Meal Monday
In Paris a few winters ago, my mother introduced us to haute couture macaroons -- or macarons, in French. (These are not Great Aunt Betty's Passover macaroons.) We traversed the City of Light to find the bakeries that have perfected these specialized meringue sandwich cookies, each one more sublime than the next.
Now, the macaroon craze has come to the States. It's actually been here for a while. After all, cupcakes are so 2008. People wait hours in line outside choice bakeries and patisseries to pay $2.75 per cookie. And they are good.
Reams have been written about this delicacy and its many flavors and hues. For a primer, see the piece on salon.com or this one in the New York Times. For the past few years, I've wanted to make macarons myself, but all the recipes I've seen are incredibly daunting. I will say that in a pinch, Trader Joe's frozen macarons are excellent, though they only come in chocolate and vanilla.
However, I recently read O Magazine (Oprah.com, December 2011) and came across a recipe for Parisian Macarons by Meg Ray of San Francisco. Her cookbook is Miette, which is the name of her pastry shop. Since we are Jewish, and Christmas always yawns before us as an incredibly blank slate of a day, I decided to tackle the recipe yesterday, 12/25/11. My daughter, who has been exhorting me to make macarons forever, did not even bother to watch, let alone help, but she did taste and was very enthusiastic about the finished product.
I am dubbing this first batch "rustic" -- euphemism for lumpy and unrefined -- because I really couldn't get the almonds ground finely enough and they are still texturally visible in the finished cookies. In the future, I think I will buy almond flour to use instead of grinding my own, and I will also use frosting or jam as filling. Personally, I find buttercream too rich. I look forward to making these again and varying the fillings and the cookies.
I also confirmed that I am absolutely hopeless with a pastry bag and wondered aloud(ly) why I couldn't just mound the meringue with a spoon. I struggled with the bag, but next time, I'm going in with a spoon.
Despite my suggested revisions for the amateur, I think these came out pretty well. Please bear with my photography -- in the course of writing this blog, I've discovered one truth above all others: I am not a food stylist!
What follows is Ray's recipe for Chocolate Macarons with Vanilla Buttercream Filling. I have added my suggested shortcuts or changes in italics. Bon appetit!
Chocolate Macarons with Vanilla Buttercream
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups whole almonds with skins I recommend using an equivalent amount of almond flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 egg whites, divided into 3 and 1
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1. To make cookies, pulse powdered sugar, cocoa and almonds in a food processor until finely ground or mix together almond flour and powdered sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk 3 egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in almond mixture in thirds, just until combined, to form meringue.
2. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a pastry bag with a medium round tip (1/2" to 5/8") and fill bag with meringue. (You can also use a gallon size resealable plastic bag and cut off the corner). Twist the top closed, being careful to squeeze out any air bubbles. Pipe out 1" circles, each about 1/2" high, onto prepared baking sheets, spacing circles about 2" apart. Alternatively, use a tablespoon to mound the meringue into 1" circles. Set aside, uncovered, at room temperature for 2 hours. (This allows the cookies to develop their distinctive crust.)
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake cookies until set but not browned, 12 to 14 minutes; set aside to cool completely.
4. To make buttercream: In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat remaining egg white and 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar until soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes; set aside. Heat granulated sugar and 1 1/2 Tbsp. water in a small pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches 248 degrees on a candy thermometer, 3 to 4 minutes. I don't own a candy thermometer, but the timing was correct. With mixer on low speed, carefully drizzle sugar syrup into beaten egg white. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula,, raise speed to high, and whisk until cool to the touch, about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce mixer speed to medium and, with the motor running, add butter 1 Tbsp. at a time. (If mixture looks curdled, raise speed to high and continue to add butter. I had to do this and it was fine. When buttercream is smooth, whisk in vanilla. Next time, I am going to skip steps 4 and 5 and use some good jam, fruit curd or frosting instead for the filling.
6. Using a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip, pipe a nickel-sized dollop of buttercream onto the flat side of half the cookies. I did not even attempt to use a pastry bag again at this stage after the mess of a time I had with the meringue; I used a mini-spatula and it worked very well. Also, the buttercream was so rich, I used a very small amount. (Save remaining buttercream for another use.) Top with remaining macarons to make sandwiches. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Makes 2 dozen macarons. Active time: 1 1/2 hours. Total time: 3 1/2 hours.
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