Christina Ha’s French Macarons
Ingredients
For THE macarons
- 1½ cup confectioner’s sugar (175 grams)
- 1¾ cups almond flour (175 grams)
- Egg whites from 4 large eggs (130 grams)
- ⅔ cup sugar (150 grams)
- Food coloring, as desired
- Note: All dry ingredients should be spooned into a measuring cup and leveled off
FOR THE fillings
- Salted Caramel Buttercream
- 240 grams sugar (1⅔ cups)
- 1 vanilla pod
- 220 grams heavy cream (8 fluid ounces)
- 5 grams fleur de sel (1½ teaspoon)
- 160 grams chilled butter (6 ounces or 1 ½ sticks)
- Pistachio Ganache
- 240 grams heavy cream (8.5 fluid ounces)
- 300 grams white chocolate (10.5 ounces)
- 40 grams pure pistachio paste* (3 tablespoons + ½ teaspoon)
- 1 pinch of salt
- Note: Be sure to check and see if your pistachio paste is pure 100% pistachio paste or a blend of almonds & pistachios. The pure pistachio paste is very expensive, but worth it for the flavor.
- Dulce de Leche Ganache
- 180 grams heavy cream (6.5 fluid ounces)
- 200 grams milk chocolate (7 ounces)
- 150 grams dulce de leche (5.5 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon fleur de sel
- Chocolate Ganache
- 224 grams heavy cream (8 fluid ounces)
- 300 grams chocolate (10.5 ounces)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 112 grams butter (4 ounces or 1 stick of butter)
- Raspberry Ganache
- 250 grams raspberry puree
- 15 grams corn syrup
- 250 grams semisweet chocolate
- Pinch of salt
Method
- For the macarons: Sift confectioner’s sugar and almond flour. Discard any big pieces.
- Place the 4 egg whites and all of the sugar into the mixing bowl. Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, whip the egg whites at low speed for one minute so the egg whites and sugar become well combined. Raise the speed to medium for another two minutes. The meringue will start to look milky. Increase the mixer speed to the fastest speed and whip until the mixture is thick and the whisk leaves marks in the meringue. This will take approximately 1½–2 minutes. The final meringue will be thick, fluffy and have medium stiff peaks. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the meringue sliding out of the bowl.
- Add ⅓ of the meringue to the almond flour mixture. Add any coloring at this point (start with 4 drops) and you can mix it aggressively until it is well combined. Add in another ⅓ of the meringue and you can still adjust the color, if necessary. Again, there is no need to be gentle at this stage. Add the rest of the meringue and this is when you should be more delicate at folding. A good general rule of thumb is that if you start with a stiff meringue, by the time you have folded in the last ⅓ of the meringue until there are no more white streaks, you are almost done. This only works if your meringue is pretty firm and you’re gentle at the last step. If the meringue is soft to start, then you have to be super careful to not overmix it. It is better to undermix it than to overmix it.
- Test the batter by lifting up a small amount of the batter and dropping it back into the bowl. After 30 seconds, if it flattens out and looks like it’s slowly melting back into the batter, it is ready. If it doesn’t move, continue gently folding. If it becomes runny, it is overmixed.
- Put the macaron batter into a piping bag with a tip with a ½” opening. If you’re new to piping, pipe only half of the batter at a time. It’ll be easier to control with less in your bag.
- Pipe 1¾ inch circles. Firmly tap the tray onto your counter twice to remove air bubbles. Allow to dry for about 10 minutes until a skin forms on the surface.
- Bake at 325 F for 12 minutes or until you can pull the macarons cleanly off the parchment. *You may have to test your oven settings. Finished macarons are baked thoroughly through and are somewhat hard when they come out of the oven.
- Peel the macarons off the parchment paper. Match them up. Pipe with your filling. Place the macarons in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
NOTE: Why wait 24 hours? Otherwise the cookies will be rock hard. After 24 hours, the moisture from the filling will soften up the cookies and help produce the ideal texture.
Salted Caramel Buttercream filling: Form caramel with the sugar and water. Add vanilla bean seeds (save the pod for something else, like vanilla sugar). Add heavy cream in 3 parts, bringing to a boil after each addition. Boil for approximately 1 minute after adding the 3rd addition of heavy cream. Strain into the mixer bowl and add fleur de sel. Whip caramel until it reaches room temperature. Add chill butter and whip until comes together.
Pistachio Ganache filling: Boil heavy cream. Pour over white chocolate, salt, and pistachio paste. Whisk together until combined. Allow to chill before piping.
Dulche de Leche filling: Boil heavy cream. Pour over chocolate, salt, and dulce de leche. Whisk together until combined. Allow to chill before piping.
Chocolate Ganache filling: Boil heavy cream. Pour over chocolate and salt. Whisk together until combined. When the ganache has cooled down until it is warm to the touch instead of hot, whisk in the butter. Allow to chill before piping.
Raspberry Ganache filling: Boil raspberry puree with corn syrup. Pour over chocolate and salt. Whisk together until combined. Allow to chill before piping.
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