How to Bake French Macarons

 Today I'm going to share with ya'll a recipe on how to bake french macarons.  Macarons are french confections that are, two meringue style cookies with a filling in the middle sandwiched on top of each other. The cookies, though are not like normal cookies. They are very fragile so be very careful when putting filling in the middle of them. These cookies have a thin fragile, crunchy shell with a chewy center and they also have a trim of bubbles or the technical term is a foot. I'm trying to figure out what causes the foot, but have not yet found out.  If anyone knows the reason let us know in the comments below.  Sooooo. . .on that note lets getstarted!

          What you need:

•  4 egg whites
• 1/3 cups + 1 tsp of caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups + 4 tsp of powdered sugar this is also called icing sugar
• 1 cup + 3 tsp of almond flour this is also called almond meal 
• Optional: Food coloring, a splash of vanilla, or vanilla bean paste   

 Step 1: Put your egg whites and sugar in a hand or stand mixer and whip until light and fluffy, and your bowl can be turned upside down and nothing will come out.

Step 2: Add your food coloring and vanilla and combine, I would add more than I did, because after you add the rest of your ingredients the color changes slightly, and then when you bake it the cookies will get golden so, if you add more color the color will probably be brighter.

 Step 3: Sift the powdered sugar and almond meal twice(honestly  I didn't even sift it once) and fold into the egg whites.Do not over or under fold the mixture, or the feet on the cookies will not turn out right.  Only fold it 30-50 times. 

Step 4: Pipe the mixture on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, in small circles about 1 inch at the most apart, keep in mind that the circles will spread out.  After the macarons are piped let them sit for about an hour, or until a thin film forms on the outside of the macarons.While this is happening preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and make your frosting. You can find fillings for your macarons online, their are fillings all the way from jams to butter creams. I made a vanilla bean buttercream for my macarons, here's the recipe.
What you need:

• 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/2 of a stick of butter
• 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
• a splash of vanilla extract, and some vanilla bean paste for the little flex of vanilla bean

Just whip the ingredients together, if the frosting is too thick just add more whipping cream, or milk.

By now the oven should be preheated, so put your macarons in the oven for 20 minutes. Then let them cool, and CAREFULLY pull them of the parchment paper.

Step 5: Lastly take some a cookie and some filling and put some filling on the flat side of the cookie, then sandwich another cookie on top with the flat side down.

Step 6: Enjoy your macarons!

  ~ If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments, and if anyone has any suggestions on what I should put on my blog next leave it in the comments below.~