The day has come—my very last Feathersweet’s Fancy. I hope some of you have tried to make these recipes over the years. I’ve had great fun finding a wide range of sweet treats to write about. I learned a few things myself, and I would love it if you did, too!
I’m leaving you with one last recipe. I’ve shared this in the past, but I felt, all things considered, that it would be the most appropriate one to share as my last one.
Macarons are not easy or quick to make, but they are so worth it! Make sure you read the entire recipe first
You will need!
Ingredients
For the shells
- 110 grams almond flour/meal/powder, whatever it’s labeled its all the same
- 200 grams of powdered sugar
- 3 room-temperature egg whites (should be about 90-100 grams)
- 40 grams of granulated sugar
- A few drops of food coloring
For a simple strawberry filling.
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup strawberry jam
Equipment needed
- Mixing bowls
- Spoons
- Wide Spatula
- Whisk
- 2 normal baking sheets OR one insulated baking sheet. If you are making a lot you will need more sheets
- Baking parchment paper
- Large pastry/icing tube and large round tip, about a half inch in size for the tip.
- Measuring cups
- Mortar and pestle *muggleborns at home use a food processor*
- Kitchen scale
Instructions
To make shells:
Get two baking sheets of the same size and stack them on each other, lining the top sheet with parchment paper. If you are using an insulated baking sheet, you just need to line it with parchment paper
If your almond flour isn’t a finer grade, grind it up some with a mortar and pestle until it’s finer. Then, add the powdered sugar and grind more. Once that’s all done, Sift it through a fine-grade sifter to get all the bigger pieces out.
NOTE FOR MUGGLE BORNS: If you do this at home over breaks, use a food processor and grind for 30 seconds, then add the sugar and grind for another minute, then sift.
Separate your eggs and set the yolk aide; you just need the egg whites. PRO TIP: Separate your eggs the day before and keep the whites in the fridge, then pull them out before you start to get to room temperature. Older egg whites work better in meringue recipes!
Using a whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until they are fluffy but not stiff. If you want to make a colored cookie, add a few drops of food coloring to the egg whites before mixing. The darker the color you want, the more drops you must add. This is a good use of the mixing spell if you can use that one.
Then, slowly add granulated sugar and continue beating until the eggs form stiff peaks. Then, Using a wide spatula, gently fold the Almond flour and sugar into the mix—BY HAND NOT BY SPELL. You’ll want to do this until your meringue is a glossy consistency. That will be around 50 strokes or so. Don’t do it more, or you’ll mess it up! It’s better to undermix than overmix!
Assemble your pastry bag, keeping a thumb over the tip so the meringue does not ooze out. Pour or spoon the batter into the pastry bag. Fold down the top so the stuff doesn’t splurt out the end, and then give a test squirt into a bowl to get air bubbles out. Yes, it may make a very rude sound when you do that. Giggle if it happens! It’s okay!
Carefully pipe the batter onto the parchment into dots about 1 1/2 inches across. Leave at least an inch between the cookies to allow them to heat evenly. It’s okay if your dots are not perfectly round! Just get as close as you can to a round dot.
Once you have as many dots as your sheet will hold, set the bag aside and carefully pick up the sheet, and gently bang it on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles in the meringue. Don’t jostle it side to side, just pick it up about two inches and let it fall!
Set the tray aside to dry for 30 minutes to an hour. This lets the meringue dry some and turn into a smoother cookie in the oven. It also lets the little ruffled edge form. While that’s going on, preheat your oven to 350 and clean up your mess! If you need more than one sheet to make all of your batter, repeat the above steps with the piping and sheet.
Check on your dots of meringue. When they dry to the touch, they are ready for the oven! Put them in the oven on the middle rack for around 15 minutes. Watch them, though, and make sure to remove them before they begin to brown if your oven has hot spots. Also, do not overcrowd your oven; only put one or two sheets at a time!
Once the macarons are done, they have to cool completely before you can take them off the parchment paper. This is why you may want more sheets than just two, as even just picking the parchment off the sheet could crack them! Cooling completely may take some time, I like to let mine sit overnight in fact. It lets the cookie part get good and cool and harden a bit more than a few hours. Using a spell here is kinda bad as the cookie is super delicate, and it may crumble. But if you want to risk a levitating spell, go right ahead!
Once they are fully cool, match up the cookies so that you get two halves as close in size as possible. Try to only touch the sides or you may cave in the tops! In time, you will be able to make them all the same size, but when you’re just starting out, sometimes they are a little bit off. Set your pairs aside.
Make the filling! Get another pastry bag and fill it up with it. Then, put a SMALL dollop of the filling on one side and gently press the other half on top of it, like a sandwich. Do not press too hard or the very delicate cookie will go smush. Don’t overfill, or it will ooze down the sides and that’s just not a good look.
You will then want to store them in a cool place like a fridge to let the meringue set.
To make strawberry mascarpone filling:
Take your jam, mascarpone, and jam and mix together until smooth. This is honestly the easiest part.
OTHER NOTES
The humidity of the air will affect these, if it’s raining or about to rain the shells won’t set properly and maybe ‘tacky’ to the touch or just flat out won’t bake right. The house elves can help with that a little but if your trying at home. Do it on a pretty day.
The meringue shell is a very picky mixture, and that is why I gave the ingredients for it in weight not cups. You will get a better cookie, being exact in amounts!
Don’t make substitutions for the basic cookie mix! You can add other flavors, like cocoa powder, but it has to be what’s listed for the base cookie. The filling, however, can be a wide range of things.
Don’t use wheat flour instead of Almond flour! You could if you want to experiment with other types of nut flours, but I can’t promise you will get good results.
