Rémy wanted to make macarons for his teachers Madame Francoise and Miss Lisa to say thank you for a great year. What he doesn’t realize is quite how difficult these dainty little French delicacies are to make – it’s that lovely belief in the magic of cooking that he has, simple throw some egg whites and sugar together – et voila!
So this recipe is for you Madame Francoise and Miss Lisa – you have given Rémy an amazing third grade year, which he will forever remember as both challenging in the best possible way and always enjoyable. Merci! Macaron Recipe
You will need
Silicone Mat Macaron Cookie Sheet
baking sheet
piping bag with round nozzle
For the filling
3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon espresso (optional)
For the macarons
180g confectioner’s sugar, sifted
100g ground almonds
3 egg whites
1 pinch cream of tartar
40g baker’s sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder for dusting
Rémy calculated 6 x 8 = 48, divided by 2 = 24 macarons
What to do
1. First make the filling. Break the chocolate into small pieces and put in a medium bowl. In a small pan bring the cream to a boil and pour over chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute to melt the chocolate. Add the butter and coffee and stir to a smooth consistency with a whisk. Set aside to cool.
2. Place the sifted confectioner’s sugar and almonds in a food processor and process for a couple of minutes. Sift into a large bowl and discard any lumps.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer whisk the egg whites until frothy and add the cream of tartar.
Whisk until soft peaks and add the baker’s sugar in thirds. 
Continue to whisk until stiff white peaks form.
Remove bowl from stand mixer and slowly add the sifted almond/sugar and fold in completely by hand with a spatula.
The finished batter should be the consistency of thick magma – too runny and you have over folded it.
4. Place the silicone baking mat on the baking sheet. Fill the piping bag with the batter and pipe out the macarons onto the silicone macaroni mat.
Tap the bottom of the baking sheet on the countertop – this will settle the macaron batter and release any large air bubbles. Dust half of the macarons with cocoa powder.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F. Let the macarons stand at room temperature until they form a skin – about 30-60 minutes.
6. Turn down the oven to 275 F. Bake the macarons for 10 minutes then turn the baking sheet and bake for another 7 minutes (17 minutes total).
7. Remove the macarons from the oven and let cool for a couple of minutes before placing the silicone baking mat on to a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.
8. When cold, gently lift the macarons off the macaron mat (pushing up from under the silicone mat helped ease them off without breaking or leaving the bottom stuck to the mat although it was tricky and we did have a couple of causalities). Using the chocolate filling sandwich together in pairs.
Tips and Tricks
Weigh out all your ingredients using an electric scale.
Sift the sugar and almond meal – discard any pieces too large to fit through the sieve.
The older the eggs the better – some recipes call for leaving the egg whites out overnight in a bowl covered with a paper towel.
The piped batter shouldn’t have peaks – work towards the edge of the macaron.
Don’t skimp on the time it takes to form the skin before baking – they should not be sticky but dry.
Gently squish down any peaks or bumps once the batter has formed a skin before baking.
Some suggest using double baking sheets to cook the macarons – this is if your oven cooks very unevenly, it made no difference for us.
Bake in the center of the oven and don’t use a convection oven.
Let the finished macarons cool completely before removing them from the silicone mat.
Refrigerating the finished macarons for 24 hours gives them a better texture and flavor – but we are never that patient in this house.
Dust plastic soldiers with confectioners sugar for a snowstorm on the battlefield of Remy’s kitchen.
When I asked Rémy if he had enjoyed baking macarons he replied, “I only bake them so I can eat them!”
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