Wednesday, April 3, 2013

macarons make the best mini gifts

Guava French Macarons via design. bake. run.

i love making macarons. in addition to that lemony peach cake that i made last week to bring up to my mom, i also made these french macarons. i had some guava sitting in my fridge and decided i needed to use them up too. so i grabbed whatever was left (about 5-6 mini ones) and mashed them up. i didn't bother taking the seeds out. i figured it would add a nice unexpected crunch or whatever when you bite into the cookie. of course, should you decide to do this, you can certainly take out the seeds or leave them as is. i still have some leftover guava puree in the fridge so i may make these again. if i do, i think i'll remove the seeds from the puree. i'm sure people will appreciate that very much.

below's the recipe for the guava macarons. i also made a plain shell cocao-dusted macaron with chocolate ganache filling. i'm sure if you want to make those instead, you can modify the recipe to your liking. otherwise, maybe i'll make those again and write up a post for that in a future post. enjoy and happy baking! :)

Guava French Macarons via design. bake. run.
these macarons are scrumptious. they look so pretty in these homemade origami boxes.

Guava French Macarons via design. bake. run.
i say go ahead and make some macarons and give them away!

french macarons with guava buttercream filling

ingredients:

macaron batter:
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup almond meal
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon pink gel food coloring (or any gel food coloring of your choice, or none at all)

guava buttercream filling:
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2-1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons guava puree
cream or milk, if needed

directions:

to make the macaron batter/shells:
  1. line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
  2. sift together the powdered sugar and almond meal so there are no lumps. set aside.
  3. in the bowl of a standing electric mixer (or if you prefer, you can use a bowl and hand mixer), beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. while whipping, beat in the brown sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
  4. add in the gel food coloring. then carefully fold in the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. when the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white and the food coloring looks like it's fully incorporated, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone). note: it's very important to not overmix/fold here. it's better to go under than over because if it's too runny, you may have ruined the batter. and you can't go back. if it's too stiff, at least you can fold it a few more times.
  5. pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1.35-inch circles evenly spaced one-inch apart.
  6. rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons. then let it sit for at least 30-60 minutes depending on humidity before baking them in the oven. about 10-15 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. bake for 15 minutes.
  7. once macaron shells are out of the oven, let them sit for 30-60 seconds before removing the hot baking sheet underneath. let the macarons cool completely before removing them from the parchment paper.
for the guava buttercream filling:
  1. in a medium size bowl, using either a handmixer (i usually just go with a fork) mix the butter, powdered sugar and guava on low speed together until they're incorporated.
  2. then turn the speed to medium and mix for 2-3 more minutes until everything is blended and you've reached the right consistency for buttercream. add in a little milk or cream if the buttercream is too thick or more powdered sugar if it's too thin. once everything looks good it should be ready to use.
to assemble the macaron cookies:
  1. before assembling these cookies, make sure to pair up all the cookie shells so they are as close as possible in size.
  2. using a knife, spread a good amount of the guava buttercream on the inside of the macarons then sandwich them together.
  3. let them stand at least one day (keep them refrigerated) before serving (serve at room temperature), to meld the flavors.

store in airtight container for up to 5 days. makes 20-24 macarons. happy eating because these are really, really, good! :)

if the above recipe isn't for you, but you'd still like to try and make some other kind of macarons, you can certainly check out these recipes:

9 comments:

  1. Those boxes are adorable! And your macarons are, of course, perfection. I love seeing all your creative ways of presentation for your macarons.

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    Replies
    1. hehehe.. thanks! and yeah, still figuring out or experimenting with ways to package these goodies. although i have to say, i do love these origami boxes. they're so easy to make. definitely one way of getting rid of all those magazine or catalog pages. west elm catalog makes some pretty neat boxes because they're so bright and colorful and full of neat patterns.

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  2. I can't get over how adorable these are, especially in the handmade boxes! for some reason your recipe for macarons make me feel less intimidated about trying to make them at home; bookmarking this recipe : )

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  3. I am tried this method SO many times over the last 2 weeks-- about 2 months back, I made a PERFECT batch.. but recently every single batch I've made has been HOLLOW to no end. Looks perfect on the outside, but has hollow shells, with all the stuff pooled in the bottom and VERY chewy. Any suggestions? I've Google like crazy and tried a bunch of things but always the same result.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, I'm so sorry to hear you're having troubles baking another batch of perfect macaron shells. In my personal experience, sometimes over mixing or not measuring the exact amount of ingredients can play a role in having hollow shells. I've also noticed that over baking the macarons a minute or two helps. It allows for the inside to really set. It may be a bit crispy at first, but if you allow enough time for it to mature, the cookie will get the proper texture and flavor it needs.

      Not So Humble Pie has a great blog post about trouble shooting macarons. A good portion of the post is dedicated to hollow macaron shells as well as other issues others may encounter when making macarons. You can check out the post here: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/08/macaron-troubleshooting-new-recipe.html.

      Good luck! I hope your next batch turns out okay.

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  4. LOVE the boxes! How did you make them? Do you have a template to share? :))

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! You can find the directions on how to make these boxes here: http://www.instructables.com/id/paper-box/ :)

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  5. you say to add brown sugar to the egg whites, but granulated sugar is in the recipe. Which one did YOU use?

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    Replies
    1. hi maryanne. thanks for stopping by. i actually used brown sugar instead of granulated sugar and forgot to change it in the recipe. i was recipe testing to see if you could use brown sugar instead, which was what i did. and turns out you can use either. so it's really up to you and what you prefer. traditionally macarons are made with white sugar and most of the time that's what i use.

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