Happy Easter!
My girls are teenagers, 15 & 17, but they still love to dye eggs and hunt for eggs and their Easter baskets every year. And if we didn't do that, they would be so disappointed, it's tradition! They love this tradition. We don't hunt for eggs like most other states, since our spring may or may not have snow, mud, rain or blizzard, but we hide our eggs inside the house first thing Easter morning.
This year, we add Easter Macarons to our spring Easter celebration!
Robin's Egg French Macarons
French Macarons
Ingredients
130g superfine almond flour
130g powdered sugar
90-100g egg whites, room temperature
pinch of cream of tartar - optional
pinch of salt
90g granulated sugar
gel food coloring - (for this recipe I used Wedgewood)
Instructions
Sift almond flour and powdered sugar onto parchment paper and set aside.
Pour room temperature egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk and mix on a low/medium speed until the surface of the egg whites is covered in small bubbles. Add in a pinch of cream of tartar and salt, continue to mix until it reaches the soft peak stage.
Slowly add granulated sugar into the eggs and mix on a medium speed for 30 seconds. If desired, add in gel food coloring at this point, then increase the mixing speed to a medium-high speed. Keep mixing until stiff, glossy peaks form.
Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue in two additions using a circular motion until a thick ribbon of batter runs off the spatula when it is lifted. Be careful not to over-mix the batter! It will take time and experience to get this just right.
Pour the batter into a large piping bag fitted with 1/2 inch piping tip onto the prepared baking sheets. I use silicon mats, placed on upside down baking sheets. Space them about 1-inch apart.
Bang the pans firmly on the counter a few times to release air bubbles. Pop any remaining air bubbles that come to the surface with a toothpick.
Let the macarons rest for 20-60 minutes to develop a skin. The macarons should look matte once the skin has formed.
As the macarons rest, preheat your oven to 300 F. Every oven is different and you may need to set your temp higher or lower.
Bake one tray of macarons at a time on the middle rack of your oven for 16-18 minutes, until the macarons do not wiggle when you test them.
Remove from the oven and let the macarons cool on the pan for about 15 minutes. Gently peel them off of the silicon mat and set aside.
Add speckles with dark brown food gel, mixed with thinning agent, flicked on with clean paintbrush.
Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream
Ingredients
4 tbsp butter, room temp
1/3 cup Chocolate Hazelnut spread
1 1/2 - 2 cups Powdered Sugar
pinch of salt
1-2 tbsp milk, if needed
Instructions
Cream butter for 2 minutes, until smooth and creamy.
Add powdered sugar, hazelnut spread and salt. Cream until combined.
If needed, add milk to make desired consistency of buttercream.
Fill macarons and ENJOY!
