’t as difficult as i thought as long as you know the right techniques.  i’m thinking i’ll probably try out peanut butter and chocolate macarons or maybe chocolate stawberry macarons?  um… so many possibilities!

i would highly suggest doing some research before you try to make them.  it’s helpful to know some good tips and have some frames of references (especially pictures of different macarons, good and bad).  try looking at these two websites, tartlette and bravetart.  you’ll also need some special equipment to make macaron making a bit easier like a kitchen scale, piping bags with a plain tip, and a kitchenaid or handmixer is nice when making the meringue for both the shells and filling.

okay so here’s a quick breakdown on how to make these macarons.  first, make the powdered strawberries by drying out the strawberries in the oven and then turn them into a powder using a food processor.  (i know the strawberries look kind of funky since they are a bit brown but they tasted okay and it was the only way that they would actually dry out enough.)

whip up the aged egg whites with the granulated sugar until stiff.

then add the pink gel food coloring.  this will enhance the strawberry color of the macaron shells.

put the almonds and powdered sugar into the food processor.  process until extremely fine.  you could also use almond flour if you don’t want to have to go through the trouble of processing the almonds.

combine the almond mixture with the egg whites.  fold with a rubber spatula 35-40 times until combined.  be careful not to under or over mix.

pipe the mixture on to parchment or silpat lined cookie sheets. then tap them to release any air bubbles which would have caused the shells to crack.

after allowing the shells to set for 45 minutes, bake for 15-20 minutes.  we found that 18 minutes was perfect.

once the shells are completely cooled, match up pairs based on their size and then fill them with the vanilla bean buttercream.  but don’t fill them up as much as we did, just a little bit in the center will be fine because as you sandwich the shells together, the filling spreads into a nice layer.  ours spilled out a bit.  uh oh!

then they’re done!!!!!  celebrate and enjoy the amazingly light yet chewy texture of the shells with the amazingly velvety vanilla bean buttercream filling.  a to the mazing!

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