EASY FRENCH MACARONS

🧂 Ingredients

• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 egg whites

  at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¼ cup granulated white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch fine salt
• Gel or paste food coloring in red- optional
• 6 tablespoons raspberry jam

Instructions

• 1 You’re going to preheat oven to 300°F degrees – but not yet! No sense having
  your hot oven sitting empty for an hour. 
• 2 Line a big baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
• 3 Press almond flour and powdered sugar through a fine mesh sieve into a large
  mixing bowl.
• 4 I found this to be the most time-consuming part of this whole recipe. You need a
  fine powder mixture to create a smooth top to your cookies, so put on some
  music, grab a glass of vino and get sifting. Set aside.
• 5 Be sure everything that touches the following egg whitemixture is completely
  free from any oil or grease.
• 6 Using a stand mixer with whisk attachment or hand mixer and mixing bowl, beat
  room temperature egg whites on medium speed until foamy, then add cream of
  tartar.
• 7 Continue to whisk, gradually adding the white sugar, vanilla, and salt.
• 8 When incorporated, increase the speed to high and mix untilstiff glossy peaks
  form. 
• 9 Add the food coloring (I dipped the tines of a fork into the color and dabbed it
  into the meringue) and mix 10 seconds more. The color fades when baked so go a
  shade darker and brighter than your desired finished color.
• 10 Using a (clean -  no oil residue!) rubber spatula, fold the eggs into the almond
  and sugar mixture, gently folding until the mixture makes smooth ribbons when
  you lift the spatula. This takes 50-60 strokes or “folds”.
• 11 Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a ½ inch tip, or spoon into a
  gallon sized zip top plastic bag and cut ½ inch off one corner to pipe like a
  pastry bag. 
• 12 Pipe 1½ inch rounds onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
• 13 Tap the pan on the counter to release air bubbles.
• 14 Meanwhile, here is the secret to amazing macarons. Allow the cookies to sit out
  on the counter for 20 minutes. This lets the tops dry out and form a “skin” on
  top. This prevents them from spreading out when baking. Instead, they rise
  upward making the “feet” that indicates a well-made macaron.  
• 15 Now, preheat your oven!
• 16 Bake the cookies, in the lower third of your oven, for 20 minutes.
• 17 Let cool completely on parchment.
• 18 Prepare filling by passing raspberry jam through a mesh strainer to remove
  seeds.
• 19 Place one scant teaspoon of jam between two cookies.
• 20 Et Voila! Macarons!

Nutrition Info