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50 (100 shells) macaroons

120g almond meal

200g powdered sugar

100g egg whites

30-35g granulated sugar

Gel Food Coloring (optional)


Line 2-3 heavy guage aluminum baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners. Prep a piping bag with a round decorator's tip (Ateco #11 works great. You can place the bag into a tall drinking glass and cuff the bag's opening over the top; this makes the bag easy to fill hands-free.)

Weigh out almond meal and powdered sugar and sift together to remove any clumps. (If you own a food processor, it is highly recommended that you blend the ingredients and then sift).

Weight out the egg whites into a large mixing bowl (stainless steel or copper). If you're using stainless steel feel free to add a pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or a couple drops of lemon juice to help strengthen the egg whites. If you are using copper, you need not and should not add any additional acid.

Weigh out the granulated sugar. Vanilla sugar is a nice addition.


Begin beating the eggs on low speed. What you're doing here is unraveling the egg white's proteins (these are what will capture the air bubbles you whisk in), they're bundled up and you need to gently unwind them. A light touch does this far better than scrambling them on high speed. Once the egg whites are very foamy, begin sprinkling in the sugar as you beat. Increase the speed to medium, if necessary, and beat the meringue to stiff glossy peaks. (If they start looking grainy, clumpy or dry.. you have gone too far.)

Add the food coloring (for the full recipe 2-4 drops & for a half batch 1-2 drops) and mix.

Add about 1/4 of the almond/sugar mixture and fold in until no streaks remain. Continue to add the almond mixture in quarters, folding until you reach the proper batter.

Pour the batter into your prepared piping bag and pipe rows of batter (dollops a little bigger than a quarter) onto the baking sheets, giving them space to spread.

Tap the pan on the counter to bring up any air bubbles and quickly pop them with a toothpick.

Allow the cookies to rest on a level surface for 30-60 minutes. (Do not rush this step!) Until they are no longer tacky to a light touch. If you have a problems with burst shells, you may need to allow them to rest longer or double stack your backing sheets to provide better insulation from the bottom.

While they rest, place an oven rack on the lower 3rd of your oven and preheat to 275-310ºF. Do not use fan-forced convection heat. If your oven tends to brown the cookies, consider placing a rack in the top of the oven with a baking sheet on it to shield the cookies.

Bake the cookies for 16-20 minutes.


Swiss Buttercream with ELKI Apricot Scandinavian Delights

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

Unsalted butter, softened (3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occasionally until you can't feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. (When you transfer to the mixer, make sure you wipe the condensation off the bottom of the bowl so that no water gets into the egg whites. This can keep from whipping up properly.)

Add the vanilla.

Finally, add the butter a stick at a time and whip, whip, whip.

In small bowls, divide the frosting (about 1/4 cup if making several flavors). Add a teaspoon or two of ELKI Scandinavian Delights and fold into the butter cream.

Enjoy!




 

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