Mint Macarons

Mint macarons are so delicious and very refreshing.

My absolute favorite way to enjoy them is with a mug of steaming hot chocolate. The cool mint/hot chocolate combination is heavenly — Imagine eating a deconstructed Girl Scout Thin Mint, but homemade, more sophisticated and much better. Serve that at your next dinner party and I guarantee, your guests will be impressed.

The mint filling for these is so simple and quick to make. It's just unsalted butter, powdered sugar and mint extract whipped until light and creamy.

Here's the recipe:

Mint Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
Teal food coloring

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.  Towards the end of mixing, add the food coloring and tint the batter as desired.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 
Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch. 

The piped macarons before baking.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

This shows how the color fades after baking. Be sure to tint your macaron batter darker than you want it to turn out.

Sort into pairs and fill with Mint Buttercream. Store the macarons covered in refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.

Mint Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on high speed until the buttercream is smooth and creamy. This takes about 5 minutes.

Filling the macarons.

So cute!

A batch of mint macarons. These are going to the Green Day Alternative Liturgy at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Mocha Macarons

These really should be called double mocha macarons since there's espresso and cocoa powder in the both the shells and the buttercream filling.

The lines of drizzled dark chocolate are optional but I like the look and they do make the macarons even more decadent which I think is a very good thing.

It's important to use premium quality espresso and cocoa powder in these since except for some vanilla in the buttercream, the cocoa and espresso flavors are front and center and need to be delicious and bold. My cocoa powder preference is Ghirardelli Majestic Premium Cocoa.

Here's the recipe:

Mocha Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder 
10g dark cocoa powder
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar, espresso and cocoa powder and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set. Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Mocha Buttercream or if you prefer, first decorate the shells with dark chocolate.

Mocha Buttercream
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whip until smooth and creamy. This takes about 5 minutes.


Chocolate Drizzle (optional)
Sort the macaron shells into pairs and set them all out on parchment.

Melt 1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips in the microwave. Heat the chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring after each. When the chocolate is thoroughly melted, stir in 3 more tablespoons of dark chocolate chips. Keep stirring until all the chocolate is melted. This is a tempering method called "seeding."

Then, put the melted chocolate into a disposable pastry bag and clip a very small bit off of the tip. Without applying much pressure and moving quickly, let the chocolate fall in lines across all of the shells.

Let the chocolate set completely before filling the macarons. You can speed the process by putting them in the refrigerator.

Embellishing Macarons

When it comes to getting creative with French macarons, bakers have moved well beyond just tinting the shells a variety of colors.

Macaron makers are getting wildly creative and the current trend is to embellish the tops with everything from melted chocolate and crushed Oreos to colorful toppings like sprinkles and Fruity Pebbles. Bakers are even painting the tops with streaks of color and edible gold.

Really there is no end to the creativity and I couldn't help but jump on the bandwagon with the macarons I made for Valentine's Day. I added a pop of violet color to the shells some black currant macarons, lines of dark chocolate to some mocha macarons and gold luster dust to some black raspberry ones.

I added all of these embellishments to already baked macaron shells. If you want to add toppings like crushed Oreos or shredded coconut, you add them to just piped macarons and bake them with the toppings attached. This way your additions will be sure to stay in place.

Macaron making is really getting fun!

For the black raspberry macarons, I tinted the batter light pink. Here are the macarons before baking.

After baking, I mixed some gold luster dust with vodka and painted the tops of all of the macarons.

I let the gold dry completely before filling them.

For the mocha macarons, I sorted the macarons into pairs and set them all out on parchment. Then I put some tempered melted dark chocolate in a disposable pastry bag and clipped a very small bit off of the tip. Then I simply piped lines off chocolate across all of the shells. I let the chocolate set before filling them. 

Filled mocha macarons.

Here's a closeup of the black currant macarons. Decorating these shells was really easy. I made a paint using a few teaspoons of vodka and a small amount of violet gel coloring. Then I added some of the paint to the tops of the shells and let them dry completely before assembling.

Valentine's Day Macaron Ideas

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and I have no doubt that all your sweeties would love homemade macarons.

Macarons taste best after a few days of chilling in the fridge so you don't need to make them last minute, under pressure and stress. Make them on the llth or 12th and you'll be all set to share your treats on the 14th.

The real struggle is choosing what flavors to make. To help you decide, here are some ideas with links to the recipes — Just click on the flavor.

Pomegranate Raspberry

Morello Cherry

Salted Caramel with Little Pink Hearts

Boysenberry

Grapefruit

Neopolitan

Rose

Cinnamon Dark Chocolate Macarons

A generous dose of cinnamon makes these macarons warm, comforting, spicy, fragrant and the perfect partner for a filling of dark chocolate buttercream.

Fall and my affinity for Moonstruck's Mexican Hot Chocolate were my inspirations for making these.

Baking them made my house smell heavenly and I really like the look of the cinnamon flecked throughout the macaron shells. These are natural beauties and now one of my favorite flavors. The cinnamon shells would also be great with fillings of pumpkin and apple so please stay tuned for those. I'm feeling inspired!

Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Dark Chocolate Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

The almond meal, powdered sugar and cinnamon before sifting.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Closeup of the piped macarons.

The macarons need to set for about 30 minutes before baking.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 11 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

The baked cinnamon macarons.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off. Sort them into pairs and fill with dark chocolate buttercream.

Dark Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup dark cocoa powder
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Whip together all of the ingredients until they are smooth and light. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag for the filling of the macarons. Keep the macarons stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Sorted macarons that are ready to be filling.

Filling the macarons.

All done!

Vanilla Coconut Macarons

The flavor of vanilla and coconut go great together and making the flavorful filling for these macarons really couldn't be easier because I used extracts. 

The filling is just unsalted butter, vanilla extract, coconut extract, a bit of powdered sugar and a pinch of sea salt whipped together until light and creamy. This would also be a great frosting for a coconut cake.

For macarons, I always aim for lightly sweet fillings because the shells are plenty sweet enough. I think this one is perfect and I hope you do too.

Here's the recipe:
Vanilla Coconut Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

The piped macarons.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.
While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

The macarons after baking.

Sort the macarons into pairs and fill with Vanilla Coconut Filling.  After filling, refrigerate the macarons until you are ready to serve.

Vanilla Coconut Filling
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a stand mixer and whip until light and creamy. This takes a good 5 to 7 minutes. At first it will look like a gloppy mess, but don't worry, just keep whipping and it will come together.

A filled macaron.

 

Rosemary Olive Oil Macarons

I got to spend a wonderful afternoon yesterday baking with my nephew's girlfriend Mac and together we created these deliciously different Rosemary Olive Oil Macarons.

I have to admit, the flavor wasn't my original idea. I actually split a Rosemary Olive Oil macaron with my husband and daughter when we were in New York City a little over a month ago, at a cute shop near Central Park called Macaron Parlor. It was by far, the best tasting macaron we tried during our trip and we tasted quite a few macarons.

Rosemary Olive Oil was a flavor I just knew others would love. I had to try to reproduce it and I knew Mac would be the perfect partner to work alongside—  She is an avid and adventuresome cook and told me that she especially likes floral and earthy macaron flavors like lavender and rose so I knew she'd love Rosemary Olive Oil.

Mac piping the macarons. She is such a wonderful cook and a joy to work alongside.

In addition to creating a new flavor, we also experimented with painting on macarons which is becoming quite popular. We thought a brush stroke of purple would be appropriate since that's the color of the flowers on a rosemary plant.

A painted macaron.

Our flavorful filling was made by infusing first-pressed fruity olive oil with fresh rosemary and then adding the rosemary scented oil to a subtly sweet buttercream along with fresh finely chopped rosemary and a dash of fine sea salt.  These macarons are indescribably good and I hope you give them a try.

A cute package of Rosemary Olive Oil Macarons with a homemade tag made by Mac.

Packages of macarons ready for Mac to deliver to family and friends.

Here's the recipe:

Rosemary Olive Oil Macarons

180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
green food coloring (I used Wilton Moss Green Gel Coloring)

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.  Towards the end of mixing, add the food coloring.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Macarons resting before baking.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and paint the tops if desired and fill with Rosemary Olive Oil Buttercream.  


To paint the macarons:
In a small bowl dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of meringue powder with 1 1/2 teaspoons of water. Stir this well to make sure there are no lumps. Tint with purple food coloring.

Dip a small "for food only" paintbrush into the paint, dab off any excess on a paper towel and paint as desired the tops of one macaron in each of the pairs. We added just a simple swipe but you can of course get creative and decorate them however you like. Let the paint dry before filling the macarons. This takes about 15 minutes.

Rosemary Olive Oil Buttercream
1/4 cup first-pressed fruity olive oil
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Remove the rosemary leaves from the stems and chop enough of them to yield 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary, set this aside.

Finely chopped rosemary.

Roughly chop the remaining rosemary leaves and place them in the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Let this mixture set aside for at least 30 minutes to infuse the oil with the rosemary. Strain the rosemary from the oil and reserve the oil. 

Infusing the olive oil with fresh rosemary.

In a stand mixer, whip the butter, powdered sugar, sea salt, rosemary infused olive oil and finely chopped rosemary until it is light and creamy. This takes about 5 minutes.

Filling the macarons.

Raspberry Macarons

I love the modern and monochromatic look of these deep pink raspberry macarons.

To get the colors, I used Wilton Rose gel coloring and just a touch of AmeriColor Electric Blue gel coloring to tint the meringue for the shells, but the filling color came about naturally — It's just Crofter's Raspberry Spread whipped with butter and a few drops of LorAnn Oils Raspberry Flavor.

The filling really couldn't be easier to make and is "very raspberry" without being overly sweet. It's the perfect partner for the sweet macaron shells.

Here's the recipe:

Raspberry Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
Wilton Rose gel coloring
AmeriColor Electric Blue gel coloring

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts. Add the coloring. I added a pea-sized drop of the rose coloring and just a touch of the blue (I dipped a toothpick into the blue coloring and just touched the meringue with it).

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

The shells resting before baking.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable.  Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

The shells after baking. Be sure to let them cool before trying to remove them from the parchment.

After cooling, you should be able to lift the shells off the parchment. If this doesn't work, you may need to gently slide a long thin knife or spatula underneath the shells to help release them. You can see the spatula I sometimes need to use on the counter behind the tray of shells.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife or spatula to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Raspberry Filling.

Filling the shells.

After assembling the macarons, store them in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them. Macarons are best served at room temperature so take them out about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve.

Raspberry Filling
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup Crofter's Raspberry Spread or another high-quality low-sugar raspberry preserve
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Just 3 drops of Raspberry Flavor (I used LorAnn brand)

Whip the butter until it is light and smooth. Add the jam, sea salt and raspberry flavor.

Whip this together until the filling is light and creamy. When you first start whipping the ingredients together, it will look like a curdled mess, but don't panic. The filling will eventually come together and be beautiful. Just whip it and whip it good!

The spread and flavoring I used.

The finished smooth and creamy filling.