Rainbow French Macarons
Macarons are so eassssy to make.
Simple.
Piece of cake.
Nothing to it .... really.
You feeling the sarcasm? : )
Honestly, they wouldn't have been such a pain in the ass if I hadn't used 14 food coloring gels. If I had picked one color the time would have breezed by.
But these are sooo pretty!
Rainbow French Macarons
Ingredients
3 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar
1 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup finely ground blanched almonds
Swiss Butter cream Filling Ingredients
4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, (3 sticks), softened, cut into tablespoons
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions for Cookies
1. Line two baking sheets with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Beat your egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until whites are foamy.
3. Gradually beat in the white sugar and continue beating until egg whites are glossy, fluffy, and hold soft peaks without falling.
4. Sift confectioners' sugar and ground almonds in a separate bowl and quickly fold the almond mixture into the egg whites. If you wish to add color, add it now. Please use food coloring gels instead of food coloring so you do not change the consistency of the batter. Do not over mix. It should only be about 35 strokes.
5. Spoon your batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe a round disk of batter, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, onto prepared baking sheet. The batter will spread a little so pipe a little less and wait for it to fall so you can see how big your disk will be.
6. When batter is mixed enough to flatten immediately into an even disk, spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between the disks.
7. Important!! Let the piped batter rounds stand out at room temperature until they form a hard skin on top, about 40 minutes. I know this seems super weird, but it's important.
8. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and bake cookies until set (they will still be a little squishy) but not browned, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool before filling.
Directions for Filling
1. Place your egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. (double boiler) Using an electric handheld mixer, mix on medium-low constantly until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm. Remove from heat.
2. Continue to beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 6 minutes.
3. With mixer on medium-low, add the butter a couple tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. (If frosting appears to separate after all butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.)
4. Beat in vanilla and reduce speed to low; beat 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Pipe in between cookies.
TIP: If you don't want to make the 2 hour long frosting (Ha) you can use anything in between the cookies. Melted milk chocolate, white chocolate, Nutella (yum) ..... you get the point.
