Macarons | Recipe

Makes: 16 | Takes 50 minutes + cooling/resting time

I’ll never forget walking into a certain (very famous) Parisian bakery and being surrounded by a sea of macarons; not only because of the vibrant colours, but because they were all gluten-free! So do as I do and give a little Parisian gluten-free magic this Christmas, conjured up right in your own kitchen.

Ingredients

For the macarons

• 100g (¾ cup) icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 100g (1 cup) ground almonds
• 2 large egg whites (about 35g)
• ½ tsp strawberry or vanilla extract
• Food colouring gel of your choice
• 100g (½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
• 30ml (2 tbsp) water

For the buttercream

• 75g (1/3 cup) butter, softened
• 150g (1¼ cups) icing sugar
• 1 tsp strawberry or vanilla extract
• Food colouring gel of your choice
• 1–2 tsp milk (optional)

Freezable: Once constructed, freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Method

Prepare two large baking trays lined with non-stick baking parchment. You can optionally draw 4cm circles in pencil on the parchment with a 2cm gap between each circle, then flip it over – this helps to guide your piping.

Blitz the icing sugar and ground almonds in a food processor, then sift the mixture into a large mixing bowl to remove any larger lumps, which can then be discarded.

Separate the egg whites into two separate bowls and add one of the egg whites to the almond and sugar bowl along with the strawberry or vanilla extract. Mix to combine until it forms a paste. Stir in a few drops of food colouring gel; make the mixture a little brighter than you’re aiming for, as  it will become less bright when you add the remaining ingredients. Cover the bowl and set aside.

Place the caster sugar and water in a small saucepan and set over a low–medium heat. At the same time, place the other egg white into the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. once the sugar syrup has reached 110°C – I use a digital food thermometer for this part – turn the mixer to a medium speed and whisk the egg white until you achieve soft peaks.

Once the sugar syrup gets to 118°C, remove it from the heat and slowly pour it straight into the stand mixer bowl in a thin stream while the mixer is still running. once you’ve added all the sugar syrup, turn the speed up to high and whisk for 5–10 minutes until cooler. You should have a glossy meringue mixture that isn’t too stiff.

Add a little of the meringue mixture to the almond paste and fold it in using a silicone spatula. Then gradually fold the rest of the meringue mixture in until the mixture is smooth and has a slight shine. Do this carefully so that you don’t knock the air out – it’s important not to overmix. When ready, the mixture should form ribbons when drizzled from the spatula that disappear back into the mixture within 10 seconds.

Now it’s time to pipe the mixture. Place the mixture into a piping (pastry) bag fitted with a 1cm round piping tip and pipe 4cm circles onto the paper, leaving a 2cm gap between each. When piping, keep the piping bag completely vertical to the paper and pipe from the centre at all times. quickly flick out sideways to finish piping, which will prevent peaks forming. once you’ve used up all the mixture, tap the trays firmly on the work surface a few times and then put to one side for about 40 minutes to dry out and form a skin. They’re ready when you can gently touch the tops and there’s no residue left on your finger.

Preheat the oven to 140°C fan / 160°C.

Bake the macarons for about 18 minutes, or until they’ve risen up slightly and have visible ‘feet’ – a new bottom layer that wasn’t there before baking. Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool on the tray.

While they’re cooling, make the buttercream filling. Place the softened butter into the (cleaned) bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if using an electric hand mixer). Mix on a medium speed for around 6 minutes, until the butter has turned paler in colour. Add the icing sugar in 2 stages, beating for about 3 minutes between each addition. Start the mixer slowly to avoid creating a mini icing sugar explosion, but then increase the speed to medium–high for each of your 3-minute mixing intervals. Add the strawberry or vanilla extract as well as the gel food colouring and mix until fully combined. If the buttercream is too thick, loosen with a little milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you’re happy with the consistency. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a ½cm round nozzle.

Pipe the buttercream onto the underside of one of the cooled macaron halves, starting at the edges and working towards the middle in a circular motion. The buttercream should be no more than ½cm thick. Sandwich another macaron half on top. repeat until you’ve used up all of the macaron halves and/or buttercream. Chill briefly in the fridge and then package ready for gifting.