J'adore...

Ben, of course, but also macarons!

My love of Paris is inextricably linked with my love of pastries. Every trip involves at least one patisserie purchase, even if we're only there for a day, and walking by many many patisseries in order to lick the windows. And on our last few trips, I have been struck with a love of macarons.

They've become something of an obsession, and I have wanted desperately to make my own. I saw plenty of examples and recipes on the bajillion food blogs I read regularly, but my problem was that the ingredients are always in grams. This makes sense because A) They're French, and B) They are fussy and delicate and I would expect no less of these magnifique little treats. Soooo, I had to get a food scale. I eventually did, and after marveling at how I could now tell you how much my food weighs at any given meal (those chocolate chip cookies in my previous post were about 35 g, in case you needed to know), I finally made my macarons!

I searched the blogosphere for just the right recipe, and I kept coming back to Tartelette and her Macarons 101. She explains it so well and so thoroughly, not to mention the fact that her pictures are mouth-wateringly pretty.

I followed her recipe almost exactly. The only change I made was to substitute vanilla sugar for the plain granulated sugar. And then I filled half with the bittersweet chocolate ganache, and half with a vanilla bean buttercream that I found the recipe for somewhere. But I won't share that recipe because, for whatever reason, it just didn't work for me and I had to wing it and experiment with powdered sugar to get it to a decent consistency. And in the end, my macarons... were delicious! They looked like macarons (although they were a tiny bit flatter than I wanted them, but that's just something to improve for next time) and, more importantly tasted like macarons. Ben proclaimed them as good as Pierre Hermé. I don't know about that, but I'm glad he loves me and my baked goods.

Macarons (recipe from Tartelette)
For the Macarons:

3 egg whites (I like to use 2-3 day old egg whites)
50 gr. granulated sugar
200 gr. powdered sugar
110 gr. ground almonds



For the whites: the day before (24hrs), separate your eggs and store the whites at room temperature on a covered container. If you want to use 48hrs (or more) egg whites, you can store them in the fridge.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry and your macarons won't work.


Combine the ground almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a quick pulse. It will break the powdered sugar lumps and combine your almonds with it evenly.


Add them to the meringue. Fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper baking sheets.


Preheat the oven to 300F. Let the macarons sit out for an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool.

If you have trouble removing the shells, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macarons will lift up more easily do to the moisture. Don't let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy. Pipe or spoon some ganache on one shell and sandwich with another one.


Bittersweet ganache:

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup bittersweet chocolate

In a heavy saucepan set over medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the stove and add the chocolate to it. Let stand 2 minutes and then stir until fully combined. Let cool until firm enough to put in a small piping bag.

Les macarons!