Instead of buying teddy bears and cards, make your own Valentine’s Day macarons this year. You can’t go wrong with macarons – it’s the new cupcake. Besides the sudden popularity of this baked good, everyone knows that a personalised, thoughtful, homemade Valentine’s Day gift is much better than buying something generic.
We’re going to show you how to make gourmet macarons for your loved one (or for your girlfriends, depending on what your love situation is). We got the idea from Ladurée, a French baking goddess that is offering a special pink, grapefruit flavoured Coffret Saint Valentin macarons for Valentine’s Day.
First, we’ll start off with a simple macaron recipe, courtesy of Cakejournal.com:
Early warning:
Macarons are known to be “unreliable cookies / cakes” because the outcome can vary from time to time. There are thousands of macaron recipes on the web and it takes a while to figure out what works for you. It can be hard to get the perfect ingredient ratios, because if you add a little bit here or a little bit there, the delicate balance could tip over. If you’re making them for the first time, your best bet would be to stock up on ingredients so that you have a back-up plan if your first batch flops. Remember – when it comes to baking macarons, the golden rule is to be patient and take it slow.
What you will need:
- 3 egg whites (from large eggs). Separate the egg whites at least 24 hours before you start baking and keep the whites in your ridge.
- 210 g powdered sugar
- 125 g almond meal (you can grind your own almonds, but make sure they’re peeled)
- 30 g regular granulated sugar
You probably already have most of the kitchen utensils (such as mixing bowls and a spatula), some things you might have to buy – if you’re trying to make the perfect macaron – include a kitchen scale, a pastry bag and round tip as well as large baking sheets.
- Put the measured almond meal and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl and finely grind them together. Sieve the powdered mixture to get rid of the larger bits.
- Put your egg whites in a different bowl and beat until they are fluffy. Add a tablespoon of granulated sugar and continue beating (continue this process until you’ve used up all your granulated sugar).
- Start mixing in your dry ingredients.
- Set out your baking sheets and put your mixture into the pastry bag.
- Put the tip close to the baking sheets and push the batter down to form 1 to 1.5 inch disks. Macarons don’t expand too much while cooking so you don’t have to leave large gaps between the disks.
- Many of the cooking experts advise you to let your macarons rest on the baking sheets for anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours before you put them in the oven.
- Preheat the oven at 135-150°C. Different ovens produce different results, but the average baking time is between 13 – 18 minutes. It’s better to keep your oven at a lower temperature than to rush to process because you don’t want the macarons to brown.
- Once their time is up, take them out of the oven and let them cool. The macarons will now have a flat bottom and a puffy top.
- There are so many options to choose from for the filling (between the two outer shells). For your first shot, you might want to stick with lemon curd or cream.
- Spread your filling or icing on the flat side of a macaron half and gently press another half on top of the filling.
- Experts advise to put your finished macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for about 24 hours.
Stepping it up a notch
Making “gourmet” macarons means that you’re going to have to get a little fancy with flavours and fillings (whatever you choose, just be sure the filling is firm so that it doesn’t drip out on the sides). Here are some great choices:
- If you’ve added pink colouring (seeing as it’s a Valentine’s Day gift), add raspberry flavoured filling to make the macarons extra sweet and girly.
- Buttercream fillings
- Ganache fillings (here’s a recipe for white chocolate and raspberry ganache fillings)
- French chocolate macarons
You can also browse numerous recipes on Chowhound.com and if you’re really getting into making macarons, these are great books to buy: Macarons: Authentic French Cookie Recipes from the Macaron Café, Mad About Macarons!: Make Macarons Like the French and I Love Macarons.
To perfect this Valentine’s Day gift, make your own cake box (or buy a plain one and decorate it with hearts, pictures, candy or ribbons).
Happy Valentine´s Day!
