Smores French Macarons Food

S'MORES MACARONS RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Note: This recipe contains higher dry ingredients to wet ingredients ratio, so macarons do not need to form a "shell" before baking into the oven.
• Preheat the oven to 300˚F (150˚C).
• Whisk the egg whites until they stick to the bowl.
• Add the sugar to the whipped egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.
• Sift powdered sugar, almond meal, and graham crackers to the whipped egg whites. Gently fold ingredients together.
• Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe directly onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• In a bowl, add the hot cream and chocolate chips and whisk to combine.
• Put the chocolate filling in a piping bag and refrigerate for 2 hours, until firm.
• Pipe filling onto the macaron shells.
• Place a marshmallow between two macaron shells, creating a sandwich.
• Gently place a skewer into the macarons, then lightly toast with a torch.
• Refrigerate macarons for another 2 hours before serving.
• Enjoy!

S'MORES MACARONS

Steps:

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat.
• I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicone mat, or parchment paper. I recommend using a silicone mat.
• Measure out all of the ingredients.
• Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
• Place the egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
• Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the simmering water. You don't want the egg whites to cook.
• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
• With the whisk attachment, start whisking the mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy.
• Raise the speed to high for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Once the meringue get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
• Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should form a bird's beak shape, but shouldn't be falling to the side, the peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top.
• Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder into stiff whites.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
• Add the food coloring at this point, if using. You can add a bit of brown food coloring to enhance the color of the shells if you want to.
• 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, I pick up some batter with my 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.
• 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 a bit, I start folding 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 baking mat, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
• 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.
• The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
• Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
• Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
• Once you've piped as many circles as you can, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
• Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles of air that may have formed on the surface of the macaron shells.
• Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. 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.
• Pre-heat the oven to 325Fº.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
• I bake each tray for a total of 18-20 minutes.
• When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will be coming off the mat easily, and with a completely formed bottom.
• If you try to move a macaron and it feels jiggly, it needs to keep baking.
• Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
• Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
• Chop the chocolate very finely. Place it in a bowl.
• Heat the heavy cream in a small pan over medium heat, or in the microwave. No matter what method you choose, be very careful not to boil the heavy cream.
• Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a minute.
• Whisk until completely melted.
• Let it come to room temperature and cool down completely before using to fill the macarons.
• If you choose to make the ganache before and store it in the fridge, then let it come to room temperature before using, or microwave for about 5 second intervals, and stir in between, until you can obtain a softer consistency.
• Mix all the ingredients, except for the vanilla extract together in a bowl.
• Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water over medium heat, not letting the water from the pot touch the bottom of the bowl.
• Whisk the mixture non-stop while it sits in the double boiler.
• Keep whisking over simmering water until it reaches 140Fº.
• That way the egg whites will be in a safe temperature to be consumed.
• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of an electric mixer.
• Whip with the whisk attachment for about 5 minutes on high speed, until stiff peaks form, and the meringue is glossy.
• Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
• The meringue frosting has to be piped immediately after being made. It will last for quite a bit of time once piped and it will hold a nice shape, however, if not piped it will start to flatten and lose air as it sits, and you will have a hard time piping it later.
• Dip each top shell in the melted chocolate and top with the crushed graham crackers, and let the shells dry.
• Place the Marshmallow Frosting in a piping bag with a small round tip.
• Pipe a ring of Marshmallow Frosting around the edges of the bottom shells.
• Use a blow torch to toast the marshmallow frosting if desired.
• Place the ganache in a piping bag and snip the end of the piping bag with scissors, and pipe the ganache in the middle of the marshmallow frosting.
• You can also use a spoon to do this.
• If the ganache is warm, it will melt the marshmallow frosting.
• Place a chocolate dipped shell on top.
• These S'mores Macarons will store quite nicely in the fridge for up to 7 days. They can also be frozen for up to a month or so.

FRENCH MACARONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F using the convection setting. Line 3 baking sheets with silicone mats. Measure the confectioners' sugar and almond flour by spooning them into measuring cups and leveling with a knife. Transfer to a bowl; whisk to combine.
• Sift the sugar-almond flour mixture, a little at a time, through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to pass through as much as possible. It will take a while, and up to 2 tablespoons of coarse almond flour may be left; just toss it.
• Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high; gradually add the superfine sugar and beat until stiff and shiny, about 5 more minutes.
• Transfer the beaten egg whites to the bowl with the almond flour mixture. Draw a rubber spatula halfway through the mixture and fold until incorporated, giving the bowl a quarter turn with each fold.
• Add the food coloring and extract (see below). Continue folding and turning, scraping down the bowl, until the batter is smooth and falls off the spatula in a thin flat ribbon, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet, pipe 1 1/4-inch circles (24 per sheet). Firmly tap the baking sheets twice against the counter to release any air bubbles.
• Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the tops are no longer sticky to the touch, 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the humidity. Slip another baking sheet under the first batch (a double baking sheet protects the cookies from the heat).
• Bake the first batch until the cookies are shiny and rise 1/8 inch to form a "foot," about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat, using a double sheet for each batch. Peel the cookies off the mats and sandwich with a thin layer of filling (see below).
• Almond-Raspberry:
• Tint the batter with 2 drops neon pink gel food coloring; flavor with almond extract. Fill with seedless raspberry jam (you'll need about 3/4 cup).
• Mint-White Chocolate:
• Tint the batter with 2 drops mint green gel food coloring; flavor with mint extract. For the filling, microwave 3 ounces chopped white chocolate, 2 tablespoons heavy cream and 1 tablespoon butter in 30-second intervals, stirring, until smooth. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon mint extract and 1 drop mint green gel food coloring.
• Blueberry Cheesecake:
• Tint the batter with 3 drops royal blue gel food coloring; flavor with vanilla extract. For the filling, mix 4 ounces softened cream cheese and 3 tablespoons blueberry jam.
• Lavender-Honey:
• Tint the batter with 2 drops violet gel food coloring; flavor with almond or vanilla extract. For the filling, mix 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese, 2 tablespoons honey and 1 teaspoon ground dried lavender.
• Pineapple:
• Tint the batter with 2 drops lemon yellow gel food coloring; flavor with vanilla extract. For the filling, press 3/4 cup pineapple jam through a sieve, discarding any large pieces.