Easy French Macaron Recipe

I won’t lie and say that it has been a busy period, but I will admit that I have definitely been procrastinating as I experienced the Christmas / New Year snooze. I had made plans ahead for Casa Du Duchess, but with the holiday season and Christmas feast(S), I spent so much time watching TV and taking naps. Heck, I had turkey meals 4 days in a row! Uffh. But it is a new year and I am feeling very much motivated again! 🙂

Last Christmas, I really wanted to bake some macarons with a slightly special filling – Bailey’s Irish buttercream! The filling was an experiment that was very much successful. The one and only time I made macarons was on Christmas day 2015. Both batches came out perfectly – smooth shell layer, crust on the outside but chewy inside, not to forget the nice and evenly-risen feet. If you won’t take the words from a macaron-beginner, I assure you that I have done my thorough research beforehand. In spite of my lack of experience, I do confidently say that I have understood: What makes a Macaron “perfect”?

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When baking a macaron, DO :-

1. clean and dry all bowls and utensils;
2. sieve the icing sugar and almond flour, remove any lumps. In fact, before sieving, blending them using a food processor will help to further grind the flour ingredients;
3. follow the right steps to prepare the perfect meringue;
4. tap tray before resting to burst bubbles;
5. rest piped batter before baking (to form them happy feets).

As always while baking, you must :

1. Line with grease-proof / baking paper;
2. Measure your ingredients properly;
3. Bake at the right time and temperature;
4. Allow to cool;
5. Be gentle.

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I used to think that Macarons are overpriced and overrated, leaving false impressions as a luxury in our minds and culture. I still believe they are, but I can also see why now. When baking macarons, I realised that it brings out the most perfectionist version of a perfectionist in me. For example, I prepared macaron templates because I needed to pipe the macaron shells perfectly. Piping them evenly will reduce the work of pairing the shells. Then, looking at that perfectly piped macarons rise in the oven without cracks, smoothed top and even feet, I realised how delicate these cookies are. Any rough handling may result in a black sheep in the flock.

To me, this is how it will look like (yes, I googled “OCD” pictures, hahahaha):

Overall it is a very therapeutic baking process. Before I sound like a maniac and the keyword for this post becomes “perfect”, I will leave more thoughts for the next time I write about Macarons. I definitely will be baking them more often, and I foresee writing a “Let’s talk” series for them. 😉

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5 from 1 vote

Easy French Macarons

Simple and easy macaron recipe. Not overly sweet like them store-bought ones. Who says macarons have to be expensive luxury cookies?

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine French

Keyword Cookies, Macaron

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 16 minutes minutes

Resting (before baking) 25 minutes minutes

Servings 14 macarons

Calories 40kcal

Author SforB

Ingredients

• 108 g Icing sugar
• 90 g Almond flour
• 2 Egg whites , room temperature (c.a. 70g)
• 50 g White sugar
• Choice of food colouring

Baileys Buttercream Filling:

• 150 g White chocolate , cut into chunks
• 75 g Heavy cream
• 15 g Bailey Irish cream
• 2 tsp Espresso

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius fan-assisted. Line a baking tray with baking sheet. *
• Sift the icing sugar and almond flour together into a bowl, using a spatula to assist the sifting.
  
• Prepare the meringue.

  Beat the egg whites in a large mixing bowl with a mixer, gradually from low speed to medium-high speed. Once the egg whites are white and foamy, start adding the white sugar in – one tablespoon at a time, at 15-seconds intervals.
• Once the mixture reaches soft peaks, add in a few drops of food colouring. Continue beating until stiff peaks.
• Fold half of the dry ingredients into the meringue. Once incorporated, add the remaining half and fold. ** 
• Prepare piping with a piping bag and a round nozzle tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet, leaving at least half an inch between each shell. ***
• Tap the baking tray on the counter top a few times to remove air bubbles. Leave the piped batter to rest for 25 minutes. 
• Once the batter has formed a dry surface layer, the macarons are ready to be baked. This can be test by gentle touching a macaron side to ensure no batter sticks onto your finger.
• Bake them in the preheated oven for 16 minutes. Once the baking is done, allow them to cool on the tray for 10 minutes. Transfer the shells to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.

Baileys Buttercream Filling:

• Heat the heavy cream, Baileys and espresso in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat just before it begins to boil.
• Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate chunks. Leave for 1-2 minutes before stirring to melt the chocolate. Leave aside or in the fridge for the buttercream to firm up.

Assembling the macarons:

• Pair up the macarons by their size. Pipe the fillings on one of the macaron and sandwich them together. The macarons are ready to be served, otherwise they can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days.

Notes

* I drew circles on the other side of the baking paper as templates. Alternatively you can print and place macaron templates (found on google) below your baking sheet, removing them after piping.

** careful not to overfold, it should be well incorporated but not too runny – the batter slides off the spatula slowly when lifted. 

*** nozzle straight down and start from the centre of the macaron. Try not to move the nozzle too much as the batter will spread out evenly itself. Give a little swirl as you are done to remove “tips” on the macaron shells.

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