After endless hours and recipes, I am happy to report that I have finally baked a successful batch of macarons!
Chocolate Macarons with PBJ
Macaron recipe adapted from David Lebovitz
Macaron Batter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
Two pinches of cream of tartar
PBJ Filling
Peanut butter
Powdered sugar
Grape Jelly
Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
Sift together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold 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, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you're alone).
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.
For the filling, I just mixed powdered sugar and the peanut butter to taste and then filled the macarons using the sandwich baggie with the tip cut off.
There were a couple of things I did differently this time compared to the billion of other tries:
- I used to grind my own almonds but I have a dinky food processor so the almond was never fine enough. I ended up trying the almond meal flour from Wholefoods. Trader Joe's also has almond meal but they use whole almonds with the shell so the flour has flecks of brown shell in it.
- I didn't have time to age the egg whites so I added cream of tartar to the fresh egg whites.
- I used Valrhona cocoa powder (left over from the bouchons recipe) and I swear by this brand. It is a darker chocolate that really cuts the sweetness of the macaron.
My macarons came out a tad too dry - I will need to repeat this recipe with a shorter baking time. Next attempt: gingerbread macarons!