Snowflake Macarons

Dress up your macarons for the Holiday Season. These fancy cookies just got fancier. Happy Holidays

Snowflake Macarons Ingredients: Macarons: 90 gr egg whites 25 gr granulated sugar 200 gr powdered sugar 110 gr almonds (finely ground) 1 tablespoon powdered food coloring (any color, optional)

White Chocolate Ganache Filling:

225 gr white chocolate , chopped(you can substitute semi-sweet chocolate for a dark chocolate ganache) 190 gr heavy whipping cream 25 gr unsalted butter, room temperature

+ royal icing and  parchment triangles to make piping easier

Directions:

Macarons

1. (almond flour mixture) In a food processor, pulse confectioners’ sugar and almond flour until combined. Sift and set aside

2. (egg whites) Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites on medium-low speed. When the egg whites start to turn foamy (think cappuccino froth), add the granulated sugar. Continue to whisk eggs on medium-low speed until the egg whites have a consistency of shaving cream. Be patient, don’t use the high setting– you’ll risk over beating the eggs, and then its game over before we even get started. If you are going to add food coloring, you’ll want to add it to your egg whites at this point. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream). Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry.

4. Fold the almond flour mixture into the egg whites. At this point, you want to have a homogenous mixture with a ‘lava-like’ consistency. What does this look like? The best thing I can think of is shampoo– it’s free-flowing, but still viscous to hold shape.  You can test a daub on a plate, and if a small beak remains, turn the batter a couple of times more. If the batter forms a round cap but doesn’t run, it is just right. The perfect batter will slightly ooze right out of your piping bag before you are ready. When piped, the macarons hold a peak for about a second or two, and then they gradually find their round shape and flatten off.

5. Transfer your batter to a piping bag, fitted with a plain round tip. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, pipe 1″- 2″ round circles. Let your cookies rest for 30-45 minutes until dry to touch.

6. Preheat oven to 300′F. Let the cookies bake for about 10-15 minutes. Each oven is different, so you might need to adjust the oven temperature and duration accordingly. If you did everything right to this point, and your macaron caps brown, crack or bake without feet, this is an indication that your oven is too hot. You can reduce your oven temperature, or prop open slightly your oven door using a wooden spoon.  The tops of the macaron shouldn’t brown, but they should have developed feet and a defined shell on top. Remove cookies from the oven, allow to cool on sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cookie sheet.

Once cooled, fill with ganache right away, or transfer to an airtight container for freezing.

White Chocolate Ganache

In a heavy saucepan, heat cream over medium-low heat until it simmers. Pour over chopped white chocolate and stir using a silicone spatula until it is well combined. At first, it will look like the ganache is splitting, but as you stir, the ganache will come together. Stir in butter. Continue stirring until smooth– as the mixture cools, it will begin to thicken. Once the mixture reaches the consistency of buttercream, transfer to a piping bag and pipe ganache in the center of the macaron.

Royal Icing

Prepare royal icing. To make a softer icing, slowly add water a few drops at a time until the consistency works for you. Using parchment triangles, pipe snowflake patterns onto the macarons. Brush with luster dust and serve.