Melt-In-Your-Mouth French Macarons

I don’t quite understand why the world went crazy about macarons, there is soo many desserts equally or more tasty. But there is something captivating in that sweet bite-sized round shaped almond meringue sandwich that comes in all colours and flavours.

This is an amazing recipe for light-as-air, melt-in-your-mouth macarons.

This is my take on classic french macarons:

Yields approximately 140 shells/70 macarons.

280g ground almonds (blanched)

280g powdered sugar

100 g egg whites

300g caster sugar

100g egg whites

1 teaspoon salt

If you would like to make chocolate version my advice is to melt 100g chocolate (99% cocoa solids) and stir in the batter.

In a bowl sift together almonds and powdered sugar and stir in egg whites to make a paste.
Place egg whites and salt in another bowl and whip until soft peaks. In a constant stream add caster sugar to egg white continue whipping few minutes until stiff peaks.
In almond mixture add 1/3 of whipped egg whites and stir. ∗If using chocolate this is the moment when you add it.
Add rest of egg whites and stir vigorously until ribbon stage (batter comes off a spoon like ribbon).
Preheat the oven to 130°C(260°F)
Line the sheet pan with baking paper.
Fill batter into piping bag fitted with plain nozzle.
Pipe rounds to desired size, tap the pan on the table 2-3 times to release any air bubbles and let them dry half hour or until they are dry to touch.
Bake 10-15 minutes, opening oven doors 2-3 times to release steam.
When baked allow them to cool completely before filling them with ganache or any other cream you prefer.
Place macarons (in airtight container you don’t want moisture from fridge in your macarons) in fridge for at least 12 hours. Trust me on this, you never eat freshly made macarons they always must ˝sleep the night˝.