Macaron Recipe

Being home for the summer has given so much time to get back into the kitchen! I love to bake and try new recipes and my family seems to appreciate all the sweets I've been making (it's a win-win for everyone!). I decided to try my hand at making macarons after coming across the most adorable baking blog! I adapted her recipe and decided to make a coffee flavored filling instead! The results were good - although nothing like Laduree's famous macarons - and I would definitely use this recipe again and switch up the flavor of the filling! 

Macaron Shells

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

• 1 cup +1 tbs almond flour

• 3 egg whites

• 1/2 cup sugar

• Food coloring

for the shells: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 
2. Prepare a pipping bag with a round tip. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
3. In a medium bowl, sift almond flour and powdered sugar together. Set aside. 
4. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites on high speed until they form soft peaks. 
5. Lower the mixer's speed to medium and add sugar. 
6. Put mixer back on the highest speed and beat until they form stiff peaks. 
7. With the mixer still on high speed, add food coloring a few drops at a time until you get desired color. 
8. Take bowl off of mixer and add almond flour/sugar mixture. 
9. Using a rubber spatula, aggressively fold in dry ingredients until the batter starts to loosen and becomes a little runny. To test if the batter is ready, lift a small amount of batter from the bowl and drop it back into the batter. If it does nothing, keep mixing. If it slowly melts back into the batter after 20-30 seconds, it is ready. 
10. Put batter (about 1/3 of the mixture) into prepared pipping bag and cover the rest.
11. Pipe circles on prepared baking sheet and firmly tap the bottom of the tray so the batter flattens out. 
12. Repeat with remaining batter.
13. Let them rest for 30-45 minutes until they form a skin. 
14. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they are set. 
15. Let cool before peeling them off parchment paper. 

Coffee Filling

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)

for the filling:

1. Beat all ingredients together until you have a smooth cream.
2. Match the macarons into pairs by size.
3. Put a dollop of buttercream on one shell and fit a second shell on top.

Enjoy!