Mac and Me

This is the classic and heartwarming 1988 tale of a beautiful friendship between a Mysterious Alien Creature and a special young boy.  It only gets a 3/10 on imdb.com!?  That is preposterous!!

Actually, this is the tale of  the precious and scrumptious French macaron and me.  I spent about a month on the interwebs googling and foodgawking macarons. I read recipes, tips, and stared at photos.  Finally, I got the courage to buy some almond meal and give them a try.  A lot of the blogs and recipes I read told me that the mac is a finicky treat and it may take some practice to get the technique down.  I was mentally prepared to age my eggs, sift my almond meal and confectioners sugar, fold the meringue and dry ingredients for the perfect amount of strokes, and let the macs rest and grow feet before baking.  Oy vey! The basic recipe I used is Tartlette's via Bakerella.

I made two flavor variations to the basic recipe:

Coffee Macaron with mocha ganache

 

 Clementine macaron with clementine buttercream

Macarons are chewy little sandwiches of pleasure. I love chocolate, so the coffee and chocolate combo was my favorite, but the clementine version was flavorful and fruity. 


Tartlette's Macarons


For the shells:
90 gr egg whites
25 gr to 50gr  granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr almond meal
Age the eggs: Separate the whites from the yolks and place the whites in a  clean bowl. Leave at room temp, uncovered or loosely covered with a towel for at least 24 hrs.
Sift together the powdered sugar and almond, removing any large pieces.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam and gradually add the sugar until you reach a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat the meringue.
Add the almonds and powdered sugar to the meringue,  and fold together until the batter falls back on itself after counting to 10. The process should not take more than 50 strokes.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets. Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden the shells
Preheat the oven to 300F. When ready, bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
When cool, match up pairs of shells and sandwich with desired filling.

* For the coffee variation add 1 teaspoon of finely ground espresso to the almond/confectioner sugar mixture.  For the ganache filling:  heat 1/4 cup heavy cream with 1tsp ground espresso. Pour over 4ounces of semi-sweet chocolate. Let sit for a few minutes and then stir to combine. Cool the mixture until it reaches a good piping consistency.

*For the clementine variation add the zest of one clementine to the almond/confectioner sugar mixture. Add a few drops of orange gel food coloring to the final mixture, if desired. For the buttercream filling: cream 1/2 cup (1 stick of butter) with 3 cups of confectioners sugar (or more if needed) in a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add the zest and juice of one clementine.

But seriously, I liked the flick "Mac and Me" when I was a child. It is not the tops as far as 1980's movies go, but I have funny memories of watching it with my sisters.