Kala-Dawn's Kreations: I'm back!!... with French Macarons!

Hello Blogging World!! It has been almost 2 years since I last posted on here, and I miss it terribly! It's so much fun finding new recipes, making them, and being able to share them with you! Without further ado, lets get started on our first recipe; French Macarons!

These delicacies melt in your mouth, and taste like cotton candy clouds. Although finicky to make, when you see the little 'feet' appearing in the oven, you know you have made them right! Almond flour, egg whites, and sugar are the 3 main ingredients in these cookies. Cookies? or Mini Cakes? They do have a filling! What do you think? Anyways! The process to making Macarons is very similar to a meringue. Whipped egg whites that are stabilized with cream of tartar and sugar are then carefully folded together with almond flour and powdered sugar. In addition to, in my case, pink food colouring. Because who doesn't like a cookie that tastes good AND looks good? Plus, I quite fancy pink things. Once the cookies have been baked they are filled with whichever filling you prefer! I had an assortment of choices. Homemade hazelnut spread (aka nutella) made by my lovely friend Rowan who helped me make the cookies, Vanilla buttercream, and cream cheese icing. These were all quite rich, so next time I may try just a jam. But hey, there is nothing wrong with richness either!

After travelling to New York City almost 2 years ago and trying them at the Bouchon Bakery (Vanilla bean, and Raspberry; I still remember) I have always wanted to bake them, and I had the perfect opportunity to attempt them! My French course requires a Cultural Connections project, and I knew I wanted to do something related to food. (I <3 food). After watching 'Julie and Julia', a movie about a budding writer trying to get her name into the writing world, she began writing on a food blog. Inspired by the famous French cook, Julia Child, she set off on a journey to make every single recipe in her cookbook. That was 500 recipes in 365 days. Quite extraordinary! I was then inspired by the movie to do something similar. I love to bake, and why not tie that into my project? Here is the plan. I am making a French dessert and pastry each week until the end of May. (I was planning on going to the end of June, but I discovered I have to be finished my course by May). That means 8 delicious, European inspired treats to blog about! I also plan on not stopping at the end of May with my blog. As an admitted Pinterest addict, I have so many recipes I want to try, and share what they're like. So I won't be disappearing any time soon!

Back to the recipe! I had to take all of these pictures quite quickly, and it being at night means nasty quality photos. So sorry! I also didn't use my fancy camera, so that didn't help much. In the future I will be practicing my food shots more carefully :)
Also, I don't know if I will include step-by-step photos for every recipe, but for the project ones I am.

For a more detailed process on how to make them, I highly suggest visiting the Joy of Baking recipe link. Making meringues for the first time can be challenging!

French Macarons (Joy of Baking Recipe)

100 grams ground blanched almonds or almond meal/flour

180 grams confectioner (powdered or icing) sugar

100 grams "aged" egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)

35 grams superfine or castor white sugar

Prepare 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place a plain piping tip into a pastry bag.

Sift together the powdered sugar and almond flour 3 times into a medium bowl. It is VERY important to sift until it is very, very light.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium/high speed until soft peaks form.
Add cream of tartar and whisk to incorporate. Gradually add white sugar until stiff peaks form. When removing the whisk, the egg whites should stand straight up, but still be shiny. Add food colouring if using.

Carefully, fold 1/3 of the almond/powdered sugar mixture into the egg whites. Repeat with another 1/3, and finally with the last 1/3. Be very gentle, and careful to incorporate the ingredients completely together.

Spoon into the prepared piping bag, and pipe circles about 2 inches in diameter (or smaller) onto the prepared baking sheet. They can't be right next to each other, but they don't spread, so they can have about 1 inch between each other.

Bang the baking sheet on the counter 4-5 times to remove air bubbles. Let them sit for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Preheat oven 325 degrees, and bake for 14-16 minutes, rotating halfway through. They are done when the little 'feet' have grown, and are slightly brown on top.

Cool completely, then carefully pull off the parchment paper.

Fill with whatever you please, sandwich together, and prepare to experience macaron euphoria!!!

Have fun!!!