Five Insider Tips for Making the Best French Macarons
Amongst other goals I set for myself this year, I wanted to learn how to bake a few complicated treats, specifically French macarons. Admittedly, I was never really that person that lined up at La Duree or made it a pit stop in Paris, but when I learned I can never have gluten again, I become very friendly with macarons as my go to treat. I am not a baker, I was never good at math and science and baking is essentially just that, especially with macarons. The exact ingredients and measurements for the perfect output and then of course add the art to the perfect LOOK, not just consistency. Of course the French had to create a super complicated treat that looks as easy to make as eat. The facade quickly dissipated when I took a cooking course at One Girl Cookies in Brooklyn.
One Girl Cookies is this super cute bakery located in Brooklyn – co founded by a woman who worked at Barney’s, but her true passion was baking, and a man who initially interviewed to be her roommate, was a baker,but needed a job more than a roof, and ended up becoming her cohort at One Girl. There are two locations, one in Dumbo, and Cobble Hill, but the CH location is where all of the magic happens aka all the baking. They do offer cooking classes based off of recipes in their cookbook, but my request for macarons was their first attempt in teaching a person off the streets their special technique. One Girl is all about quality ingredients and tradition – from the recipes to the family trees on the walls. Ayumi, my baker bestie for the day, used a traditional macaron recipe you can get off the internet, but there were a few secrets to her technique that make her macarons stand apart from the rest. Here are five fascinating things I learned about the art of the perfect (One Girl) macaron.
Baker Extraordinary, Ayumi of One Girl Cookies
1. Ingredients. Some recipes tell you do make the almond meal (just buy it, its a lot smoother!) and to use aged egg whites. That doesn’t make a difference. I was cracking them fresh from the shell.
2. It’s all in the mixing. To ensure no lumps, you really need to mix the almond flour (and make sure it’s sifted) with the eggs whites and to get get the air out, you have to put a LOT muscle into it. My arm was getting a serious workout, I was even sore the next day. The trick is instead of whipping like you would normally, you pull the mixture back into the bowl, almost flattening it out. The more you mix, the stronger the mixture becomes. That’s the key to knowing the air is gone. Although macarons taste light and fluffy, the mixture is quite the opposite in consistency!
3. You can’t just use any food coloring – it has to be a gel – regular food coloring will add moisture and why do that to yourself after you worked your butt off whipping it out? Also, I learned that the more color the merrier. As you can see in our finished product, we didn’t put enough in the yellow, but the pink were really vibrant!
4. The perfect flat macaron tops is in the technique. You have to squeeze at a consistent pace, and then QUICKLY twirl with your wrist or you will end up with macarons that look like they have elf hats. Case in point above. You can tell which ones Ayumi did and the ones I did. :/
5. Get creative with filling. I’ve eaten caramel and fruit filled macs before, but NEVER frosting filled and this variation is absolutely delicious. Almost a “French macaron meets an American Birthday cake” type of taste. We opted for buttercream frosting mixed with raspberry preserves, and a buttercream with lemon zest. My favorite was the raspberry.
I have a few girlfriends who’ve mastered the art of the French macaron, but it took a lot of practice. I am not sure I have the patience. It was really hard, although the outcome was really delicious. I ate the entire box in two days.
If you want to try your hand at French Macaron’s and are in the NYC area – One Girl Offers classes - 8-12 people $80 a head. So worth it as once you get this technique down for future holiday baking! Contact here.
