Are you making your own wedding cake? Have you considered a dessert buffet instead? (*author faints at the thought of a dessert buffet*)…

Today we found a really great recipe for one of our favourite French confections. Check out this beautiful recipe for French Macarons from HowToCookThat.

French Macaron Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites (or 5 small)
• 1/3 cup or 70g (2.47 ounces) caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups or 230g (8.11 ounces) pure icing sugar OR 1 3/4 cups 230g (8.11 ounces) icing mixture
• 1 cup or 120g (4.23 ounces) almond meal
• 2g (0.07 ounces) salt (tiny pinch)
• gel food colouring (optional)

(*cup measurements are metric cups where 1 cup=250ml)

Macaron Recipe Directions

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C

Place egg whites and caster sugar in a bowl and mix with electric mixer until stiff enough to turn the bowl upside down without it falling out. Continue to whip for 1-2 more minutes.  How long this takes will depend on your mixer.  Add gel or powdered food colouring and continue to mix for a further 20 seconds.

Sift the almond meal and icing sugar and salt twice, discarding any almond lumps that are too big to pass through the sieve. Fold into the egg white mixture. It should take roughly 30-50 folds using a rubber spatula.  The mixture should be smooth and a very viscous, not runny. Over-mix and your macarons will be flat and have no foot, under mix and they will not be smooth on top.

Pipe onto trays lined with baking paper, rap trays on the bench firmly (this prevents cracking) and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Check if one comes off the tray fairly cleanly, if not bake for a little longer (make sure you are using NON-stick baking paper or they will stick).

Make sure you check out the macarons FAQ and troubleshooting video. This way you can learn from the mistakes and questions of those who have made them before you.

Filling your Macarons

Ganache Recipe

• 100g (3.53 ounces) chocolate
• 30ml cream

Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute and then stir. If it is not adequately melted, then microwave for 20 seconds and stir – repeat until smooth. Allow to cool and thicken before piping onto the macarons.