Ginger Macaroons Food

GINGERBREAD MACARONS

Steps:

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/4" diameter tip, or a Wilton 12. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it.
• Wipe the tools such as bowls, spatulas, and silicone mats with vinegar if desired, this helps getting rid of any grease particles that might be in the tools.
• Measure out all of the ingredients.
• Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour, along with the cocoa powder and spices together if using. Set it aside.
• Start pre-heating the oven. I have two ovens, a regular electric one and a small countertop oven.
• I pre-heat my large oven to 310ºF for 60 to 90 minutes, this helps with temperature fluctuations. I pre-heat the countertop oven for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Place a bowl over a pan with barely simmering water. Add the sugar and egg white powder to the bowl if using. If you're not using egg white powder simply skip it, nothing needs to be changed in the recipe.
• Whisk the sugar and egg white powder so it doesn't clump up.
• Add the egg whites to the bowl and whisk until the sugar is completely melted. It will take a couple of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking the mixture over the water bath.
• Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the simmering water because you don't want the whites to cook.
• Also, don't overheat the sugar syrup, you are just looking to melt the sugar, no need to bring it to a certain temperature.
• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer. Before transferring the syrup, you might consider whipping the bottom of the bowl with a towel so the water doesn't fall into the mixer bowl.
• With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low (speed 2 of the KitchenAid) for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium (speed 4) for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to medium or medium-high and whip for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. I like to finish whipping the meringue on speed 6 of the KitchenAid.
• It takes me about 13 to 15 minutes to whip the meringue, but you shouldn't go by time, go by what the meringue is supposed to look like because a lot of things can affect whipping time, such as the quality of the eggs, the weather, how powerful your mixer is, and more.
• Once the meringue gets glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, and the meringue raising in the center of the whisk, it might be time to stop.
• You don't want to over whip the meringue at this point because that can cause several issues, mainly hollow macarons.
• Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull the whip up, the peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending to the side.
• Also when you swirl the whisk around in the bowl to collect the meringue, you should feel some resistance from the meringue. And when you look on the bottom of the whisk the meringue collected should be forming soft but defined waves.
• Pour the sifted dry ingredients into the stiff meringue.
• Add the food coloring at this point, if using. If you were using powder food coloring, you could add it during the final stages of whipping the meringue. I've added a bit of dijon food coloring by Americolor, and I also added some brown.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
• Once the dry ingredients have incorporated with the meringue, you can start squeezing the air out of the batter by pressing it down along the sides of the bowl as you fold.
• How to know when to stop folding the batter: It's time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
• First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that's one indication that it might be ready.
• The batter that's falling back into the bowl should take 10 to 15 seconds to incorporate with the batter that's already in the bowl.
• There's another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test. Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
• If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn't spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds.
• Test again.
• Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper or silicone mat, it's ready.
• You don't want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to over mix. It's always best to under mix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
• When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
• Transfer the batter to the piping bag. I also like to seal the top with a bag tie, so the batter doesn't dry out and it gives you more control while piping because there's no risk of the batter escaping through the top of the piping bag.
• Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 to 5 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly at the top.
• Once you've piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter or against the palm of your hand a few times each.
• Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
• Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out before baking, if you are resting the macarons. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You'll know they're ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
• The no-rest method will depend on your oven and baking sheets you are using. Read the post above for more information.
• To do the no-rest method, you can bake the trays immediately.
• I can do the no-rest method on my small counter top oven, but not on my large oven, because the temperature is too uneven on the large oven.
• On my large oven I bake the macarons at 310ºF, and on the small countertop oven I bake them at 290ºF. I pre-heat both ovens for quite a bit of time. I pre-heat the large oven for 60 to 90 minutes, and the small oven for 30 minutes or so.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate the tray. This step is not necessary, I don't rotate the trays on the small oven, but I have to do so on my large oven, otherwise the macarons will be lopsided. Not all bakers have to rotate the tray.
• I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn't feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking. Also try to touch the top of a macaron and it shouldn't feel soft, if it's still soft, keep baking.
• Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
• I store the unbaked shells in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for 1 to 2 months.
• Cream butter at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 1 minute. With the mixer off, add all of the powdered sugar in.
• On low speed, mix the sugar and butter together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy.
• Add vanilla extract, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
• If the buttercream seems dry and stiff, add the milk. Mix for another 30-45 seconds. If the buttercream seems too runny, add more sifted powdered sugar until you obtain a firm, but smooth and creamy consistency.
• STORAGE: Store the buttercream in the fridge for up to 1 week.
• Place Gingerbread Buttercream in a piping bag, and then pipe some buttercream on half of the shells. I also drizzled some white chocolate on top of the shells to help stick some cute Christmas sprinkles on top of the shells to decorate.
• These Macarons will freeze well for up to 2 months in an air-tight container, or up to 1 week in the fridge.

GINGER MACAROONS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Spray cookie sheets with baking spray with flour.
• In large bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer on high speed until frothy. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff. In small bowl, stir together flour, pumpkin pie spice, ground ginger and salt; fold into beaten egg whites. Fold in candied ginger and coconut.
• Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until macaroons feel firm and are very lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• In small microwavable bowl, place chocolate chips and shortening. Microwave uncovered on High 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

GINGER COCONUT MACAROONS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, toss together coconut, sugar, flour, slivered and ground ginger and salt.
• In separate bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy; scrape over coconut mixture and stir to combine.
• Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart, onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Bake in top and bottom thirds of 325 degree Fahrenheit oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, for 20 minutes or until golden on bottom.
• Let cool on pans on racks.