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VANILLA ALMOND MACARONS

5 from 2 votes
Author: Lindsay Nathanson

Ingredients
  

MACARON SHELLS

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 cup + 2 tbs almond flour
  • 3 eggs whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar

VANILLA BEAN AND ALMOND FILLING

  • 1/2 cup salted butter
  • 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, halved and scraped

ASSEMBLY

  • small paint brush
  • 2 tablespoons piping gel1/4 - 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
  • 1/4 - 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
How to Make Vanilla Almond Macarons
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Instructions
 

For the shells:

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  • Prepare a pipping bag with a round tip with about a 1/4" opening (wilton tips #9, #10 and #11 should work) and a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, sift almond flour and powdered sugar together. Set aside.
  • In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites on high speed until they form soft peaks.
  • Lower the mixer's speed to medium and add sugar.
  • Put mixer back on the highest speed and beat until they form stiff peaks.
  • Take bowl off of mixer and add almond flour/sugar mixture.
  • Using a rubber spatula, aggressively fold in dry ingredients until the batter starts to loosen and becomes a little runny. To test if the batter is ready, lift a small amount of batter from the bowl and drop it back into the batter. If it does nothing, keep mixing. If it slowly melts back into the batter after 20-30 seconds, it is ready.
  • Put batter (about 1/3 of the mixture) into prepared pipping bag and cover the rest of the batter with saran wrap.
  • Pipe 1 1/2" circles on prepared baking sheet and firmly tap the bottom of the tray so the batter flattens out. Repeat with remaining batter.
  • Let them rest for 30-45 minutes until they form a skin.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they are set.
  • Let cool before peeling them off parchment paper.

For the filling:

  • In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, cream butter until it is soft and smooth.
  • Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, almond extract, and scraped vanilla bean seeds and mix until light and fluffy.

For the assembly:

  • Peel macarons off parchment paper and pair them according to size.
  • Using a piping bag with a round tip (wilton tip #6 or #7 should work) pipe a dollop of filling on one half of a pair of cookies.
  • Sandwich the cookie pair together.
  • Using a small paint brush, paint a little bit of piping gel on the top macaron shell. Sprinkle on chopped almonds.

Notes

*Makes 25 macarons