Espresso Flavor French Macarons
I tend to lean toward what I call “comfort flavors” when it comes to macarons. Some of my favorites include espresso, peanut butter, s’mores, and almond butter flavored macarons. A French guy who tried my macarons once said they were the best ones he had ever eaten since coming to the United States. He also said the flavor was “very American”, but I guess that’s appropriate, as I am American. It was a still a compliment!
Probably.
I’ve been messing with food colors. I added brown gel food color to these, and the color was too red, so I added black, and ended up with an Oreo gray-ish color. It’s fine, it’s still delicious. The flavor is what’s important.
Anyways, here is the recipe for Espresso French Macarons!
Macaron Shell Ingredients (Measure everything separately before starting)
75 grams of almond flour
75 grams of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder
28 grams of egg whites
Brown gel food color
65 grams of granulated sugar
25 grams of water
28 grams of egg whites
8 grams of granulated sugar
Directions for the Cookies
1. Measure EVERYTHING before starting. You will thank me later.
2. Using a fine mesh strainer, sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and instant espresso powder into a bowl. You can toss any large crumbs that don’t break apart.
3. Add egg whites and mix until you form a paste. Add food color to paste.
4. In a small saucepan, add granulated sugar and water. Keep an eye on this. It will start to bubble. It needs to reach 244 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. While the syrup is bubbling, add egg whites and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, with a whisk attachment.
6. When the syrup reaches about 200 degrees, set the stand mixer to medium high, to get the meringue nice and fluffy before adding the syrup.
7. When the syrup reaches 244 degrees, immediately remove from the heat.
8. Turn stand mixer down to medium/low and slowly pour syrup over the side of the bowl until it is all mixed in.
9. Turn it back up to high and let mix until stiff peaks form. Mixture should be cooled down by then.
10. Take half of the meringue and fold into the almond flour paste. This may take a bit of elbow grease. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
11. Add the other half of the meringue. French macaron experts suggest mixing in a “scoop and fold” method. Scoop along the sides, then fold down the middle.
12. Continue to mix, until the batter reaches a “ribbon stage.” You should be able to draw a figure eight in the batter, and then it will slowly melt back into the bowl.
13. Fit a pastry bag with a round tip. I use a Wilton 12 round tip because it gives me more control than a bigger one.
14. Invert the bag into a tall glass and pour the batter in. Make sure the tip is either flipped up or twisted, so the batter doesn’t spill out.
15. For piping, you want the bag standing straight up and very close to the parchment lined baking sheet. There is no need to draw a circle. Just squeeze straight down, and the batter will spread out on its own. Make sure to leave plenty of room as they do spread!
16. Gently rap the sheets against the counter so any hidden air bubbles can come to the surface.
17. Let the cookies rest for about 30 minutes. They’ll form a sort of skin, and you can touch them without getting any stickiness on your finger.
18. Bake at 315 degrees for about 13 minutes. Let cool before filling.
Ingredients for the Espresso Buttercream
½ cup Unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups of Powdered sugar
4 teaspoons of Espresso powder
½ teaspoon of Salt
1 tablespoon of Milk
Directions for the Espresso Buttercream
1. Drop ½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Whip until light and airy. It will turn whiter.
2. Add the powdered sugar in 2-3 parts just to make sure it doesn’t explode into a cloud of sugar.
3. Add 3-4 tablespoons of the instant espresso powder.
4. Add vanilla, salt, and milk.
5. Whip at high speed until it is light and fluffy.
6. Fit into a pastry bag.
Put it all together!
So now that you have the cookies and the buttercream you’re ready to fill the cookies!
1. Start by laying out all the macaron cookie shells and matching them up by size. Keep them sandwiched together!
2. Lay them in rows, with plenty of space.
3. Take the top cookie off of a pair and lay it face down next to it’s partner. Pipe on the buttercream in the center. Gently press the top cookie on.
4. Do this one row at a time so you don’t lose track of which cookie pairs.
5. Refrigerate overnight and bring to room temperature before you eat them! Trust me, a cold macaron is so disappointing!