It's Always Good To Challenge Yourself...{Recipe: Vanilla Bean French Macarons}

Once my daughter sets her mind to something, it is very difficult to sway her. She had it set in her mind that we should make French macarons for her birthday. Making French macarons was a learning adventure for both my daughter, Lili, and me. I was a bit intimidated to try and make them, as I have alway understood them to be very difficult to make. I love to cook, but tend to keep it fairly simple. But my daughter was persistent and I am happy she was. The macarons turned out just about perfect!

I have to give credit where credit is due, Lili is the one who did all the research on how to make macarons. She read recipes, researched trouble shooting advice and watched Youtube videos on how to make them.

The one piece of advice I have for making these macarons is to make sure you give yourself plenty of time. Lili and I set aside a whole morning and afternoon to make them. It took us just about the entire time to make them.

So, here is the recipe we used for the macaron shells:

Ingredients for Macaron Shells

This recipe is adapted from Food Network Kitchen

1 3/4 cups of confectioners sugar
1 cup almond flour/meal
3 large egg whites, at room temperature (we "aged" the egg whites for 24 hours, like a few other recipes suggests)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 vanilla bean pod, seeds scrape

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F using the convention setting, if you have one. Line 3 baking sheets with scone mats.

Measure the confectioner' sugar and almond flour by spooning them into measuring cups and leveling with a knife. Place in a food processor for one minute. Transfer to a bowl; whisk to combine. Sift the sugar-almond flour mixture, a little at a time, through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to pass through as much as possible. It will take a while, and up to 2 tablespoons of course almond flout may be left; just toss it.

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high; gradually add the superfine sugar and beat until stiff and shiny, about 5 more minutes.

Transfer the beaten egg whites to the bowl with the almond flour mixture. Draw a rubber spatula halfway through the mixture and fold until incorporated, giving the bowl a quarter turn with each fold.

Add the vanilla bean. Continue folding and turning, scraping down the bowl, until the batter is smooth and falls off the spatula in a thin flat ribbon, 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the batter to the pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet, pipe 1 1/4-inch circles (24 per sheet). Firmly tap the baking sheets twice against the counter to release any air bubbles.

Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the tops are no longer sticky to the touch, 15 minute to 1 hour, depending on the humidity. Slip another baking sheet under the first batch (a double baking sheet protects the cookies from the heat).

We have feet!

Bake the first batch until the cookies are shiny and rise 1/8 inch to form a "foot," about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat, using a double sheet for each batch. Peel the cookies off the mats and sandwich with a thin layer of filling.

For the filling we used Lili's favorite buttercream from http://www.frugallivingmom.com/perfect-6-minute-buttercream/

Ingredients for Perfect 6 Minute Buttercream Filling:

1/2 cup softened butter (salted or unsalted, depending on your preference)
4 cups/one pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-5 tablespoons milk or cream

Directions

1. Add softened butter into your stand mixer or bowl.
2. Beat butter on medium to high in stand mixer or with a hand mixer for 3 minutes until fluffy.
3. Just before the end of 3 minutes add vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk to butter, keep beating.
4. Reduce to medium low or medium.
5. Slowly pour in powdered sugar and continue beating for a total of 3 more minutes on medium        moving up to high speed as sugar is incorporated.
6. If you want to add in food coloring, add in while it is beating that last 3 minutes.
7. If frosting is too stiff add in more milk 1 tsp at a time and beat until combined.
8. Spread on cake or cookies
9. To store place butter cream in an airtight container and store in refrigerator for 2-3 days.
10. Bring to room temperature prior to frosting.

Note: The buttercream makes much more than you need for the macarons. I have frozen buttercream with no problems, but probably shouldn't be frozen for more than a month or two. Our favorite way of using up leftover frosting is sandwiching some between graham crackers. This certainly was a favorite treat when I was a child!

Enjoy!