I really want to know why macarons cost $3 in fancy little bakeries. There’s nothing more difficult to making them than any other cookie (Pierre Herme is rolling over in his grave as I say this). Shockingly, I didn’t even use a fancy Kitchen Aid mixer; I used a hand mixer from Walmart that has one setting - high. Maybe it’s the lavender, or maybe I’m just crazy, but one bite of these flaky, chewy, creamy macarons and you’ll be transported to a dream world that smells of flowers, honey, and something resembling sunshine.
Recipe courtesy of The Tart Tart food blog.
For the macarons
Ingredients
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp dried lavender buds
¾ cup almond meal
2 egg whites
3 Tbsp sugar
Directions
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Blend the confectioners sugar, lavender, and almond meal in a food processor until fine, then whisk everything into a large bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment affixed, add the egg whites and sugar. Turn the mixer on the lowest setting and beat for 3 minutes, then increase to the next setting and beat for another 3 minutes, and increase once more and beat for 2 minutes. By now, there should be a stiff meringue in the bowl. Feel free to mix in the food coloring at this point and whisk at high speed for an additional minute to incorporate the color. Knock the meringue that’s trapped in the whisk back into the bowl.
Now, add the almond meal mixture into the bowl all at once. Use both a folding motion and a rubbing/smearing motion, to deflate the meringue against the side of the bowl. After about 25 turns/folds, the mixture will still be pretty lumpy and stiff. After 15 more strokes it will be just about right. You want to knock the air out of the meringue, so don’t be too careful.
Fill a freezer ziplock with the batter (or a pastry bag if you’re fancy) and cut a small tip at the end. Pipe your shells onto the parchment-paper lined baking sheets, a little more than a quarter in size spacing them about 1 inch apart.
Now, for the fun part…when you’re done piping, pick up the pan and whack it down hard against your counter. Do this another time, then rotate the pan 90 degrees and do the same thing twice. Repeat with the other pan. Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes while oven preheats.
Slide the pans into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, at which point the shells should be able to be cleanly picked off the parchment paper.
Let the shells come to room temperature, then fill your macarons with the honey buttercream (recipe below).
For the honey buttercream
Makes enough to fill about 40 macarons
Ingredients
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 Tbsp honey
Directions
In a bowl, beat the butter using the whisk attachment for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar, and whisk until everything is incorporated. Do the same with the honey. Beat another minute or so to get everything well incorporated.