Fancy Foodie Friday: Macarons, Part 1 (Macaron d'Amiens)

Feel like a treat after a long week? Splurge on a special ingredient? In the mood to spend a little longer in the kitchen? Got a hot date to impress with your culinary prowess? Check out the recipes in our ongoing Fancy Foodie Fridays series. These recipes might be a little too complex, time-consuming, or expensive for the every day, but are a nice challenge or treat for a fancy evening in. 
  
So I'm currently taking a bit of time off of work until my new job starts and my visa transfer escapes bureaucratic purgatory. While I'm (f)unemployed, one of my plans for the downtime had been to learn lots of new things. I'm learning to play the ukulele. I took an awesome sailing class. I even painted a painting that didn't totally suck!

Although that hill behind the bird is the grave mound of his misshapen brother who had to be eaten by the earth and replaced by a less terrible bird for it to reach that stage.

Last week, I took an awesome macaron-making class at the Paris International Cooking School in Sydney. It was an intro class/demo, and we rushed through making 5 different styles of macarons in just a couple of hours, did some generous sampling, and then got to take home a box of our creations. (Side note to my Sydney friends: I'll probably go back for one of their longer weekend workshops early next year--let me know if you're interested in joining me!)

Testing the consistency of the meringue in class.

I've never attempted macarons before, because I've heard they're very finicky, but after this class, I've undertaken the adventure. I thought I'd do a short series on my adventures.

I thought I'd start with the easiest and least finicky macaron I learned, Macaron d'Amiens. These macarons are the regional variety from Amiens, a small city in the Picardy region in northern France. They're apparently not very popular or well-known outside of the region, which is unfortunate because they are delicious. They're a super chewy, heavier honey and apricot macaron. Serious amounts of yum.

 As mentioned, these aren't too hard to throw together. However, they do require a bit of planning ahead, as they have to chill in the fridge for 10-12 hours or in the freezer for 6-8 hours. The dough is VERY sticky, so this is pretty essential to avoid having a massive mess. However, my instructor said they will keep in the freezer very well for up to a year, so you can make ahead and leave in the freezer for any last minute sweet tooth emergencies.

A few notes on the ingredients before we get started:

• The almond meal needs to be as fine-ground as you can get--like, only slightly ticker than flour. If it's super chunky like LSA or ground nuts, your macaron will be gritty. 

  

  Fine-ground almond meal. It actually feels very weird to touch.

• Vanilla paste is different than vanilla extract. Rather than being concentrated and distilled into alcohol, vanilla paste is actually scraped vanilla beans mashed into paste. It's got a more intense flavor and thicker texture. You might get away with subbing vanilla extract (maybe add a bit more?). Let me know if you try.

  

  This stuff is seriously amazing. We have a squeezy bottle, but it also comes in jars to scope out.

  
  

• Since they are not being whipped into a meringue, it's okay to use frozen egg white or an egg substitute like Egg Beaters in placeof the fresh egg whites. (But don't do this for any recipe where you whip the egg whites, because they won't set up.)

Macaron d'Amiens
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Chill Time: 6-8 hours in freezer or 10-12 hours in refrigorator
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Servings: Around 30-40 macarons

Ingredients:
(Metric -- This is part of the finickiness of macarons. The measurements are very precise.)

• 250g fine-ground almond meal/flour
• 200g caster sugar
• 30g honey
• 80g to 90g egg white (2-3 egg whites, depending on the size of your egg)
• 25g apricot jam
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/4 tsp almond extract/essence
• 1 egg yolk (for brushing the tops)

 Special Equipment:

• 3 sheets of waxed/baking paper, which is required for rolling the dough to chill and to bake. Apparently if you don't use paper and try to use a greased baking sheet, the bottoms get very tough and if you try to use an ungreased sheet, they stick something crazy. 
• A food processor, for blending the sugar and almond meal. My instructor says this is absolutely essential and non-negotiable for properly mixing the two dry ingredients. I am skeptical that it makes a big enough difference that you should avoid trying this recipe if you don't own a food processor. Maybe try to combine in a tupperware and shake really well if you don't have a food processor.
• Kitchen scale. Again, macarons are super finicky and exact measurements are essential. I usually can't be bothered to use a scale, but here I do. If you don't have a scale and try conversions into cups, let me know how it turns out. 

Instructions:
1. Add almond flour and sugar to the bowl of your food processor and blend for 20-30 seconds until well-combined. I have to tip my food processor side to side a few times to make this happen

2. Dump the combined almond/sugar into a mixing bowl, put the bowl on your scale, and zero it. Add the honey, vanilla, almond extract, and 1 egg white (about 30-40g). Combine with a spoon. This should make a crumbly, mealy mix:

Adding the egg whites one at a time apparently reduces clumps in the finished dough.

 

3. Add the second egg white and stir. The dough should start to pull together. Then, add the apricot jam and mix well. You cannot overmix this, so go crazy. 

You should end up with a super sticky mess of deliciousness.

 5. Lay out two pieces of waxed paper. Divide the dough roughly in half in the bowl. Using the back of your spoon or the edge of your spatula, scoop a bit of dough out at a time and plop it on to one piece of waxed paper, forming a long, fat cigar shape (about 4-5cm (1.5in) diameter) from half the dough.

I told you the dough was sticky.

6. Repeat Step 5 with the other half of the dough and the second piece of waxed paper, so you end up with two cigar logs of macaron dough.

“Happiness? A good cigar log of macaron dough, a good meal, and a good woman - or a bad woman;
it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” -George Burns, not at all paraphrased

7. Pull the long edge of the paper over top of the dough and press gently to smooth out the shape. Roll the log up in the rest of the paper, twist the ends, and stick in the freezer for at least 6 hours or the fridge for at least 10 hours.

Don't press too hard though, or they'll be sticky and difficult to unroll.

 8. After the dough is adequately chilled, preheat the over to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with waked paper. Cut the twisted ends off the rolls of dough and remove the waxed paper. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the dough log into even pieces about 1-1.5 cm (1/2in) thick. Lay them on the cookie sheet in alternating rows of even and odd numbers of macarons--this apparently helps them cook evenly with better heat distribution?--and about a macaron-length space between the rows:

They're supposed to be all even-sized. I don't think I let mine chill long enough
(or it was just exceedingly hot that day) and they got smoochy and hard to cut near the end.
I also only baked one of my dough logs on the first day--saving the other in the freezer for future tasties.

 9. Whisk the egg yolk with a splash of water to create an egg wash. Using a pastry brush or a small spoon, generously brush or lightly spoon the egg wash on top of all the macarons. This gives them a glossy top and helps with the delicious texture.

Action shot!

10. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they're a dark, golden brown color. Remove from the oven and allow to cook on the tray. Enjoy!

Or pull off the tray and immediately eat. They really do need to cool to get optimal texture, but I couldn't help it.

That's all there is to it! I'll do a Part 2 shortly with a much, much finickier macaron. Try them and let me know how they turn out! Has anyone every made macarons before?