I’ll admit, I have never made a macaron. A friend of mine came up with this Blueberry Macarons with Vanilla Filling recipe, and I have to say that they do look delicious!
Blueberry Macarons with Vanilla Filling
My daughter went through a phase of being obsessed with all things French for about a year, and we did try some macarons that we’d picked up from Costco. They were quite expensive, though, so we might try our hand at making these Blueberry Macarons with Vanilla Filling.
I’ve heard that homemade macarons are tricky, but it would be a neat experience for us to do together, I think.
If you try them, let me know how it went for you and how you liked them!
Macaron Cookies
Macaron Cookie Ingredients:
2 C powdered sugar
1 C almond flour or almond meal
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
3 large egg whites, room temperature
Pinch cream of tartar
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1-2 Tbsp blueberry jam, puree, or compote
Additional Equipment:
You will need a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip. If you don’t have one, you can either spoon round dollops of batter onto the baking sheet or make a pastry bag by snipping off one corner of a large resealable plastic freezer bag.
Macaron Cookie Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Put powdered sugar, almond flour, and salt in a food processor, pulsing several times. Continue for about 30 seconds or pulse until the ingredients are fine and well combined.
- Using a flour sifter, sift the above ingredients into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Place the 3 egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until opaque and foamy, about 30 seconds. Now add a pinch of cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium high. Continue to beat until the egg whites are white in color and hold the line of the whisk, which should be about 1 minute.
- Continue to beat, slowly adding the granulated sugar, and blueberry jam/ puree/compote until the sugar is combined, the peaks are stiff, and the whites are shiny, about 1 minute more. Do not over whip. Transfer the meringue to a large bowl.
- Take a rubber spatula and gently fold the dry mixture with the egg whites in four different scoops until the dry ingredients are just combined.
- Now you will need to spoon half of the batter into pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain round tip. Pipe batter onto each prepared sheet in 12 walnut-size mounds, spacing mounds apart because cookies will spread slightly.
- Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until firm to touch in center and dry and cracked on top, about 7 minutes. Pull the pan out and then rotate and bake for another 7 minutes.
IMPORTANT: Slide parchment with cookies onto work surface; cool cookies. Repeat with remaining batter, cooling sheets completely and lining with clean parchment for each batch.
Vanilla Buttercream Filling:
Filling Ingredients:
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 large egg whites
1/2 C unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 4 to 6 pieces
1/4 tsp vanilla
Pinch of sea salt
Filling Directions:
– In the top half of a double boiler whisk sugar and egg white….. in the bottom half of the double boiler add 2 C of water bringing it to a simmer using medium to high heat…. Place the top half of the double boiler over the bottom half… heating the mixture while whisking occasionally about 4-6 minutes.
-Remove the top half of the double boiler from the heat, scraping the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer…. (use a whisk attachment).
-Whip on medium-high speed until it is light, white, and cool to touch (4-6 minutes).
-Reduce speed to low while adding one chunk of butter at a time.
-Increase the mixer speed to medium… beating until the buttercream is smooth ( 4-5 minutes)…..Add salt and vanilla extract. Mix well..
-Using a pastry bag with a #5 tip add some of the buttercream to the flat side of the macaron.
-Add another macaron on to the top of the first macaron, flat sides facing flat sides….. gently pressing the top macaron to fit in place evenly with the bottom one.