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- hey guys. valentine's day is just a few day away, and one of my favoritethings about this holiday are all the desserts. so i thought it'd be fun to come together with a few of my favoritefood channels here on youtube and bring you this playlistof valentine's day treats. and for my part, i'm goingto show you how to make a fool-proof french macaron.
so i'm often asked, "what is the difference between a macaroon "and a french macaron?" well, a macaroon is made with coconut, and sweetened condensed milk, and sometimes you seethem dipped in chocolate. in fact, we have a reallygreat recipe on kin community that will show you how tomake a traditional macaroon. a french macaron, or a french "macaruhn",
as they're called, aresomething a lot different. in fact, these cookies arethe hardest cookies to make. i have to be honest. however, i have come upwith a fool-proof recipe that if you follow my six tips, you cannot go wrong. you too can master the french macaron. here's how you do it. so the first step is...
is you're going tocombine some almond meal and some powdered sugar. now here comes tip number one. you want to take this mixture and run it through a sieve with a spoon. the reason being is youwant to make sure that that mixture is as finelyground and powdery as possible. that is going to give you that smooth, beautiful top to your macaron,
and make your cookies really light. if you don't do this tip, you're going to end up with a macaron that's going to have littlebumps on the top of it and not look as pretty. so definitely take thetime to do this step. you will find after you do this, you're going to be left with some kind of whole pieces of almonds.
that's okay. those you can just putin a bowl to snack on, because they're too big toactually work for the cookie. so the next step is we'regoing to beat our egg whites. now here is tip number two. you want to make sure that your egg whites are at room temperature. that is really critical for creating a really nice, fluffy,stiff-peaked egg white.
now, if you set out on this recipe and you forgot to takethe eggs out of the fridge to get to room temperature, you can create a room temperature egg by submerging them in warm water. let them sit for about five minutes, and you will have room temperature eggs. you're going to combine your egg whites with a little bit of salt
and some cream of tartar. you are then slowly going toadd your granulated sugar. then it's time to add your food coloring. so because we're makingthese for valentine's day, and we're making a raspberrybuttercream filling, i like to add a little red food coloring. so here's tip number three. the food coloring doeshave a tendency to fade as your macaroon bakes.
so you want to take itmaybe one or two drops past the desired color just to assure that you're going to get the right color when your macaroons areactually baked and cooled. now it's time to add theflower and sugar mixture to your egg white mixture. and this is where it can all go wrong. because if you over mix,you're going to end up with a macaron that's flat
and doesn't have thelittle ridges around it, and that is really themark of a true macaron. you want to get the ridges. the ridges are called feet. and if you get a macaronthat has feet on it, you have really succeeded. if you under mix, thenyou're going to end up with a macaron thatcracks on the top of it, and that's also not good.
so you want to go somewhere in between, and you will know when youreach the right consistency when your batter doesn'thave any more ridges in it. like you don't really seethe bumps of the almond, and it's still kind of viscous enough that it almost feels like molten lava. so you pull your spoon up, and you can see it sortof still dripping down. that's when you want to stop.
you don't want to takeit any further than that. so that is really tip number four. the mixing. do not over mix, or do not under mix. you want to be somewhere in between and that's when you'll get the ridges or the feet on the macaron. this part does take some practice. i will be honest.
it probably took me a few tries before i got to the pointwhere i got my feet. that's the thing with a macaron. they're beautiful. they're lovely, but they are finicky, and it's just going to takea little bit of practice. you're then going to transfer your batter into a pastry bag that's fitted with a tip that's about a 1/2 an inch in diameter.
you then want to make sureyou have two cookie sheets ready to go that are linedwith parchment paper. i will say this. you really want to goget the parchment paper. it's definitely better thantrying to pipe these out on a cookie sheet that's been greased or sprayed with cooking spray. you don't want to add anyfat to these macarons, or your meringue will not work.
so definitely go for the parchment paper. you're going to pipe out one inch mounds. and then here is tip number five. and this is a really good tipthat you don't want to miss. you want to take those trays and bang them on your countertop justto release all the air. what i'll usually dois bang it on one side, flip the tray around,bang it on the other, and you'll start to seelittle air bubbles pop.
that's what you want. now for tip number six. and tip number six is another critical tip that it can all go wrongif you do not do this step. you want to make sure that your macarons sit out for at least 20 to 30 minutes. i know, you've come this far and you want to throw them in the oven. but you really don't want to do that,
because if you do, thosemacarons are going to spread out, and they're going to get flat, and you're not going toget the little ridges or the little feet if you do that. if you let them sit out for 30 minutes, and they dry and start toget a little bit tacky, that is then going to helpthose macarons rise up instead of spread out. when they rise up, theywill get those little ridges
and those little feet, and you will have the true marking of a true macaron. one other thing i willsay before you bake these. i know that there are people that say put both trays in andthen swap them out midway, and then that way they'll bake evenly. i really don't think that's a good idea. remember, these cookies are finicky, and they don't like to be moved around.
they kind of want theoven all to themself, and i give them that privilege. remember, it's better to leavethe tray to sit out anyway. so while you're baking one tray, the other tray can sit out. let it bake for 20 minutes and then swap them when they're done. doing it this way, you'll endup with better-formed cookies that have even heat throughout
and will actually produce justa better, prettier cookie. while your cookies are baking, you can then get onwith making the filling. the raspberry buttercream. i love this filling, becauseit's a little bit tart, and i think with a cookielike this that's very sweet, it's a nice relief to add something that's tart in the center. it just adds for a nice counterbalance.
in your mixer, you'regoing to start to beat up about a half a stick of butter. you're going to let that go just until it's really whipped up, almost five to seven minutes. you'll want it to be a nicepale, fluffy white almost. once your butter has reacheda very pale yellow color, you are then slowlygoing to add your sugar. whip that all up justuntil well-incorporated,
and then you can set it aside. now, to create the raspberry flavoring, we're going to takesome fresh raspberries, put them back in your sieve, and take a nice large bowland place that under it. you're then going to work theraspberries through the sieve, pressing them up against thesides to extract their juice. once you have about threetablespoons of raspberry juice, you can stop, but don'tthrow away those raspberries.
they make for a great additionin your morning smoothie. so you can just pop those in the fridge. then you're going toadd the raspberry juice to the butter mixture, and whip it all up and you will see you will have a beautifulraspberry buttercream. you are then going to take that mixture, put it in pastry bagfitted with a smaller tip, about a quarter of an inch in diameter,
and then at this point, you'regoing to fill your shells. so, you're going to takeall of those macaron shells that you made, flip themover on their backs, and then pipe out abouta 1/2 mound of filling. you're then going to putthe other shell on top, and you will see you will have a beautiful french macaron cookie. so there you have it. a fool-proof recipe for french macarons
if you follow my six tips. so give it a try. let me know how it goes. i want to make sure you guys get the same results that i did. i'm here to help if something goes wrong. so leave me a comment and let me know. and also, remember to check out the other videos in this playlist.
there's some other wonderful desserts that are perfect for valentine's day for sharing with somebody that you love. happy valentine's day everybody! (upbeat music)
