Macarons photographed on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette) — French Macarons. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone has enjoyed their winter holidays and the new year brings great things for us all. I’m hoping everyone will challenge themselves to go beyond this year. Go beyond your fears. Go beyond your undesirable habits. Go against all odds!

My goal this year for my food articles is to challenge myself to go beyond my mental barriers. I’m starting with this article. The recipe is inspired by my recent lack of interest in food. I have always loved food and cooking and baking for others is my love language, so I had to get my enthusiasm back.

I fell back in love by making French macaron. The process, the excitement of finding out they have “feet,” and the fact that meringue, powdered sugar, flavor, color and almond flour could come together and create such a delicate, yet sturdy, delicious and dainty dessert and then pairing it with a delicious filling. What’s not to love? I could make these cookies everyday!

I definitely want to perfect my technique. Precise measurements is a must, so I should caution you on using online recipes for French macarons because some of the sites that I looked at try to convert grams into cups but they weren’t accurate, so be sure and look it up, like I did.

I also didn’t use a piping tip when making the macarons, but I think for consistency’s sake you should use a large round tip if you’re a beginner like me. I just cut the tip off the piping bag which was OK, but if I had a macaron mat that may have helped as well as the piping tip.

Recipe

French Macarons

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups super fine almond flour

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

4 egg whites, (Don’t let any yellow get into your egg whites) at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon flavoring, I used Cake Batter

3 to 4 drops of food coloring; I used 3 red and 1 blue for my color but next time I’ll try gel food coloring for a better/brighter color

Most people use canned frosting to fill their macarons but you can make your own if you desire.

Directions

You’ll want to have everything you need already ready before you start the process. Make sure all of your utensils and bowls are clean, completely dry and free from any oils (steel/glass bowls are best as they don’t hold residue like plastic can), pertaining to whipping the egg whites.

Line 2 to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper

Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl.

Pour your egg whites into a steel or glass mixing bowl, using an electric mixer beat for 30 seconds on medium speed until foamy. Then add salt and cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds.

This is when you start adding your sugar one tablespoon at a time, allowing each one to be incorporated before adding the next.

Once all the sugar has been incorporated, add the flavoring/extract and food coloring and continue beating on medium-high until you achieve stiff peaks. (The meringue should stand straight up without folding)

Begin to fold your almond flour mixture into the meringue using one-third increments until well incorporated using a spatula in sweeping motions being sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Use your spatula to smooth the batter on the sides of the bowl to release the air. You should be able to make a figure 8 when lifting the batter. It should incorporate back into the batter within about 15 seconds.

It’s time to put your batter into your piping bag and begin to pipe 1 1/2-inch circles in even rows about an inch to an inch and a half apart in even amounts. (Flicking your wrist in a “C” motion at the end of piping each circle for a clean dismount, so to speak, helps prevent peaks on the cookies. You want to be sure they are flat.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and whop your trays of macarons against the counter about four times to prevent bubbles from forming in the cookies and then let them rest 30 to 60 minutes (you want the top to be tough without it feeling sticky)

You want to be sure to only bake one tray at a time. Bake for 5 minutes then turn the tray and bake for 5 more minutes for a total of 10 minutes. Once done, the feet of the cookie will look dry, and if you very lightly press down it should be stiff with no give or motion. I baked two trays and one tray overbaked a little. You don’t want the bottoms or the feet to brown.

Let macarons cool completely, then pair the shells up and fill with your frosting preference.

Source: Michelle Madden

I’d also use a large reusable piping bag because the smaller plastic ones won’t hold all of the macaron batter that this recipe makes.

It also is important to note that if your house is humid, the drying time may take longer than the recipe so please take that into account.

For the cookie, you want an eggshell-type outer shell with a chewy center. Be sure and let the cookies cool completely before filling them with a good sturdy filling because if the filling is too loose, it will run out the sides. The same will happen if you over stuff them and press too hard on the cookies.

This French macaroon recipe is very versatile recipe, which y’all know I love. That means you can wow your audience with multiple variations of vibrant colors and delicious flavors. Now let’s roll up our sleeves, wash our hands and get started creating our very own version of French macarons.