SMALL-BATCH MACARONS

By foodiva

Ingredients

• 2 aged egg whites, at room temperature*
• 68 grams almond flour
• 153 grams powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons meringue powder
• 3 drops vanilla extract
• strawberry jam

Details

Servings 24
Preparation time 60mins
Cooking time 73mins
Adapted from dessertfortwo.com

Preparation

Step 1

There is a little-known secret in the macaron world about how to achieve perfect macarons, every single time. This one little trick takes them from finicky to perfect results on the first try.  I learned it from one of my baking idols, Anne Thornton. She used to have her own Food Network show, and I’m still sad about it being cancelled. She shared this trick for perfect macarons, and I’ve been a devotee ever since.

Anne’s trick is to add 1 tablespoon of meringue powder for each egg white. The meringue powder stabilizes the egg whites, and helps them thicken properly so that you get perfect macarons, even on your first try. I’m serious! Go check out the comments on all of my macaron recipes–they’re full of people in shock that the recipe worked.

Last week, I decided that this trick meant I was ‘cheating’ at macarons, so I tried another well-known recipe on the internet. It failed so miserably. Twice. And I used the f-word on instagram because of it. It was a dark, dark week.

I actually doubled the recipe the other day, just to see if it holds true. It does. Even though meringue powder requires a special trip to the store, it’s a lot closer than my local patisserie. Meringue powder is essentially just dried egg whites. It’s easy to find at a hobby or craft store because cake decorators make fondant and royal icing with it.

You can scale this recipe up or down, just make sure to add 1 tablespoon of meringue powder for each egg white.

Speaking of egg whites, they should be old. Separate your egg(s), cover the whites, and age them in the fridge for at least a week. When you’re ready to bake, let them come to room temperature on the counter for a few hours.

For Christmas, I bought myself a macaron kit. (Yes, I always buy myself gifts, and I see nothing wrong with it). The kit had a rubber mat to help you pipe out perfect macs and this little brown squeezy thing (photo below) to help you pipe. The rubber mat let me down–it actually curled with the heat of the oven and made macarons slide everywhere (another reason I used the f-word last week), but this little brown squeezy thing, I love. I love that you can load the batter into a large area (just unscrew the clear part), and the tips are so easy to attach and clean. It actually came with a lot of tips, and I want to try it out for cake and cookie decorating. If you don’t have a speciality piping bag, just use a ziplock bag (try to use a sturdy freezer-safe one), and snip the tip off to make a homemade pastry bag. The best part about using a ziplock bag is that you don’t have to clean it up, just toss it in the trash.

hope I’ve convinced you to try homemade macarons. I promise with everything I have that this recipe will work for you. The meringue powder tips makes them very forgiving, and the low temperature bake helps them bake slowly and evenly. If you follow this recipe exactly and it fails for you, I’ll buy you dinner. Deal?

I’m going to paste the recipe below for a double batch, but if you need to make an even smaller batch and just use 1 egg white, feel free to scale it down. And oh yes, I still have batches of strawberry jam in my fridge from failed

, so that’s what I stuffed these with. Feel free to use Nutella, caramel, or stir some jam into buttercream. It’s hard to go wrong here–fill the cookies with your dream filling.

Yields

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (it works better for me than a silicone mat when it comes to macarons). Make sure the paper fits into the pan perfectly--any buckled paper around the edges will make the cookies spread unevenly and slide.

Begin to beat the egg whites on medium speed using a hand-mixer until foamy, about 10 seconds. Then, start slowly adding the meringue powder while constantly beating.

Beat the egg whites and meringue powder until soft peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. This will depend on your mixer speed, but be careful not to over-mix. The peaks are soft when you lift the beaters and the egg whites flop over.

Once the egg whites have soft peaks, turn off the mixer.

Add 1/3 of the almond-sugar mixture and begin to gently fold it in using a small spatula. Take your time: proper folding technique is carefully folding around the sides and cutting through the middle occasionally. The idea is to not stir too hard and deflate the air you just whipped into the egg whites.

Repeat with the remaining almond-sugar mixture two more times, until completely incorporated.

Let the cookies rest on the baking pan for at least 30 minutes. Test to see if they are tacky--if you touch the cookies gently and the batter sticks to your finger, they're not ready. They should be dry to the touch. On humid days, it can take 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300 (or 290 if you have a gas oven that runs hot like mine). Bake the cookies for 13 minutes, until their little feet have risen and the tops are dry.

*To age your egg whites, separate the whites from the yolks, cover them and refrigerate for at least 1 week. Before using, let them come to room temperature.

There is a little-known secret in the macaron world about how to achieve perfect macarons, every single time. This one little trick takes them from finicky to perfect results on the first try.  I learned it from one of my baking idols, Anne Thornton. She used to have her own Food Network show, and I’m still sad about it being cancelled. She shared this trick for perfect macarons,

Today, we’re going to talk about something very cute, very small and very lovely. Are you ready? Of course you are! Her name is Molly Yeh (pronounced YAY!), and when I first laid eyes on her new cookbook, I gave it a bear hug. Molly’s book is my top pick for holiday gift giving this year. Her book has recipes that showcase the lovely mix of