Today in TGON Bakes I present you with a challenge: making macarons. And not just any macrons, but Resident Evil ones, because this week, marks the premier of the final Resident Evil movie, called The Final Chapter, Now I know that making macarons is scary and a little bit hard, but the end result is totally worth it!
Macarons are delicate cookies with a crunchy exterior and weightless interior. They have a nougat-like, chewy texture in your mouth and can be filled with anything from frosting and caramel to curd and ganache.
One disclaimer for this recipe is that I can’t guarantee that these macarons will turn out perfectly. Mostly making macarons is trying and testing multiple times in order to find you perfect proportions and oven times. Patience and practice are the main words while baking them. Anyway, let’s get started!
What you will need:
For the macarons itself:
200g confectioners’ sugar
100g almond flour
90g room temperature egg whites (around 3 eggs)
1/8 teaspoon salt
40g sifted granulated sugar or caster sugar
Flavouring in the form of some kind of essence like vanilla or almond.
Frosting/filling:
230 gr unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
480gr confectioners’ sugar
60ml heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt, to taste
Decoration:
100 gr confectioners’ sugar
About 1 tablespoon water
Red food colouring
Black food colouring (Alternative you could change some of the confectioners’ sugar with cocoa power to create a dark counterpart for the red)
Directions:
1. Place the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds until thoroughly combined and fine in texture. Set aside.
2. In a grease-free bowl(I usually use some lemon juice to clean out the bowl and the mixer attachment). Beat the egg whites and salt together until they form *just* stiff peaks. On medium, till high speed, this takes about a minute of three. Try to not overbeat them. The best egg whites are ones that you’ve separated earlier and let them sit out at room temperature for a few hours; overnight preferred.
3. Use a spatula to gently fold in the sifted granulated sugar, one spoon at a time. Be careful to not knock out all the air from the egg whites.
4. This is the time where you can put any kind of flavour or into the mixture. This could be anything from vanilla until anything else. You have to do this by feeling, but a small splash should be enough. Again don’t overmix it.
5. Use the spatula again to gently and light-handed fold in the almond/sugar mixture that you’ve made earlier until it is all combined. Once completely combined, the mixture will be smooth, sticky, and glossy.
6. Let the batter rest (uncovered) at room temperature for about 10-30 minutes. In the meantime prepare your piping bag and line some baking sheets with silicone baking mats. These are the easiest surface to work with.
7. Fill the piping bag with the batter and pipe evenly sized rounds onto the baking sheets– make sure you are holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet. While piping, the batter will slightly spread out, so keep that in mind. You want around 5 cm or 2-inch circles.
8. Gently tap the bottom of the baking sheet on your counter to get rid of any air bubbles. You can lightly sprinkle a few sprinkles, a dash of cinnamon, or any edible decorations onto the wet round shells at this point.
9. Let the baking sheets sit for somewhere between 45 minutes-1 hour at room temperature.This is crucial to making macarons! The air will help the rounds set and form a dry shell. They should not be sticky going into the oven.
10. Preheat your oven to 163°C(325°F).
11. Bake the macarons for 10 minutes, one baking sheet at a time in the middle of your oven. After 5 minutes rotate the baking sheet in the oven. The tops should be crisp and the macarons should have formed their signature crinkly “feet.” Allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet before filling.
12. Fill one macaron and place another one on top to sandwich them together to make the oh so famous macaron shape and you’re done!
Leftover macarons keep well covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. But honestly, I don’t think you’ll have many leftovers!
The filling:
1. Beat the softened butter on medium speed with a mixer. Beat until the butter is smooth and creamy.
2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, cream and the vanilla extract while the mixer is running. Beat it together on high speed until everything is well combined. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if the mixture is too thick. Season to taste or when the frosting is too sweet with salt.
Decorating:
Once the macarons are filled and sandwiched it is time to decorate! If you find it easier you can decorate half of the macarons when they are cooled completely, but not yet filled. Then sandwich them with a plain macaron.
1. Sift the confectioners’ sugar (and the cocoa).
2. Mix it with the water, a little bit at a time and stir it into a thick, smooth paste.
3. Divide the pasta in half and add to each part a different colour of food colouring.
4. Put the coloured mixture into piping bags
5. And use these to pipe the Umbrella Corporation’s logo onto the macarons.
6. Start with 4 lines that you pipe across the macarons, with the dark paste, and use curved lines to connect the end of the lines together. Fill four of the resulting boxes with the red paste. Let it dry for a bit before you enjoy the macarons!
Sources: SugarCoder YouTube Episode and Sally’s Baking Addiction
