Les Macarons

Here is the adapted/fiddled Cantina version of the recipe for macarons, which is an amalgam of every piece of good advice I found on the web and a few lessons learned. No need to wait for that skin to form, for example: I left one pan to wait, baked the other, and they were indistinguishable. So patience is not necessary. If I find any improvements I'll edit this after Thursday's Guerre des Macarons at the Literary Saloon. Measuring by weight is VITAL, and make sure your scale is accurate.

Macarons Caramel Fleur de Sel

125g ground almond
(or grind almonds with icing sugar in a blender, very fine)
225g icing sugar

3 egg whites (leave at room temp overnight for greater volume)
30g sugar

Sieve ground almond and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Whisk together til evenly distributed. In a separate, metal, very clean bowl, beat the egg whites using an electric mixer at high speed until you can see the ruffles made by the beaters going round. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, to make a stiff meringue. Dump the whole of the sieved almond/icing sugar mixture into the meringue and fold, then beat lightly in a swirling motion (called macaronage, which will deflate the meringue somewhat), until the batter flows like magma.

Transfer batter to a large plastic freezer bag. Cut 1/2" off one corner and pipe the mixture onto a silpat in 1" mounds (The cookies will spread to approximately 1½"). If the mixture is too thick, you’ll see a tip sticking up from the piping even after you finish the last row. If this happens, give the tray a sharp rap on the counter to get a nice smooth surface; if that doesn’t do it, smooth the tops with a wet finger.

Leave the piped macaron cookies out for an hour to form a skin, or bake them at once, what the heck, in a 325ºF in a convection oven for 14 minutes. If you do not have a convection oven, open the door twice, briefly, during the baking time. Remove and let cool, then sandwich together (bottom sides in) with ganache, buttercream, or the caramel filling.

Leave in fridge 24 hours to temper, but bring to room temperature before serving. This recipe would have made 24 finished macarons, except that I dropped the third pan taking them out of the oven. D’oh.

Caramel fleur de sel


200g sugar

vanilla pod, or 1 teaspoon good vanilla

200g cream

½ teaspoon fleur de sel

140g butter, cold

In a 1 litre heavy-based pot, cook the sugar, stirring all the time to get an even caramel. Then scrape in the vanilla seeds (if using vanilla flavouring, add after cooling). Add the warm cream, very gradually, as it will boil up and spit at you. Stir in the fleur de sel. Stir to make sure all the caramel has dissolved. Cool the mixture to approximately 40 degrees Celsius. Add the cold butter, cut into cubes. Using a hand mixer on low speed, beat in the butter till you achieve a smooth glossy paste. Taste and adjust seasoning: you may want more salt. Line the surface of the caramel with plastic wrap or greaseproof paper to prevent a skin forming. Keep in the fridge. Makes enough for four dozen macarons and a bunch left over to dribble on ice cream.