Vegan Peppermint French Macarons with Aquafaba

Vegan Peppermint French Macarons From Aquafaba

by Jyoti Sawant

This Vegan Peppermint French Macarons from Aquafaba Recipe will let you make the most beautiful, delicate, pillowy light, chewy, delicious and melt in the mouth cookies that you will never forget

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Here is me sharing this easy Christmassy Peppermint French Vegan Macaron cookies filled with white chocolate ganache recipe that will help you make some delicious, dainty, chewy, delicate, and melt in the mouth cookies
that will take all the guesswork out of you. Are you ready to take that leap?

These Peppermint Macarons are the sweetest, most melt-in-your-mouth delicious Christmas cookie with a wonderful peppermint chocolate ganache filling. They can easily fancy up a Christmas cookie platter or are just great as gifts as they have one of the best flavors of the holiday season!

If you are interested in the classic recipe for making French Macarons with Buttercream filling then follow this recipe post of mine “HOW TO MAKE PERFECT FRENCH MACARONS”

Macrons are these beautiful round, pillowy light, chewy, sweet, bite-sized almond flour-based French pastries that have become increasingly popular over the past couple of years. Along with being popular for good reasons, they are notoriously famous for being one of the hardest things to make in the pâtisserie world, actually, they are not hard to make but are more of a technique based pastry, which if nailed it right can go a long way. After having tried and succeeded in making the Classic French Macarons and because I have had many requests from my viewers, I finally decided to try my hands on Vegan / Vegetarian macarons.

So after all most over an year of trying to perfect these vegan macarons and going through countless trials and recipe variations, I’ve finally figured them out!

I made these macarons using Aquafaba. Aquafaba is a legume cooking liquid that has been discovered to emulate egg whites. People report success with many varieties of legumes (cannellini, black beans, and lima beans to name just a few), but I love chickpeas and so chickpea Aquafaba is the only type I’ve ever used. Here I have used chickpeas cooking liquid that I cooked in the Instant Pot pressure cooker.

PLEASE NOTE- I’ll unfortunately not be able to share any substitutes for aquafaba/ almond flour or any other ingredient for that matter because this recipe has given me the best results so far (which is why I’m sharing it with you)

It’s not how we make mistakes, but how we correct them that defines us!

RACHEL WOLCHIN

I wanted to make sure that these vegan macarons are so perfect that even non-vegans and non-allergic people prefer them over the conventional version. So I set out to do that. And this recipe is the result of that.

First off, an explanation of what a macaron is. A macaron is a little cookie made from meringue (traditionally, whipped egg whites and sugar) and almond flour.

HISTORY OF MACARONS:

While macarons are heavily associated with France, they are known to have been brought over from Italy to France. The macron is known to have been introduced in France by the Italian Chef of Queen Catherine De Medici during the Renaissance (15th and 16th-century era). Macarons were originally just a single cookie. Like taking the top off of a traditional, modern macaron and leaving the filling and the other half behind. Apparently, they used to have little macaron bars setup with the cookies and a bunch of fillings that you could spread on top. The macrons were adapted over time and by the 19th century, they were presented with a buttercream, ganache or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies, akin to sandwich cookies.

STRUCTURE OF MACARONS:

The biscuit part of these cookies is characterized by 3 parts, first is the smooth round top, second is the “foot” or “pied” or crown as it is called, which is a ruffled circumference in the middle and third is the flat smooth base. Two of these biscuits are sandwiched by the filling (buttercream or ganache) to make a complete Macaron cookie.

These cookies are mildly moist and chewy and easily melt in the mouth. Macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavors that range from traditional raspberry or chocolate to unusual ones like foie gras, matcha.

HOW I ENDED UP MAKING MACARONS DURING THIS HOLIDAY…

Making Macarons on Christmas break has started to become a ritual in our house. Come Christmas holidays and we are baking some deliciously chewy macarons. As I said earlier since I have had many requests for Vegan Macarons I decided to make exactly those for this Christmas and of course to make it more Christmassy and fun I planned on making some Vegan peppermint macarons with vegetarian white chocolate ganache and some non-vegan gingerbread macarons with chocolate ganache which I will be posting shortly.

Besides being vegan friendly these macaroons are also gluten-free, so all vegans and gluten intolerant people out there, this dessert should be your number one priority, one almonds are naturally gluten-free and two they super delicious, so score on that!

GET YOUR INGREDIENTS READY

Ingredients for Macaron Shell:

1. Almond Flour: Almond flour is nothing but raw almonds (blanched or unblanched) that have been ground into a fine powder in a flour-like texture. My suggestion is to you use the blanched almond flour to save a lot of time and effort as these cookies need really fine flour and the flour from the unblanched ones leaves a lot of almond skin specs that create bubbles which are hard to break and thus resulting in not so smooth texture cookie top. There are many brands out there, here are my two favorite ones, both tried and tested :
   • Costco’s Kirkland brand: The one that says, California superfine Almond flour, blanched. This packet of Almond four is quite fine plus it is super cheap for the quantity. Here is the link to it: https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-almond-flour%2C-3-lbs.product.100438553.html
   • HEB’s Gluten-free almond flour: In case you aren’t a Costco member or cannot find Costco brand try HEB’s Gluten-free almond flour. Not as cheap as Costco, but that packet still goes a long way. Here is a link to it: https://www.heb.com/product-detail/h-e-b-gluten-free-almond-flour/1891854 In case you are getting too creative or absolutely can’t find almond flour anywhere, just blanch your regular almonds, let them dry out well and then grind them into a fine powder. Add a little sugar along with it to prevent it from turning into almond butter.
2. White Powdered Sugar/ Confectioners/ Icing sugar: There is no right or wrong white powdered sugar, just buy any brand, I used H‑E‑B’s Confectioners Powdered Sugar. Here is the link: https://www.heb.com/product-detail/h-e-b-confectioners-powdered-sugar/1268333.
3. Aquafaba: This is a miraculous plant-based egg replacer – I’m in love with its amazing properties and use it often. If this is the first time you hear about it, here it goes: Aquafaba is a legume cooking liquid that has been discovered to emulate egg whites. People report success with many varieties of legumes (cannellini, black beans, and lima beans to name just a few), but I love chickpeas and so chickpea Aquafaba is the only type I’ve ever used. Here I have used chickpeas cooking liquid that I cooked in the Instant Pot pressure cooker as it is healthier, cheaper and contains no salt. You can also use the brine from a tin of chickpeas.
4. White Sugar: No brown sugar please, just regular white sugar is what you need. I used Imperial Sugar Pure Cane Extra Fine Granulated Sugar. Here is the link: https://www.heb.com/product-detail/imperial-sugar-pure-cane-extra-fine-granulated-sugar/172831
5. Essence: You can use whatever flavor that you want for your Macrons. My daughter wanted strawberry flavor so we used strawberry essence. We used the McCormick Strawberry Extract here. Here is the link: https://www.heb.com/product-detail/mccormick-strawberry-extract/150184
6. Gel food color: Honestly I haven’t tried any other food coloring but the gel ones as that’s what was recommended by the chef, when I took a macron class one time. I think it worked great. We used Great Value Gel Food Colors, Classic. Here is the link: https://www.walmart.com/ip/2-Pack-Great-Value-Gel-Food-Colors-Classic-4-Count/739031565?athcpid=739031565&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=PWVUB&athieid=v0&athstid=CS004&athguid=ed535264-cb3-16f53f9bd04412&athancid=null&athena=true+
7. Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar actually helps to stabilize the egg whites when you whip them up. Is it necessary? No, but if you are in a humid place then it definitely helps, being in Houston it definitely helped us, you can skip it if you want to. We used McCormick Cream Of Tartar. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/36EVUEw
8. Salt: Just simple regular salt, please.

Ingredients for White Chocolate Ganache

1. White Chocolate Chips for baking: You can use any white chocolate chips. For this recipe, I have used Ghirardelli Chocolate Classic White Chocolate Premium Baking Chips. Here is a link to the White Chocolate Chips I have used https://amzn.to/37NrR0v
2. Heavy Whipping Cream: You will need whipping cream. Again there is no right or wrong whipping cream, just buy any brand. I used Walmarts, here is the link: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Ultra-Pasteurized-Real-Heavy-Whipping-Cream-32-Oz/10450340

 GET YOUR EQUIPMENT READY

1. Measuring spoon and Measuring cups: You will need measuring cups and spoons to make sure you measure everything well as per the recipe.
2. Rubber Spatula: A rubber spatula is quite handy and extremely helpful while transferring the meringue or mixing the macaronage.
3. Silicone macaron molded mats or Parchment paper: Many people say that these don’t work that well but honestly, I made a lot of my macarons on them and they came out great. Make sure you give enough resting period to the cookies before removing them from the mats. You can also use Parchment paper and it works as good, just make sure you make the circles beforehand for even cookies. There are some templates out there, just download it and place the template under the parchment paper and trace the outlines. You can also just place it under the paper and pipe to save time.  Here is a link for silicone mat: https://amzn.to/2Qp29H4
4. Oven safe baking tray: You need a baking tray to keep your silicone mat or parchment paper on before you pipe the batter on them. Here is the link to one: https://amzn.to/2QMt7Hz
5. Piping bag: You will need disposable piping bags to pipe in the batter. Use extra thick 18” bags so you can fill all your batter and so it does not tear while piping. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/35s86Hx
6. Round Decorating Piping Tip #12: You will need the #12 number round decorating piping tip to pipe your cookies. Here is the link to one: https://amzn.to/2sDnjIt
7. Fine Meshed Sieve: You will need a fine-meshed sieve to sift the almond flour and powdered sugar mix.

Other equipment

1. Stand Mixer: A huge huge time saver. While beating your egg white and making the meringue, it takes a long time to get the stiff peaks desired in this recipe so if you have a stand mixer you are in luck. In case you don’t have a stand mixer don’t lose heart, you can still make macarons with a hand mixer, only it will take longer and you will need some muscle power but you will surely get there. Here is a link to a good stand mixer: https://amzn.to/35riTBu
2. Hand Mixer: In this recipe I have used a hand mixer and it worked great, just needed more muscle power. Link to a hand mixer: https://amzn.to/2ZQg63S
3. Food processor:  To make sure you get the right even texture and combine the almond flour and icing sugar together it is important first to whiz it well in the food processor before you put it through a sieve. Here is link to one: https://amzn.to/37B7yAv

PICTURESQUE RECIPE STEPS OF HOW TO MAKE AQUAFABA IN THE INSTNAT POT:

Step1: Collect the ingredients:

• 2 Cups dry Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans/ Chole) washed
• 8 Cups water for soaking
• 6 Cups water for cooking

Step2: Soak the Chickpeas: Wash and soak chickpeas in 8 cups of water overnight or at least for 6+ hours.

Step3: Drain the Chickpeas soaking water: Drain the chickpeas soaking water. Do not use this water, just discard it. Rinse the soaked chickpeas in some clear water and keep it aside.

Step4: Add Cooking water: Add 6 cups of water and chickpeas to Instant Pot’s steel innner pot. Put the steel pot in the Instant pot.

Step5: Cook Chickpeas in the Instant Pot: Close the lid and press Pressure Cook/ Manual button on high for 60 minutes (You want the chick peas to be cooked to the point you are easily able to mash it between your fingers).

Step6: Natural Pressure Release: When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally. If the pin does not drop after 20 minutes, you can release the pressure and open the instant pot. Once the pressure releases, press cancel and let it cool down completely.

Step7: Refrigerate: Once the chickpeas cool down completely close it with a lid and store in the fridge – once chilled aquafaba will turn gelatinous and resemble an egg white, refrigerating it along with chickpeas helps is it thicken up and become even more gelatinous which is what we need.

Step8: Strain the liquid: Using a clean sieve, separate the liquid from the chick peas. This liquid is nothing but Aquafaba. Make sure the sieve and the bowl are very clean and have no grease residue on it as even a trace amounts of grease inhibit aquafaba’s foaming properties – this is especially important if you intend to whip your aquafaba into a meringue.

Step9: Store: If you wish you can reduce the liquid further but I used the lquid directly at this stage. Store in an air-tight container for 3-4 days or freeze it for upto 6 months. To use the frozen Aquafaba, defrost in the refrigeratora night before and then use it in the recipe.

PICTURESQUE RECIPE STEPS OF HOW TO GET AQUAFABA FROM A CAN:

Step1: Collect the ingredients:

• 1 – 8 oz. organic low sodium can of Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans/ Chole)

Step1: Open the can & Strain the liquid: Open the chicke pea can. Try using organic chickpeas that has least amout of sodium, no sodium will be ideal. Using a clean sieve, separate the liquid from the chick peas. This liquid is nothing but Aquafaba. Make sure the sieve and the bowl are very clean and have no grease residue on it as even a trace amounts of grease inhibit aquafaba’s foaming properties – this is especially important if you intend to whip your aquafaba into a meringue.

Step3: Strained liquid: The strained liquid is nothin but Aquafaba and you can start using it as is in making macaron or other dishes. Aquafaba is a great replacement for egg whites.

PICTURESQUE RECIPE STEPS OF HOW TO MAKE VEGAN PEPPERMINT FRENCH MACARONS WITH AQUAFABA:

Step1: Process Almond flour and icing sugar in a processor: Make sure you process almond flour and icing sugar well in a food processor before you put it through the sieve. This helps in breaking down the bigger pieces of almond in the almond flour.

Step2: Sieve the mixture: Sieving it through the sieve further helps in breaking down any lumps, aerates the flour and makes sure there are no large pieces of almond flour or it will deface the surface of your macarons. Discard the larger particles if any, don’t try to press them through the sieve.

Step3: Making the Merengue:

a) Now using your hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the aquafaba at medium speed for 30 seconds. Now with the mixer on high speed, add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until the aquafaba becomes foamy.

b) Once they are foamy and translucent slowly sprinkle, little at a time ½ cup of white sugar. Keep whipping until your aquafaba achieves a soft peak stage.

c) Keep whipping until your aquafaba achieves a soft peak stage.

d) Now with your mixer on high speed continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Make sure that meringue has very STIFF PEAKS!! You’ll notice the meringue starts to fill the whisk when you’re getting close to the right stage. You will have stiff and pointy peaks once your Meringue is ready. Remember Aquafaba takes much much longer than eggs to come to come to the stiff pointy stage so don’t loose patience and keep working at it and you will surely achieve that.

Step4: Making the Macronage:

a) THIS is the most important step in making proper macarons. Transfer all the mirengue to the dry ingredients (almond flour and icing sugar mix) and fold together. The mixing takes some practice, don’t go stir-crazy on this mix, you’ll spoil everything (too much folding will result in a runny batter thus ruining the feet of the macron, so avoid it). 

b) Take your rubber spatula and lightly roll it around the batter in the bowl and fold the mixture over itself. Initially, it may look like it just isn’t mixing and that you have too much of the almond mix but eventually it will come together. When it starts coming together, start to drag (pressing the batter against the sides) the mixture around the bowl.

c) Don’t deflate the batter too much, this process just takes time to recognize the proper consistency. It should end up like thick lava. This is called the Macaronage.

d) The secret test to know the right consistency for the perfect macaron batter is when you pick up the batter with the spatula and try to create an “8” pattern with a solid, streaming ribbon of batter. If you can make an “8” a few times over on top of itself and see the entire shape not disappear, you have mixed the batter to readiness to pipe. Do not over mix your batter and make it runny or your cookies won’t rise.

Step5: To make beautiful candy cane looking macarons, using a paint brush paint make two thick line on the inside of the piping bag with the red color on opposit sides.

Step6: Filling the batter in a piping bag: Spoon in the batter to a piping bag fitted with a #12 round tip. Fill only till the fill mark on the piping bag, do not over fill. You can pipe the batter onto silicone macron molded mats or pre-traced sheets of parchment paper fixed to a baking tray.

Step6: Piping Batter:  If using parchment paper, you can use some batter as glue to hold the parchmentsheet steady on the baking tray. Now pipe the macarons perpendicular to the surface. If your tip is pointing a bit in any particular direction when you pipe the macarons, they might come out oblong or malformed. Pipe the macarons onto the parchment paper or macaron mats in 1-inch rounds circles about an 1-inch(2-cm) apart. When you are finishing the piping motion stop squeezing the bag and pull up with a circular motion.

Step7: Rap the baking tray: Once you have piped your macrons on the sheet, hold the baking sheet a good foot or so above your flat work surface. Drop the pan evenly. Repeat several times. This ensures that all of the bubbles make their way out of the batter. If you don’t do this well, you will end up with hollow macarons. Rap the sheet on the work surface for 7 to 8 times atleast.

Step8: Rest the macarons: Rest your macarons to set for 30 minutes, so that the macarons form a skin. You should be able to touch the shell and feel a dry surface. You will notice that they harden and appear a bit glossy. Resting the shells will force the macarons to bake upward and not outward. This is what is responsible for forming the iconic feet and shape of each cookie.

Step9: Bake: Bake at 285˚F (140˚C) for 12 minutes, rotate tray after 6 minutes. Always make sure to place the baking tray on the top most rack in the oven to prevent them from baking too fast and cracking. Allow them to cool completely before you attempt to poke or attempt to remove them from the baking sheet. These cookies are very delicate.

Step10: Peppermint White Chocolate Ganache-Double boiler method:

a) In a saucepot add 1 cup of water and bring it to a simmer.

b) Add heavy whipping cream in a glass bowl that is big enough to sit on top of the saucepot. Place the glass bowl with whipping cream on top of the simmering saucepot for double boiling.

c) Heat cream in bowl until steam starts to rise from the surface but isn’t boiling yet. Add white chocolate chips to the sauce pan at this stage. Whisk gently until white chocolate chips are melted and blended into the cream. Once completely melted, it will be smooth and runny . Add crushed candy cane to the melted chocolate gnache.

Step11: Pipe the white chocolate ganache: Pipe in the white chocolate ganache in the piping cone.

Step11: For Assembly: Pipe the white chocolate ganace onto the back of half the macaron shell. Top it with another macaron shell to form a sandwich and press until the ganache reaches the edges, dont press too hard and be careful not to break the cookies. Repeat with remaining macaron shells and chocolate ganache.

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Vegan Peppermint French Macarons From Aquafaba

This Vegan Peppermint French Macarons from Aquafaba Recipe will let you make the most beautiful, delicate, pillowy light, chewy, delicious and melt in the mouth cookies that you will never forget

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword Aquafaba, Aquafaba in instant pot, French Macaron recipe, French Macarons, How to make macarons, instant pot vegan recipes, Macaron basic recipe, Macaron recipe, Macarons Vs Macaroons, peppermint macarons, Recipe for macarons, Vegan Peppermint French Macarons with Aquafaba, Vegetarian macarons, what is the difference between macaron and macaroon

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Process (processing + sifting + meringue + macronage + piping) 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours

Servings 10 Macarons

Calories 43kcal

Author Jyoti Sawant

Ingredients

Macaron Shell

• 1 oz/ 28gms aquafaba, room temperature
• 2 oz/ 56gms ground almond flour
• 2 oz/ 28gms powdered sugar/ icing sugar/ confectioner’s sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1.5 oz/ 42gms white sugar
• 7-8 drops red gel food coloring

CHOCOLATE GANACHE FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 24 oz (680 g) White Chocolate
• 8 oz (227 g) Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 stick candy cane crushed fine

AQUAFABA INGREDIENTS (INSTANT POT PRESSURE COOKER)

• 2 Cups dry Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans/ Chole) washed
• 8 Cups water for soaking
• 6 Cups water for cooking

Instructions

• HOW TO MAKE AQUAFABA IN THE INSTANT POT

  Step1: Soak the Chickpeas: Wash and soak chickpeas in 8 cups of water overnight or at least for 6+ hours.

  Step2: Drain the Chickpeas soaking water: Drain the chickpeas soaking water and rinse it once or twice with fresh water.

  Step3: Cook Chickpeas in the Instant Pot: Add 6 cups of water and chickpeas to Instant Pot's steel innner pot. Put the steel pot in the Instant pot. Close the lid and press Pressure Cook/ Manual button on high for 60 minutes (You want the chick peas to be cooked to the point you are easily able to mash it between your fingers).

  Step4: Natural Pressure Release: When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally. If the pin does not drop in 20 minutes, you can release the pressure and open the instant pot. Once the pressure releases, press cancel and let it cool down completely.

  Step5: Refrigerate: Once the chickpeas cool down completely close the steel insert with a lid and store in the fridge – once chilled aquafaba will turn gelatinous and resemble an egg white, refrigerating it along with chickpeas helps it thicken up and become even more gelatinous which is what we want.

  Step6: Strain the liquid: Using a clean sieve, separate the liquid from the chick peas. This liquid is nothing but Aquafaba. Make sure the sieve and the bowl are very clean and have no grease residue on it as even a trace amounts of grease inhibit aquafaba’s foaming properties – this is especially important if you intend to whip your aquafaba into a meringue.

  Step7: Store: Your Aquafaba is now ready to be used in the recipe. If you wish you can reduce the liquid further depending on the recipe. I used the liquid directly at this stage for Vegan Macrons. Store the rest of the aquafaba in an air-tight container for 3-4 days in the refrigerator or freeze it for 3 months.

  HOW TO GET AQUAFABA FROM A CHICKPEA CAN:

  Step1: Open the can: Open the chicke pea can. Try using organic chickpeas that has least amout of sodium, no sodium will be ideal.

  Step2: Strain the liquid: Using a clean sieve, separate the liquid from the chick peas. This liquid is nothing but Aquafaba. Make sure the sieve and the bowl are very clean and have no grease residue on it as even a trace amounts of grease inhibit aquafaba’s foaming properties – this is especially important if you intend to whip your aquafaba into a meringue.

  Step3: Strained liquid: The strained liquid is nothing but Aquafaba and you can start using it as is in making macaron or other dishes. Aquafaba is a great replacement for egg whites.

  HOW TO MAKE VEGAN PEPPERMINT FRENCH MACARONS WITH AQUAFABA:

  Step1: Process almond flour and icing sugar:

  Add the almond flour and icing sugar or powdered sugar to a food processor and process well for 2 minutes, until the almonds and sugar are well combined and if there are any large particles in the almond flour they get broken down to fine powder.

  Step2: Sieve the mixture:

  Transfer the almond flour and icing sugar mixture into a sieve and sieve the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Make sure there are no large pieces of almond flour or it will deface the surface of your macarons. Discard the larger particles if any, don’t try to press them through the sieve. Keep your dry ingredient mixture aside.

  Step3: Making the Merengue:

  • Make sure your Aquafaba is at room temperature

  • Now using your hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the aquafaba at medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until the aquafaba becomes foamy.

  • Once they are foamy and translucent slowly sprinkle, little at a time 1.5oz. of white sugar. Keep whipping until your aquafaba achieves a soft peak stage.

  • Now with your mixer on high speed continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Make sure that meringue has very STIFF PEAKS!! You’ll notice the meringue starts to fill the whisk when you’re getting close to the right stage. You will have stiff and pointy peaks once your Meringue is ready. Remember Aquafaba takes much much longer than eggs to come to come to the stiff pointy stage so don't loose patience and keep working at it and you will surely achieve that.

  • Beat until stiff peaks form. Make sure that meringue has very STIFF PEAKS!!

  Step4: Making the Macronage:

  • THIS is the most important step in the making of proper macarons. Transfer all the meringue to the dry ingredients (almond flour and icing sugar mix) and fold together. Take your rubber spatula and lightly roll it around the batter in the bowl and fold the mixture over itself. Initially, it may look like it just isn’t mixing and that you have too much of the almond mix but eventually it will come together. When it starts coming together, start to drag (pressing the batter against the sides) the mixture around the bowl.

  • It should end up like thick lava. This is called the macaronage.

  • The secret test to know the right consistency for the perfect macaron batter is when you pick up the batter with the spatula and try to create an “8” pattern with a solid, streaming ribbon of batter. If you can make an “8” a few times over on top of itself and see the entire shape not disappear, you have mixed the batter to readiness to pipe. Do not over mix your batter to make it too runny or your cookies won't rise and you wont have the feet.

  Step5: Filling the batter in a piping bag:

  • To make beautiful candy cane looking macarons, using a paint brush paint two thick line on the inside of the piping bag with the red color on opposit sides.

  • Spoon in the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a #12round tip. Fill only till the fill mark on the piping bag, do not over fill. You can pipe the batter onto silicone macron molded mats or pre-traced sheets of parchment paper fixed to a baking tray.

  Step6: Piping Batter on parchment paper or macron sheets:

  • If using parchment paper, you can use some batter as glue to hold the parchmentsheet steady on the baking tray. If you are using the macaron sheets just place them flat on the baking tray.

  • Now pipe the macarons perpendicular to the surface. If your tip is pointing a bit in any particular direction when you pipe the macarons might come out oblong or malformed. Pipe the macarons onto the parchment paper in 1-inch rounds circles about an 1-inch(2-cm) apart. When you are finishing the pipingmotion stop squeezing the bag and pull up with a circular motion.

  Step7: Rap the baking tray:

  • Once you have piped your macrons on the sheet, hold the baking sheet a good foot or so above your flat work surface and drop the pan (evenly). Rap the sheet on the work surface 7 to 8 times at least. This ensures that all of the bubbles make their way out of the batter. If you don’t do this well, you will end up with hollow macarons.

  Step8: Rest the macrons to form a skin:

  • Rest your macarons to set for 30 minutes or so, so that the macarons form a skin. You should be able to touch the shell and feel a dry surface. You will notice that they harden and appear a bit glossy. Resting the shells will force the macarons to bake upward and not outward. This is what is responsible for forming the iconic feet and shape of each cookie.

  Step9: Bake:

  • I can't stress enough that this temperature is crucial: Bake at 285F or 140C for 12 minutes rotate the tray after 6 minutes for even baking. Always make sure to place the baking tray on the topmost rack in the oven to prevent them from baking too fast and cracking.

  • Remove from the oven and allow them to cool completely before you attempt to poke or remove them from the baking sheet. These cookies are very delicate, if you remove before they cool, they will crack or deflate.

  Step10: White Chocolate Ganache-Double boiler method:

  a) In a saucepot add 1 cup of water and bring it to a simmer.

  b) Add heavy whipping cream in a glass bowl that is big enough to sit on top of the saucepot.

  c) Place the glass bowl with whipping cream on top of the simmering saucepot for double boiling.

  d) Heat cream in bowl until steam starts to rise from the surface but isn't boiling yet. Add white chocolate chips to the sauce pan at this stage. Whisk gently until white chocolate chips are melted and blended into the cream. Once completely melted, it will be smooth and runny

  Step11: Pipe the white chocolate ganache filling:

  Pipe in the white chocolate ganache in the piping cone.

  Step12: To Assemble:

  Pipe the chocolate ganache filling onto the back of half the macaron shell. Top it with another macaron shell to form a sandwich and press until the buttercream reaches the edges. Repeat with remaining macaron shells and buttercream.

  Pipe in the white chocolate ganace onto the smooth base of the macaron shell. Top it with another macaron shell to form a sandwich and press until the ganache reaches the edges, dont press too hard and be careful not to break the cookies. Repeat with remaining macaron shells and chocolate ganache.
  

Notes

IMPORTANT TIPS FOR MAKING MACARONS:

• Process almond flour and icing sugar well in a food processor before you put it through the sieve.
• Sieving the mix through the sieve aerates the flour and makes sure there are no large pieces of almond flour. Discard the larger particles if any, don’t try to press them through the sieve.
• Aquafaba has to be at room temperature before you plan it.
• Make sure that you beat your meringue very stiff.
• Aquafaba takes much longer than egg whites to come to stiff peak stage so be patient.
• The mixing of batter to make the macronage takes some practice so be patient. When the batter starts coming together it should look like thick lava.
• Do not over mix your macronage till it is too runny or your cookies wont rise.
• Pipe the macarons perpendicular to the surface. If your tip is pointing a bit in any particular direction when you pipe the macarons might come out oblong or malformed.
• Once you have piped your macrons on the sheet, hold the baking sheet a good foot or so above your flat work surface and drop the pan (evenly). Rap the sheet on the work surface 7 to 8 times at least to remove bubbles
• You have to rest the macarons for at least 30 minutes so that the macarons form a skin. This is what is responsible for forming the iconic feet and shape of each cookie.
• Place the baking tray on the topmost rack in the oven to prevent them from baking too fast and cracking.
• Allow them to cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet. These cookies are very delicate.
• Once you pipe in the filling , macarons will be best after 1-2 days resting in the fridge but you can have them immdeiately if you wish.
• Overbaked your shells? In case you overbake your shells and they become too crispy you can brush the bottom with some milk before assembly to soften them up.
• You can change the flavoring by using a different type of essence or extract – 1 teaspoons worth. Use anything you would like to fill the macarons, buttercream, ganache, lemon curd or fruit preserve.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie(11gms) | Calories: 43kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 0.8g | Fat: 1.9g | Saturated Fat: 0.7g | Cholesterol: 0.7mg | Sodium: 18mg | Potassium: 30mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 5.2g | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.2mg

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