[Today’s post is by Lilly Garza at Growandflow.blog]
What better way to celebrate a month of love than with lovely little, little bites of deliciousness. We are talking French Macarons people! I have been obsessed with these cookies ever since I traveled to Paris, France in college. When I came back to the States having a Macaron was like a ‘treat yo self’ kind of day.
While they are cute and yummy, buying them in the store can certainly hurt the wallet after a while. I mean at least for someone like me who loves them as much as I do! Spending $2-4 per cookie adds up so I thought I would give it a try and see if I could make them myself.
I have been making them for a couple of years and certainly went through my fair share of trial and error with these finicky cookies. They are very delicate so this is one recipe that you must be very diligent with. You can try many different flavors and it’s all in the filling so just be creative. I’ve made some with just a strawberry jam filling so no need to get super fancy just make what you like.
For Valentine’s Day this year, I made my fiance some Lavender Honey French Macarons. I honestly try not to make them too often because we try our best to be conscious of what we are consuming and live by the “you are what you eat” motto but he is a sucker for sweets. So I knew it would be a treat that would make him happy and that always makes me happy. I hope you get inspired to get your hands on the ingredients and make some of the yummiest cookies you will ever have.
Lavender Honey French Macaron Recipe
White chocolate lavender honey filling:
● 1/4 cup heavy cream
● 1 tsp dried lavender buds
● 2 tbs honey
● 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
● 1/4 cup butter
Directions:
1. Pour heavy cream into small saucepan and add the lavender buds heat until a slight simmer. Let cool overnight in the refrigerator to allow the cream to absorb the lavender.
2. Next day, reheat the heavy cream just until hot. Strain the lavender buds.
3. Melt white chocolate chips and butter in the saucepan just until well blended and slightly thick. Add the honey and the strained lavender cream and mix well.
4. Place in piping bag and let sit in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
Macaron shell ingredients:
● 3/4 cup almond flour
● 1 cup powdered sugar
● 2 egg whites room temperature
● 1/4 cup granulated sugar
● pinch cream of tartar
● purple food coloring (optional)
● Parchment paper
Directions:
1. Combine almond flour and powdered sugar and whisk together. Sift through a fine-mesh sieve until there are no clumps. Discard the clumps.
2. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer beat egg whites for 1 minute on speed 2 until you make a frothy consistency. Add sugar and cream of tartar.
3. Beat for another 2 minutes on speed 4 and you should end up with slightly stiff peaks.
4. Beat on speed 6 for another 2 minutes and then on speed 8 for 2 more minutes. You should have very stiff peaks.
5. Add food coloring (if any) and beat on speed 10 for 1 minute.
6. Then, working in batches gently fold the almond flour and powdered sugar into eggs whites. Be gentle when mixing these two together. You will fold about 30- 40 times until you have a lava based texture. Don’t overfold and be diligent. Under-folding won’t give you the “feet” you want for these cookies and over-folding will crack them.
7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
8. Place mixture into piping bag and pipe 3/4 inch cookies about 1 inch apart onto parchment paper.
9. Tap trays on the countertop. This releases any air bubbles out of cookies. Very important you do this.
10. Let cookies stand for 40-50 minutes until they stiffen and bounce back with a touch of a finger.
11. Bake cookies for 6 minutes then rotate the tray and bake cookies for another 6 minutes.
12. Let cookies stand and cool, then add filling. Store in refrigerator in an air-tight container. Will store for about one week.
Lilly Garza is 25 years old and from San Antonio, TX. She received her bachelor’s degree in Communications from St. Edwards University in Austin, TX. Throughout the way, she has traveled abroad, eaten amazing food, listened to people’s stories, studied and experienced the up’s and downs of life.
Lilly seeks to be a lifelong learner and would like to share those lessons with those in her community along the way. She is in the process of creating her own blog called Grow and Flow. Her passions are in holistic approaches to life. Grow and Flow will focus on topics such as; sustainable living, growing your own food, yoga and meditation, self-love practices and so much more. She hopes you can join her on this journey!
You can read more of Lilly’s work at her blog: Growandflow.blog
