Basic Macarons Italian Meringue Method with Raspberry Curd Filling

Ingredients

• Sift together (if measuring by volume, pre-sift first, measure out, whisk to combine, then sift together:
• 260 g blanched almond meal/flour (3 cups + 2 tablespoons)
• 260 g powdered sugar (2 ½ cups)
• Mix with sifted dry ingredients:
• 100 g egg whites at room temperature (1/3 cup / 3 egg whites / 100 milliliters)
• For the Italian meringue:
• 260 g granulated sugar (1 ¼ cups)
• 80 g water (1/3 cup or 75 mil)
• 100 g egg whites at room temperature (1/3 cup / 3 egg whites / 100 milliliters)
• For the raspberry curd macaron filling:
• 6 egg yolks
• ¾ cup granulated sugar (156 g)
• ½ cup raspberry juice (pressed from fresh raspberries) (115 g)
• ½ cup raspberry powder (finely processed from freeze-dried raspberries) (38 g)
• 1 cup / 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cubed (226 g)

Directions

For the basic macarons:

• Line 3 – 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• If measuring by volume, separately sift the almond meal/flour and powdered sugar. Measure them out, whisk to combine and then sift together.
• With a spatula, mix first set of egg whites with sifted dry ingredients until it forms a smooth paste. Note: if you want to color your macarons, this is the first of three places when you can mix in the food coloring. Set aside.

For the Italian meringue:

• Place the second set of egg whites in a bowl of a stand mixer with a wire whip attachment.
• Pour granulated sugar in the center of a small sauce pan, as much as possible avoiding the sides of the pan. Pour the water going around to dampen the sides of the pan finishing towards the center to dampen the sugar. You don’t have to stir. Turn on heat to medium high. Use a candy thermometer to gauge the temperature of the syrup.
• When the sugar syrup reaches 235°F, start whipping the egg whites on low. When the sugar syrup reaches 240° increase the mixer speed to medium. As the sugar syrup temperature climbs to between 242 – 243°F, increase mixer speed to high.
• Finally, when the sugar syrup reaches 244°F, remove the sauce pan from the heat. With mixer speed on high pour the sugar syrup in a thin, slow and steady stream aiming for the egg whites directly between the bowl and the wire whip. Once you’ve poured in all the syrup, decrease speed to medium and whip until the meringue is thick and glossy. Note: this is the second of three chances when you can mix in food coloring.
• The meringue is ready to be mixed in with the almond paste even if it is slightly warm. For as long as it is thick, glossy and holds a peak, it will be good to go.

Folding:

• Take a third of the meringue and fold it into the almond paste using a silicon spatula. With each fold, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. As you fold over, drag and press your spatula across the surface of the paste.
• Add half of the remaining meringue folding in to blend while dragging the spatula across the surface. Repeat with the rest of the meringue. Note: when the batter is almost blended this is the last of three chances when you can mix in food coloring.
• Each time you drag and press your spatula across the surface, the track left by the spatula becomes less pronounced. The batter is ready when the batter flows back and covers the track.
• Piping:
• Preheat oven to 320°F at this point. Divide the batter among 4 icing bags fitted with a medium round tip.
• Place your circle template underneath the parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Pipe the macaron batter just until you reach the inner part of the circle. Any mark left by the icing tip should slowly dissipate and smoothen out by itself in a few minutes. Pull your template from underneath the parchment paper and transfer it onto the next cookie sheet.
• Lift the cookie sheet a few inches and drop onto your work surface to release any air pockets. This will also even out and smoothen the surface of the macarons should any marks from the icing tip remain. Top with optional sprinkles while the macarons are still wet. To decorate with the flag, use two cornets to funnel blue and red sugar onto the macarons.
• Repeat piping the rest of the batter onto the rest of the cookie sheets. Remember to pull the template out of the last cookie sheet.
• Let sit at room temperature for 20 – 30 minutes, or however long it takes for the surface of the piped batter to form a skin. The piped batter is ready for the oven when your finger remains dry when you lightly touch it.

Baking:

• Bake each cookie sheet one at a time for 10 – 12 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet halfway into baking after the macaron feet have formed.
• Remove from the oven and let the macarons cool completely on the cookie sheet.
• For the raspberry curd macaron filling:
• Press fresh raspberries in a sieve to extract the juice.
• Process the freeze-dried raspberries in a food processor to get a fine powder. Sift the powder to remove any large bits remaining.
• In a medium sauce pot, heat turned off, whisk together the egg yolks and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.
• Whisk in the raspberry juice until smooth. Add the raspberry powder and whisk further until well blended.
• Turn on the heat to medium. Whisk the raspberry mixture briskly and continuously until it thickens, about 8 – 10 minutes.
• Remove the pot from the heat. Whisk in the butter a few chunks at a time adding more as the butter melts. When all the butter has been added, whisk for about a minute to make sure the raspberry curd is smooth and well blended.
• Transfer the raspberry curd to an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface. Chill until needed.
• Transfer the filling into a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip # 12. Pipe the filling onto one macaron shell and top with another.

Notes

• Keep chilled in an airtight container.
• Macarons freeze well either filled or unfilled in an airtight container.

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