These sweet little French treats are my new favorite thing to bake. I think it has something to do with the challenge of making the perfect macaron; they require all kinds of precision and are awfully delicate. But, the satisfaction that you get when you pull a perfectly circular and puffed macaron out of the oven makes it worth all the effort. The ingredients and measurements I use come from Martha Stewart's Macaron recipe online. With that recipe you can make the basic almond macaron or you can alter it and make an endless amount of flavor combinations. I ventured this time for a Rose macaron with vanilla filling and a Mocha macaron with a chocolate ganache. Let's do this!

First thing is first--the basic macaron ingredients and directions.






A L M O N D    M A C A R O N

Two egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup of almond flour (I have found mine at Trader Joe's and in bulk at Whole Foods)
1 cup confectioners sugar
A pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup superfine sugar (pretty sure you can find this at any grocery store)

D I R E C T I O N S

Sift together the almond flour and confectioners sugar into a medium size bowl two times (glass or metal is preferred over plastic) then set aside.

Pour the two egg whites into a large bowl and mix on medium until it foams. Add a pinch of cream of tartar. Mix again on medium until soft peaks form, then add in the superfine sugar. Mix on medium-high until the egg whites stiffen and form peaks when you lift the mixer from the bowl.

Now sift one last time the dry ingredients in the egg white meringue. Begin folding the two together with a spatula watch for the batter to loosen up just enough so that it ribbons off your spatula when you lift it from the bowl. Be careful; over folding will break the meringue and under folding will make a thick batter that does not flatten out.

Grab a piping bag and place it into a large jar or pitcher with a wide enough opening that will allow for you to pour the batter into the bag. I use gallon sized ziploc bags to pipe mine. Pour the batter into the bag and set aside for a moment while you set up your baking sheets. Get two baking sheets and fit them with parchment paper, make sure the size of the paper fits just inside the pan, you want the paper to lie flat on the pan. Some people draw circles on one side of their pans as a sizing guide, if you wish to do this, just find a circle around the house that you would like to use and trace the circle onto the parchment paper with a sharpie, flip the paper over and you have a template. Snip the corner off the ziploc/piping bag (the size of your cut determines the size of your macarons, small will give you a small macaron, big will give you a big macaron big either or you may lose control of the batter as it is pouring out. I have never measured the size of my tip . Begin to pipe the macarons out, they do not need as much space as cookies but they will spread in the next step. For me, piping these things remains to be the hardest part. My first batch was too thick so the macarons when sandwiched looked like little sandwich balls and of course some were oval and some were circular. Do a few practice ones to get used to feel of piping them out. Also, when you pipe you may have the urge to move the bag to help get the desired shape, but don't do this, keep the bag still while piping each macaron and you will see the circle starting to form naturally. Relieve pressure from the bag to finish off each macaron and pull out and up a little to avoid having peaks in the center of your macarons.

After you have finished piping the macarons, bang the sheets on the counter a few times to release any trapped air; this will also help flatten out your macarons. Set aside for 30 minutes to form the hard shell and then pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F. Lower the oven to 325 degrees right before you put your macarons in the oven. Bake the macarons one sheet at a time for 5 minutes, then rotate the pan, and for another 5 minutes. They should give a little when you press on them gently. Remove the sheet from the oven and set some place to cool. Heat the oven back up to 375 degrees for five minutes, then lower again right before you place the macarons in the oven. Repeat the same cook time and rotation. While the second set is cooking remove the parchment paper with the macarons still in place onto another flat surface to cool completely. When they have cooled they should pop off the paper easily.

When your filling is ready and the macarons are cooled, find cookies that are similar in shape and size and spoon the filling onto one side and then sandwich the two cookies together. I find that twisting the macarons slightly while pushing them together gently makes sandwiching easier.


M O C H A   M A C A R O N

Cocoa powder
Instant coffee

Keep all the same ingredients as the original macaron, but only use 1/2 cup of almond flour and add 1 1/2 tbsp instant coffee and 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder (this can be altered even more to get a coffee macaron or a chocolate macaron, just always use 3 tablespoons when you are substituting another ingredient for the almond flour). Sift these ingredients with the almond flour and confectioner sugar. Another thing that I did was dust the tops of the macarons with cocoa powder after I have finished hitting the sheet against the counter.

C H O C O L A T E   G A N A C H E   F I L L I N G

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
*If you'd like more coffee flavor, you can add 1/2 tbsp of instant coffee

Finely chop the semi-sweet chocolate and place in a glass bowl pour in the heavy cream and the coffee if desired. Fill a pot that is similar in size with the bowl and fill it with water until the bowl can be placed inside the pot and touch the water. Place the bowl in the pot full of water and heat. Stir the mixture continuously until all of the chocolate melts. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally.



R O S E    M A C A R O N


1/4 tsp rose water
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Red food coloring

For the rose macaron all the dry ingredients are the same as the original macaron, so follow all the aforementioned directions. The difference comes when you are mixing the egg whites. Start off like the original recipe and beat the egg whites until they foam, add the cream of tartar, rose water, vanilla extract, and 3-4 drops of red food coloring, then continue mixing the egg whites like in the original recipe; beat until soft peaks form, add the superfine sugar, etc. For some extra flair, I decorated mine with some pink sugar sprinkles.

V A N I L L A     F R O S T I N G     F I L L I N G

2 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the butter until creamy, add the vanilla extract, confectioners sugar, and milk, and mix until creamy and well combined. Leave it sitting for a little while until it stiffens up a bit.


And that is all, phew!! Let me know if you gave these recipes a try and how your macarons turned out! If you have any more flavor combination ideas I'm always excited to try something new! If you have a questions do not hesitate to ask!!! Looking forward to hearing about your macaron endeavors!