First Attempt at Macarons

So, since I have celiac, my decent pastry options are limited. I also have a tendency to go all-in, especially if it involves new gear. I decided to try macarons, because they aren’t worse off by being gluten-free. They use almond flour.

We also try to make kits for each of our various hobbies to wrangle our stuff. So I made a box for my supplies.

New style guide thing – I don’t like having to scroll for the recipes, so I’m offsetting the recipe and putting it just under the “Read More” line. Yes? No?

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Blackberry Lemon Macarons

Adapted from French Macarons for Beginners, Natalie Wong

• 5 g blackberry (dried)

• 70 g almond flour
• 50 g powdered sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2 drops lemon flavor
• 53 g egg whites
• 50 g sugar
• 1-2 drops burgundy coloring
• Lemon buttercream

Grind blackberries and sift. Sift blackberries, flour, sugar and salt. Add flavor and stir gently. Beat egg whites until frothy, then slowly pour in sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Add color and mix in. Fold in ⅓ of the flour mix. Repeat with rest of the mix, in two parts. Transfer to the pastry bag, and squeeze out 24 rounds. Tap sheet pan on the counter a couple of times to settle the cookies. Let sit for an hour under a light fan. Preheat oven to 300′ and bake for 14 minutes.

Lemon Buttercream

• 1 stick softened butter
• 2 TBSP milk
• 88 g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 TBSP lemon juice

Whip butter. Add milk and sugar and beat. Add vanilla and lemon juice and beat.

Assemble the cookies.

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I finally got everything organized, and decided to make macarons today. I don’t bake as much, because it is more exact than I like.

Started by reading the method all the way through. Writing things down helps me retain, so I rewrote the method with my changes. The book has a blueberry recipe, but I’m not a fan of blueberries, so I’m doing blackberry. It pairs well with lemon, so I’m going to do a blackberry lemon cookie with a lemon buttercream filling.

Then I weighed out my ingredients.

I sifted the dry ingredients together and added the lemon flavor.

Then I started the meringue. I whisked…

And whisked…

And whisked…

And whisked…

I don’t think I went long enough, but eh, it’s a first try.

Then I put in the color.

I folded in the flour mix.

And squeezed out the cookies. If the batter was lighter, they would have worked better.

But, I got 24 little cookies.

Put them in the oven and made my buttercream while they baked.

They didn’t rise much, but they were tasty, and I got the feet!

All in all, a reasonable first try.

Lessons learned:

1. Find your half sheet before you start, rather than assuming it is where it usually lives.
2. Make sure your mixer is set so that you can whip your meringue more easily. Or double the batch.
3. Whip the meringue longer (or maybe just better).
4. Do the buttercream in the order on the method, it ended up a little lumpy.

Will try again in a few weeks. Next weekend I’m going to be (hopefully) recovering from surgery happening on Friday. Removing two of the pins in my leg.