Swiss-Style Macarons

Since we're under quarantine for the coronavirus, now is a perfect time to bake! My mind immediately went to macarons, which are notoriously finicky, perfect for combatting boredom. 

I did a lot of research before, with two major factors in mind: an as-low-as-possible sugar content and room for failure. 

To create a recipe that could survive my less than ideal execution, I settled on making a Swiss meringue: heating the egg whites before whipping them. The technique is shown here in this video. 

I didn't have some ingredients on hand, like cream of tartar or food coloring, but I still was able to pull these together. 

Afterward, I whipped up a cherry filling for the macarons. I didn't use a recipe☺just threw together some frozen cherries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan and let it cook for 10-15 minutes, and then put it in the freezer for 2 minutes or so. 


Macarons:

for the ingredients: 
75g superfine almond powder 75g powdered sugar 66g egg whites (about two) 50g sugar

making the batter:

1. Blend together the almond powder and the powdered sugar for about 5 seconds. Then sift onto a sheet of parchment.

2. Add the sugar to the egg whites, and heat over a double boiler until it reaches 50 degrees Celsius

3. Whip to stiff peaks. (If you're using food coloring, add that now.)

4. Fold the powder into the egg whites in two batches. Mix until the batter flows slowly and continuously from the spatula, and you can draw a figure-8 using the batter.

5. Place a plastic bag into the cup, and pour the batter into the cup.

assembly and bake:

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.

2. Pipe onto a Silpat using a plastic bag.

3. Let the piped macarons sit out for 15-19 minutes, while the oven is preheating.

4. Bake at 300F for 13 minutes.