Have you tried making macarons before? They can be a little tricky and take some practice, but they are well worth the effort. New skills! You don't have to get them perfect to enjoy every single bite. And if you're already a macaron master? Add a little matcha to the mix.
We have a childhood love of whip cream, so we opted for fresh whip cream filling. We also knew all our macarons would be gobbled up pretty quick. You can also make chocolate ganache or buttercream filling (the options are endless, really).
Ingredients:
-
100g (7/8 cup) confectioners sugar
-
100g (7/8 cup) almond flour or super fine ground blanched almonds.
- 1 teaspoon of matcha (we used our Culinary Grade matcha)
- 2 large egg whites, one at room temperature
- Pinch of cream of tartar
- 80g more of confectioners sugar
- 7 raspberries chopped 1/2 cup or as much as desired.
- 1 cup of whipping cream
- 3 mint leaves finely minced
Step 1: Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit your baking sheet and draw 1 1/2- to 2-inch circles on the parchment. Flip the paper over and make sure you can still see the circles.
Step 2: Mix 100g of confectioners sugar with 100g of almond flour in a food processor (we used a magic bullet and it worked great) and pulse the mixture until it's combined. Sift the combined mixture twice.
Step 3: Arrange racks to the middle and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Begin to whisk your egg whites on medium speed until the egg is foamy, add cream of tartar and continue to mix until soft peaks form. Continue whisking on high speed, and start adding 40g of the confectioners sugar slowly until stiff peaks are formed. Sift the matcha, sugar and almond mixture over egg whites, and fold until the mixture is smooth and shiny.
Step 4: Transfer batter into a piping bag with a 1/2inch plain round tip and pipe quarter sized rounds 1 inch apart from each other. If you aren't equipped with a piping bag, you can make do with a sturdy ziploc bag with the corner clipped. Carefully pipe out dollops of batter onto the parchment, using the circles as a size guide. Drag the piping bag to the side of the round instead of pulling up when piping to avoid a peak on your macarons. When finished piping, tap the baking tray on a hard surface to release air and rid of any peaks you may have formed. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes until a hard shell is formed. Reduce oven heat to 325 and bake 1 sheet at a time, for 10 minutes each, rotating at halfway until macarons are firm and crisp. Watch the macarons carefully! Before each new batch, heat oven to 400 degrees then reduce to 325.
Step 5: Let the macarons sit and cool for 2-3 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
Step 6: Whisk whipping cream at medium speed, while adding 40g of sugar until you get medium peaks. Add the minced mint and chopped raspberries and fold into the whipping cream. Pick two similar sized macarons and begin to fill the middle and sandwich between the filling.