Similarly, macarons are not hard. I follow the philosophy of “as long as it tastes good, appearance doesn’t matter.” I’ve given these to my teachers; they’re great, they’re tasty. A Valentine’s Day bonus is that not many people know that macarons actually taste good. Ask any person, and they’ll say that macarons exist to be expensive and look good on Instagram. I promise they taste good! This is not only a gift of some sandwich cookies; it’s a gift of being able to eat macarons for the rest of their life. It’s an almond meringue (PSA: it does contain almonds. If your person has some type of nut allergy, don’t make these; they’ll just get sad).
This recipe is based on one from tasteofhome.com, but I use it for vanilla macarons instead of cinnamon ones. You could add your favorite extract or spice in small amounts. Macarons are mostly air, so there’s not a lot to season. That goes for the salt, too- be stingy. They look nice if you sift the dry ingredients, but the world does not implode if you don’t.
As for the meringue, you have to whip egg whites. I hate stand mixers, but this is the one time where I use a handheld electric mixer.
Probably the hardest thing about traditional macarons is that you’re supposed to use a piping bag to get the batter on the baking sheet. I don’t do that, I use a tablespoon and a mini spatula. Scoop some of the batter out of your bowl, and scrape it out of the spoon onto your tray, around half an inch apart from each other. The batter will take a second to fall, so swirl the spatula in a little circle over the top of the cookie to make a cute pattern. With this method, they tend to look better if you don’t dry them for 30 minutes before the oven.
I like ganache with my macarons, a bonus of chocolate is that you can easily make these dairy free with some vegan chocolate and almond milk. I talked about chocolate in my previous article, so I’ll just go over it briefly. Each type of chocolate has its own ratio of chocolate to cream (or milk chocolate ganache is pretty forgiving). Dark chocolate should have a 2:1 ratio chocolate: cream; milk chocolate 3:1; and white chocolate 4:1. Chocolate chips can change the texture, so use a bar of a brand you really like; though, I’d avoid candy bars like Hershey’s because they aren’t as high quality. Melt the chocolate in your favorite method–microwaves and double boilers are common–and mix in your liquid. When the macarons are baked, spread the ganache over one, find a cookie of roughly equal size, and join them.
Recipe:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- ¾ cups sugar
Separate the egg whites and put in a large bowl. Set aside. Do this step first to give them a chance to get to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl, sift almond flour, powdered sugar, salt, and spice (if using).
Beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. If you’re unsure, keep mixing-- you can’t overmix the egg whites. Gradually add in the granulated sugar until soft peaks form. This is your meringue.
Gently fold in the flour mixture and extract if using; do not overmix!
Line two baking sheets with parchment. Spoon or pipe the batter about half an inch apart. Bake until lightly browned and solid, around 9-12 minutes.
