Almond Macarons Cookies

By Golfwidow7

Choose Lemon curd, chocolate ganache, ot vsnilla buttercream for filling

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar (plus 2 Tbsps)(7 3/8 OZ)
• 1 1/4 cup almond flour (plus 2 Tbsps)(4 3/8 OZ)
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1 recipe macaron fillinf of your choice; lemon curd, ganache, vanilla buttercream

Details

Servings 30
Adapted from sprinklebakes.com

Preparation

Step 1

Line 3 completely flat baking sheets with parchment or nonstick baking liners and set aside.

Sift the confectioners' sugar and almond flour into a large bowl and set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy and the wires ofd the beater leave a trail (1-2 minutes).

Add 1 Tbsp. of the granulated sugar and continue to whip for another 30-45 seconds. Repeat 3 times with the remaining granulated sugar. Once all of the sugar is mixed in, continue whipping the whites until they turn glossy and stiff.

When you lift the beaters from the bowl, the whites should hold a straight peak that doesn't curl at the tip (4-8 minutes more.

With a large rubber spatula, fold in half of the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once most of it has been incorporated, fold in the remaining mixture until just combined.

Using a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 to 3/4 inch round tip pipe the batter onto the prepared sheets in rounds about 1 inch in diameter and 1/2 to 1/2 inch thick, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart.

As you pipe hold the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet and flick the tip of the bag as you finish each cookie to minimize the peaks. Rap the sheet against the counter several times to flatten the mounds and pop any large air bubbles. Let ret until the meringues no longer feel tacky, (20-30 minutes.) meanwhile position racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and heat the oven to 325*

Put 2 of the cookie sheets in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 300*. Bake rotating the sheets and swapping their positions after 8 minutesuntil meringues are very pale golden. (15-20 minutes total) Cool completely on the baking shees on racks. Meanwhile, return the oven temperature to 325* and then bake the third sheet as above. Remove meringues from the parchment and pair them by size.

Using a piping bag witht he same tip used to pipe cookies, pipe 1 to 1/2 tsp. of fillinf onto half the cookies - you want to use just enough filling that it spreads to the edge when topped but doesn't squish out much when bitten. Top the filled filled halves with their partners.

The cookies are best the day they're made but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day or freezed for 2 weeks.

COOKIE VARIATIONS:
Cinnamon: add 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon to the confectioners' sugar and almond flour while sifting.

Vanilla: Srape and add the seeds from 1/4 vanilla bean to the egg whites after they've formed stiff peaks.

Cocoa: Reduce the amount of almond flour by 1/4 cup and substitute 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder.