Well, after much thought I came up with a perfect first post for my Blog.
I have tried to master the French Macarons recipe for months! I Finally arrived at perfect Macarons land!
"The Macaron cookie was born in Italy, introduced by the chef of Catherine de Medicis in 1533 at the time of her marriage to the duc d'Orleans who became king of France in 1547 as Henry II. The term "macaron" has the same origin as that the word "macaroni" -- both mean "fine dough".
The first Macarons were simple cookies, made of almond powder, sugar and egg whites. Many towns throughout France have their own prized tale surrounding this delicacy.
In Nancy, the granddaughter of Catherine de Medici was supposedly saved from starvation by eating Macarons. In Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the macaron of chef Adam regaled Louis XIV and Marie-Therese at their wedding celebration in 1660."
As for the recipe, is Martha Stuart's but I updated to a kitchen with little and older appliances and more accessible ingredients! Yet the process of making it still very delicate and time consuming. And for the baking sake, If you do not have patience to bake, this is a recipe you MUST NOT TRY at home! All others, enjoy! :)
French Macarons:
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 4.5 oz
- 3/4 cup almond flour, 2.5 oz. (you may also process almond slivers to a fine grain)
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature (take from the fridge the day before or the morning of)
- Pinch of cream of tartar (I used Baking Powder instead and I'm glad I did)
- 1/4 cup superfine sugar, 1.5 oz.
- 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam, for filling
- 5 drops of red food coloring
How to:
1. Pulse confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times.
2. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar (Or Baking Powder) and food coloring, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add superfine sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes (take care not to over-whip).
3. SIFT flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny. I found the amount of folding to be crucial. Fold too little, and your macaroon shells will have peaks instead of nice rounded caps. Fold too much, and your meringue will drip into a mess of wafer-thin blobs.
4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. (You can pipe 1-inch to 2-inch rounds, but you will need to add cooking time). Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature from 40Min. to up to 2 hours (yes I did wait 2 hours. But you can settle for less than that as long as they have formed a crust)
5.Ok I baked them on a toaster oven (mine is a decent one) you may use my way or Martha's way (step 6). Pre-heat the "toaster oven" at a 350 and bake them for 10 min rotating at half the time
6. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macaroons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees. Every oven is different, so you may need to play with your oven temperature. The tops of the macaroon shells should not brown.
7. Let macaroons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. If macaroons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macaroons.
8. Sandwich 2 same-size macaroons with 1 teaspoon jam. Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months. It takes only 30 minutes out of the freezer for macaroons to be ready to serve.
****You may add different food coloring and feelings****
Linzer Cookies use the same ingredients as the Linzertorte but present them in a different way. Two cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of preserves. The top cookie, dusted with confectioners sugar, has a cutout so the preserves are visible. When cut into a round shape with a round cutout they are known as Linzer "Eyes" (Linzer Augen) as they are said to resemble an eye. Traditionally these cookies are filled with black currant preserves. However, in America as black currant preserves are expensive, we fill them with a variety of different flavored preserves, most notably seedless raspberry preserves. Variations now exist for this cookie using ground hazelnuts, pecans, or even walnuts in place of the traditional ground almonds.
