In the winter time, I was a regular vendor at a farmer’s market at University of Toronto, and my best seller of this market was definitely these beautiful, two-toned, raspberry mango macarons. I never thought to do a recipe/tutorial for them because I was making them so often, but now that we are going through the seasons, I keep finding myself going back to make more mango buttercream, which often leads me back to these macarons, and sometimes makes me a little nostalgic of those markets.
Macarons seem to be everywhere, and always seem to be around $2.75 to $3 CAD for one, and they are always super TINY! I like to spend the money to buy almond flour and butter, and make them myself at home, because then you’re able to churn out a bunch, and make it taste any way you like. However, I am fully aware that there are many complications when it comes to macarons. I think the area where everyone really messes up would be the folding, and the drying. Without proper folding you run the risk of having an under-mixed batter, which holds too many air bubbles, and may lead to cracked shells, while overmixing the batter leaves you with little to no air bubbles, a batter that spreads too quickly, and may not rise properly or at all.
The second problem area would be letting the macarons dry out properly. Without drying the shell, the air bubble distribution will go crazy while baking, leaving you with a cracked and wonky shell that has no feet. Another good thing to note would be that macarons are super sensitive to humidity and temperatures, the last time I made these macarons was during the winter time, when the air was nice and dry, and this time I made them with the summer heat and humidity, so they needed a lot more time to dry. The meringue also could have used some more whipping time to further dry itself out, but I’ll make sure to take the environment into account, the next time I make these babies. Macarons are always a humbling dessert, in the sense that you could make macarons over and over, and still have some bad days when it comes to macaron making. In the end, it always tastes good and always worth the trouble.
Here is the recipe:
Macarons
Note: This recipe makes 1 colour, and about 20-25 macaron shells depending on how big you pipe them.
You will need a sugar thermometer.
Ingredients
150g (1-1/2 cup) almond flour
150g (1-1/4 cup) icing sugar
2 egg whites
food colouring, powdered + gel preferred
2 egg whites (for the meringue)
150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
40g (1/8 cup) water
Method
- Cut parchment to size on 4-6 cookie trays, lay the pans on each other to flatten the parchment.
- Draw borders onto the sheets of parchment using a small cookie cutter and permanent marker on the side of parchment that won’t touch the macaron batter (optional).
- In a bowl, sift and whisk together the almond flour and icing sugar. If there are large chunks, place into a food processor to blitz on low speed just until fine. Place the almond sugar mixture into a medium sized mixing bowl, add the first portion of egg whites, and food colouring. Mix until completely combined and forms a thick paste.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment fitted, place the second portion of egg whites, and set aside.
- Get the hot sugar syrup for the meringue ready by getting a small saucepan, adding the granulated sugar and the water. Bring to a boil on high heat until it reaches 110C. Turn on the stand mixer on medium speed to get the meringue started. Once the sugar syrup mixture reaches 117C, take off heat, lower the speed of the stand mixer, and carefully pour the sugar syrup into the stand mixer. It’s hot!
- Once all the sugar is in, turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed, and let the meringue whip until the bowl is warm but not hot to the touch, and the meringue is completely at stiff peaks.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the almond sugar egg paste to loosen the batter. Add in the rest of the meringue just until the batter slowly pours off your spatula in a slightly steady flow. Feel free to watch the video below to see the perfect drip.
- Scoop the batter into a piping bag fitted with a #2 plain tip, and pipe the macarons onto the lined trays, make sure to leave at least 1/2 inch – 1 inch of space between the macarons because they will spread before drying.
- After piping each tray make sure to release any large air bubbles by hitting the bottom of the tray with the palm of your hand, or tapping the whole tray onto a flat surface.
- Leave the piped shells to dry out for around 30 min, longer if in a humid environment, or until the shells are matte on top and are not sticky to the touch.
- While the shells are drying, preheat the oven to 350F/180C and bake the macaron shells when they are dry — about 12-15 min.
- Let cool completely before filling and enjoy!
I made two batches of the above, one coloured yellow using a pinch of powdered orange food colouring, and about 1/8 tsp Wiltons buttercup yellow gel food, and the other coloured pink using a pinch of powdered red food colouring, and about 1/8 tsp of Wilton’s no taste red gel food colouring. I filled the macarons with two piped rings of mango buttercream, using a #3 star tip, and filled the centre with raspberry jam. For the mango buttercream recipe, click here.
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