Macarons - First Attempt

As  you know I love baking and cooking, but somehow my things never look as nice as in the picture. After seeing nothing else than macarons in the last year and reading anywhere that they're very difficult to make and you will fail for sure the first time you make them, I finally took a dare nonetheless. 

After reading about four hundred different recipes I made up something myself:

- 2 egg whites

- 200 grams of confectioners sugar

- 200 grams of almond meal

This morning I separated the egg whites from the yolks and let it rest for three hours. 

First I mixed the egg whites for a couple of minutes before I added all of the sugar at once. I mixed until the egg whites were stiff enought to turn the bowl upside down without losing the egg whites. After that I folded in the almond meal, until the mix was smooth. 

With a tea spoon (first note to self, but I think you can use this one, too: pipe to make perfectly round macaron shells instead of using a spoon) I made little heaps of egg white on baking paper and let it rest for half an hour. The outside of the egg white has to be dry before you put them in the oven, I read somewhere. 
I preheated the oven at 150 degrees Celsius and baked the macaron shells for fifteen minutes. 

Not all of the macarons came out of the oven the way they should be. One had too much air in it, I think, so it kind of burst in the middle. Others had a top that slided of the bottom. And because of using a spoon instead of piping, some weren't perfectly round. But all in all I'm not dissatisfied for a first attempt. Not dissatisfied at all. 

 After baking them I let them rest until room temperature. In the meantime I made the filling. I really like the taste of coffee, so I made a butter cream with coffee to fill them.

- 125 grams of butter

- 100 grams of confectioners sugar

- 2,5 grams of espresso powder

Mix the ingredients until smooth. Fill the macarons with the butter cream.

Well, to be honest I have no idea how macarons should taste, because I never ate them before, but I love my own version anyhow.  A bit too sweet, so I will use a little less sugar the next time, but still yummie. 

www.betweennapsontheporch.net

Oh, if they all come nice out of the oven, you can make twenty macarons with these amounts of ingredients.

This week I will buy some macarons at the pastry store, just to compare. I will let you know!

~*~

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