French Raspberry Cream Macarons

Delicate, adorable, and delicious, these French Raspberry Cream Macarons were fun, and somewhat simple to make.  There were a lot of steps, but if followed closely, you too can make these beautiful macarons on the first try (like I did, yay!). I adapted the recipe from Entertaining with Beth, a great Vlogger on Youtube. You can play he video below to see her methods.  I did things a bit differently for mine, which the written recipe will reflect.
 

We love our local farmer's market, but one thing it's missing is a great bakery booth.  One of my wonderful and most endearing friends Hillary and I, will be attempting to start producing and selling pretty little desserts that use organic, local, fresh, healthful ingredients.  We want to use many ingredients that are being sold at other booths around the market.  What a fun way to use our passion for cooking, baking, and health, while bringing in a little extra cash.

French Raspberry Cream Macarons

*makes 24 completed cookies* 

Raspberry buttercream with a hint of orange

INGREDIENTS
3 Egg Whites (free range eggs)¼ tsp cream of tartar (2 ml) * You can omit if needed, just may take a bit longer to reach stiff peaks but the recipe will still work)
¼ cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar) (50 g)
 
2 cups organic confectioners sugar (200 g)
1 cup almond flour (120 g)
pinch of salt


RASPBERRY BUTTER CREAM
½ cup salted butter (120 g)
1 cup organic confectioners sugar (75 g)
1 cup (150 g) fresh raspberries, worked through a sieve to extract 3 tbsp of juice

5 drops orange extract

Berries from a wonderful organic farm down the road!

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 275-300 degrees F

Beat egg whites and sugar for 8-10 mins. 

TIP: #1 eggwhite should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.

Whip until they form a peak that stands upright.

TIP#2 Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on :) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.

Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture. 

TIP#3 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macaroons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.

TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20--30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!

Bake for 18-20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.

Pretty brown eggs

Meanwhile mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Then place sieve (if you do not want seeds) on top of a bowl the same size. Work raspberries through the sieve with a spatula, pushing them through, mashing them around until you extract their juice. You want 3 tablespoons of juice.

Add juice to buttercream, along with the orange extract, and whip until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)

Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell.

If not eating right away, keep refrigerated. 

This beautiful plate came straight from Paris, thanks Hillary!

Bon Appetit!