Ingredients
cookie ingredients:
- 6 Tbs. egg whites
- 1/8 tsp. fine sea salt
- Food coloring optional (try natural food colors like Color Garden™ or India Tree®)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tsp. icing confectioner’s sugar
- 1 cup plus 3 Tbs. 120 grams almond meal (make your own!)
filling ingredients:
- ¼ cup butter or non-dairy alternative e.g. Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks
- 1 ¼ cups icing confectioner’s sugar, sifted
- ¾ tsp. pure vanilla or almond extract
- 1/8 – ¼ cup milk of choice as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix egg whites and salt in a bowl and whip with an electric mixer until foamy. Add food coloring, if using. Increase speed to high and gradually add in the granulated sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form.
- Sift icing sugar in a sieve or flour sifter (that has never been used for gluten flour!). Sift almond meal through a sieve and discard any larger chunks that won’t pass through.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the sifted icing sugar and almond meal into the whipped egg mixture, folding over again and again to incorporate the dry ingredients. This will take approximately 40 folds; it will initially look like there is no way the egg whites could mix with the dry ingredients, but it will work – trust me! When fully incorporated, the mixture will be smooth but not runny. Do not over-mix or your macarons will be flat!
- Prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch #4 round tip or large plastic bag with a small ½ inch cut out of one corner, pipe 1-inch rounds of batter onto prepared sheets. Allow for spread by spacing out 2 inches between each round.
- Pick up the trays and gently let the trays drop back onto the counter to help prevent cracking of the macarons. Alternatively, you could let them sit at room temperature until they appear dry, then bake.
- Place cookie sheets into the preheated oven and crack the door ajar, baking for 15 minutes or until the macaron tops are no longer shiny and they have puffed up. Remove one cookie gently with a spatula to see if it comes off intact – if it sticks to the paper or the spatula, continue to bake for 5 more minutes, checking again with a spatula.
- Remove the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, remove gently with a spatula and try not to bend the cookies when removing them or the tops might crack.
- To fill the macarons, whip all ingredients except milk until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, one tablespoon at a time, until a frosting consistency is reached – the frosting should be stiff, but creamy.
- Transfer to a pastry bag or large plastic bag with a 1/4 inch corner cut out. Arrange macarons so the flat bottoms are facing up and gently pipe filling as thick as you would like for your cookies. Top with another macaroon, flat side facing the filling.
** Please keep in mind that nutrition information provided is per serving, which may vary. While we have taken care to provide you with the most accurate nutritional values possible, please note that this information may differ significantly depending on the exact ingredients and brands that you choose to use to make this recipe. Additionally, where options are given for ingredients, the resulting calculation may include all ingredient options instead of only one per line, skewing the totals significantly.