They’re colorful, cute, and damn delicious. And although macarons are becoming more and more popular with us, they are far from being available for purchase everywhere. We, therefore, reveal how to make macarons yourself. Et voilà!
Almond flour, egg white, and sugar – are the main ingredients for the fine Macaron dough. They are filled with fresh fruit puree, ganache, or buttercream, and there are countless macaron versions. The little delicacies are usually made red, yellow, or green with the help of food coloring. However, our two macarons variants get their color from natural foods such as matcha and cocoa. The two halves of the pastry are baked separately before they become a delicious double-decker with the filling.
While macarons aren’t as easy to make as a sponge cake, they’re worth the effort. Since macarons tend to be eaten with tea and coffee and not 10 pieces are eaten at once, the relatively high number of calories can be overlooked. After all, sometimes you have to treat yourself and enjoy something, right? If you don’t have the time to make macarons yourself, you can also order the delicious, colorful macarons online (www.feine-macarons.de).
Make macarons yourself: the recipes
Pistachio Macarons (ingredients for 35 pieces)
For the macarons:
- 140 g peeled, unsalted pistachios
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 150g powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp matcha
For the cream:
- 150 grams of butter
- 60 g powdered sugar
- 120 grams of cream cheese
That’s how it’s done:
- Preheat the oven to 120°C circulating air. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a blender, grind the pistachios very finely and set aside 3 tbsp.
- Beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until stiff and gradually sprinkle in the icing sugar. Continue beating until you have a firm, shiny mass, then carefully fold in the pistachios and matcha.
- Put the batter in a piping bag with a large round nozzle. Squirt evenly distributed meringue dots onto the baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes so that they are crispy on the outside and still soft on the inside. Take out of the oven, remove from the tray and let cool.
- For the filling, cream the butter with the icing sugar and gradually stir in the cream cheese and the remaining finely ground pistachios. Fill the mixture into a piping bag with a small star tip and cover half of the macarons on the flat side with it. Cover with a suitable counterpart, press down lightly, and serve.
A pistachio macaron has 92 calories and 7 grams of fat.
Chocolate Macarons (ingredients for 30 pieces)
- 4 eggs
- ½ lemon
- 250 g of very fine sugar
- 125 g ground almonds
- 30 grams of cocoa powder
- 100 g bittersweet couverture
- 2 tbsp whipped cream
- 30 grams of butter
That’s how it’s done:
- separate eggs. Squeeze half a lemon. Beat the egg whites with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice until very stiff (use the yolks for something else). Gradually drizzle in the sugar and continue beating until you have a smooth, shiny mass. Gently fold in the almonds and cocoa powder.
- Fill the mixture into a piping bag with a large, round nozzle and pipe small hemispheres (approx. 2 cm in diameter) onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake the macarons in a preheated oven at 160 °C (convection oven 140 °C; gas: level 2) for approx. 25 minutes. Important: Leave the oven door slightly open.
- For the cream filling, chop the couverture into small pieces and carefully melt in a hot water bath. Mix the cream and butter into small pieces with a whisk. Let the mixture cool down a bit. Spread half of the macarons with the filling, then assemble with the rest.
- A chocolate macaron has 86 calories and 4 grams of fat.
Since the French candy hardens after just two days, it should be eaten quickly. The colorful delicacies are also wonderful as a souvenir or culinary gifts.
