Macaron Success!

I did it! Finally I've got macarons DOWN! It took me a few tries, but I've finally got a recipe/strategy that works for me. Those little suckers are kind of a pain in the patoot! At 9:30 last night, after a hardcore fail of an experiment with liquid egg whites (those bastards would not peak!), I finally got an amazing batch of macarons.

BEHOLD!

They all came out perfectly smooth on top, with beautiful feet, and they're light and fluffy inside. I'm so ecstatic, you don't even know. 

The Recipe and Method I Used

(Of course I don't have pictures to illustrate each step because I am a dingleberry, and honestly I was losing faith.)

1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup almond meal
2 egg whites (aged a day or two is best)
a pinch of cream of tartar
a little less than 1/4th cup granulated sugar

Toss the powdered sugar and almond meal in a food processor and pulse it for..ehhhh... 30 seconds or so. get it all mixed up and fooiiine. Sift that stuff twice. TWICE. Do it.

Beat the egg whites on a lower to medium speed until frothy then throw the pinch of cream of tartar in there. Beat on a medium speed for another minute or so, until it's almost a soft-ish peak stage and then add the granulated sugar. I tend to use just a little less than 1/4th a cup of the sugar because it seems to make the cookies just a little more delicate? I dunno, I could be fooling myself.

Beat on a medium speed for a couple minutes and then... Beat them eggs on high! Beat em! Probably for 4-6 minutes. Until stiffish peak stage. One problem I had was OVER beating the eggs. I didn't even know you could really do that, but I guess so.

Sift the almond/sugar mix into the egg mix and slowly fold it together. It'll end up kinda shiny and cool.

Put the mixture into a piping bag - I use a 1/2 inch round tip, and start piping! Pipe in small rounds then let them sit out for a few minutes to settle and let a bit of a skin develop. This helps to keep them from cracking in the oven.

I baked mine at 325 for 12 minutes, turning the pan halfway through, and that turned out to be the best method for me. Some people bake on higher temps, or start out high then turn the oven down. You might have to play around with that until you find what works with your oven.

Voila! Macarons!

Check out my Etsy shop if you'd like to purchase some!