Two of these perfect bites of heaven are joined in holy-happiness in a sandwich-style confection by creamy, rich buttercream, truffle chocolate ganache, or tart jam. The flavor is remarkable. Resistance is futile.
Macarons can be tricky to make, and the secret to success is, of course, having a great recipe! This is the recipe our chef used for several years in her bakery and the farmer’s market. The other secret is having a very fine-milled almond flour. The other trick to making consistently incredible macarons is to weigh and measure the ingredients carefully. Whenever possible, we prefer the weight of the ingredients to the volume measurements. It seems that even the slightest variation in ingredients’ weight will not produce a perfect cookie.
120 grams (¾ cup) Panhandle Milling Blanched Almond Flour
230 grams (1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
140 grams egg whites (about 4 large) 1/3 cup egg whites
¼ tsp. Salt
70 grams (1/3 cup) granulated sugar
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract OR 1/4 teaspoon flavored oils
¼ tsp. pure Almond Extract
2 lb. powdered sugar
1 cup Butter
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla or Rum extract
3/4 cup boiling Water