Parisian Macarons

Ever since I tasted my first Parisian macaron, I have been in love.  My love only increased when I went to a book signing in December for the book Mad about Macarons! by Jill Colonna.  I bought the recipe book and finally got the chance to make some of my own last week. 

Macarons are a bit high maintenance, which is why I put off trying the recipes for quite awhile.  I had determined the book was better off sitting on my coffee table on display.  But after walking past several patisseries selling these little suckers last week, I decided I needed to go ahead and give them a try.  They are SUPER expensive in the shops, so I figured I could save a little money by making my own (not eating them at all is just not an option!). 

When you decide to make macarons (do not pronounce the "s"), you must first age the egg whites of 4 or 5 eggs in your refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.  These are no chocolate chip cookies, where you can decide you want them and then eat the final product in under an hour. 

Once your egg whites have aged, it is time to get to work.  Basically, you need powdered almonds, two types of sugar, cocoa (if you are making chocolate macarons!), and your egg whites.

Next, you whip the egg whites and mix all of your ingredients together.

You put your mixture into a piping bag or something that will help you squeeze the batter out into perfectly round circles.  I had some trouble making them all the same size, but I'm sure I will get better with practice!



Next, you let them sit for about 30 minutes before baking.

Once they are hard to the touch, you pop them in the oven for around 10 minutes.  If they have been made correctly, they should form "feet" around the edges.  Basically, that just means they should have a frilly edge.  I was thrilled when I looked in the oven and noticed that my macarons did in fact have feet!

You let the macarons cool and then prepare the filling.

Here is my final product!

The super hard part about making macarons is that you can't eat them right away!  You must put them in the fridge for 24-36 hours.  Then, they must sit at room temperature for about an hour before tasting.  When your whole apartment smells divine, it is pretty hard not to just try one.

I was good and waited 24 hours before trying (I couldn't manage 36).  They weren't perfect looking like the ones in the patisseries, but I have to say they were AMAZING.  I'm going to try to make vanilla macarons next weekend!