Real Macaroons

I looked through several websites to get the recipe I followed. I used this recipe because the cook who posted it said she had been through several trials and errors in her quest to making good macaroons, so I figured she already knew the little secret tricks to help me out.

Ingredients:
1/2 c powdered sugar
6 1/2 T almond flour
1 egg white
4 1/2 t granulated sugar

Icing:
1/8 c butter
1/8 c shortening
1 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1 1/2 T cocoa powder
2-3 T milk

The first thing I did was age the egg white. I read about this in a couple of places. Letting the egg white sit for 24 hours removes extra water. Cover bowl with paper towel and set aside on the counter until tomorrow.
Since the Murphysboro WalMart doesn't carry almond flour (can you imagine?), I made my own by buying slivered almonds and grinding them in my coffee grinder. Of course, not the grinder I grind coffee beans. Two seperate grinders.
To dry out the almond flour, I let the flour sit in a pan in my turned-off oven, heated by the oven light only, overnight.
RTG! Egg white, powdered and granulated sugars, and almond flour.
Beat egg white a bit, starting low, going to medium speed. When stiff add granulated sugar and beat still stiff and glossy.
Fold in the almond flour and powdered sugar, which have been mixed together. I put the flour-sugar mix through my coffee grinder (since I don't have a sifter) to insure I would get a smooth mix. I folded the mix in 3 batches. When it was gloppy but well-mixed I stopped stirring, so not to overmix.
Pipe onto parchment paper using a ziplock with the corner cut out. Make 1-2 inch circles. Making the circles circular was a challenge. Leave the piped circles alone for an hour, so the top crust will form.
Put them in a preheated 275 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. I put my baking pan on top of another baking pan while in the oven to heat more gently.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from parchment. In the mean time, make the icing by creaming the butter and shortening, add sugar, vanilla, and cocoa and beat well. Slowly add in milk while beating until desired consistency. Frost when cool.
Sandwich together!



These were really great for a first attempt. There are some things I will change for future batches...

First off, I will use real almond flour. My cookies were a little darker in color than I'd hoped for, because the almonds I ground had their skins on. If I wanted a tan colored cookie, this would be good, but in most cases I'll want a light colored cookie so I can dye it accurately. Also, I'm not completely sold on the buttercream icing as a filling; I'd like a filling that's a little heavier. I will investigate other fillings.

The taste of both cookie and filling was very yummy, and they complimented each other wonderfully. I look forward to experimenting with variations on flavor and color... while these were very good, they were quite basic. It was really fun to try something so out of my comfort zone. I'm not much of a baker, so when I bake something successfully, I kinda marvel at it for a bit. Although these looked a little like tiny hamburgers (due to the darker than desired cookies), I spent a fair amount of time marveling at these cute little treats.

I made these on 12.09.09. It was sunny but cold and windy, and I was listening to Louder Than Bombs, by the Smiths.