Mindful Cuisine’s Linda Elbert has mastered the macaron. Follow her recipe to make your own.
With a crunchy shell, a creamy inside and a bright pop of flavor, macarons are a favorite treat of Linda Elbert (and many others). The Mindful Cuisine chef first started making them when she was catering a bridal shower in California.
“I didn’t know they were difficult,” she says. She found a recipe in a French cookbook and had someone translate it for her. “I knocked it out of the park the first time, and after that, they never turned out again until I started working on technique and practicing.”
This was before the French cookies became super popular in America over the last 10 years. They can now be found in many bakeries, but not as many home cooks make them. This is likely because crafting these cookies can be a little tricky. Elbert prefers the French way. “It is the simplest, and it works fine,” she says. “The dry air in Park City works really well.”
Ingredients
Macarons
- 198 grams powdered sugar
- 113 grams almond meal
- 113 grams egg whites
- 1 gram or pinch cream of tartar
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon gel color of choice such as Wilton or AmeriColor
- 2 or 3 drops vanilla extract
Passion Fruit Ganache Filling
- 240 grams white chocolate (good quality, such as Valrhona)
- 1/3 cup passion fruit puree or unsweetened juice
Instructions
Macarons
- Line 2 or 3 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats (you can buy these marked for macarons specifically).
- Layer the powdered sugar and almond meal in a food processor or mini processor. Pulse until the mixture looks like fine meal, about 15 seconds. Transfer to a small bowl. Set aside.
- Place the egg whites and pinch of cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Make sure that the bowl and the whisk are impeccably clean.
- Starting on medium speed (4), whip the whites with the cream of tartar until they look like light foam.
- Slowly rain in the granulated sugar, trying to aim the stream between the whisk and the side of the bowl. Turn the speed up to medium-high. Continue to whip the meringue until it is soft and shiny.
- Add a small amount of gel color and the vanilla. Staying at medium-high speed, whip the egg whites until the mixture begins to dull and the lines of the whisk are visible on the surface of the meringue. Check the peak. Look at the angle supporting the peak.
- Fold in the almond meal mixture in 3 increments. Paint the mixture halfway up the side of the bowl, using the flat side of a spatula. Scrape the mixture down to the center of the bowl. Repeat 2 or 3 times, then check to see if the mixture slides slowly down the side of the bowl.
- Put the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a plain-style piping tip. Pipe on the prepared baking sheets. Slam each sheet hard 4 to 6 times on the counter. Then fist bump each end of the sheet’s underside twice. Let the unbaked macarons dry until they look dull, but not overly dry, before baking.
- While the macarons are drying, heat the oven to 330 F. Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack.
- Check in at 11 minutes. The macarons should release without sticking. Check 1 or 2, and if they stick, put them back in the oven for 1 to 2 more minutes.
- Let the macarons cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Cool completely before filling.
Passion Fruit Ganache
- Chop the white chocolate very finely and place in medium-size, heatproof bowl and melt on top of a double boiler with 1 inch of boiling water.
- Heat the passion fruit puree in a small pan over medium heat until it comes to a boil.
- Once the chocolate has melted, pour the hot passion fruit puree over the chocolate and let it sit for about a minute. Stir with a spatula until it is completely melted. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator for 30 to 40 minutes until it comes to a pipe-able consistency (thick but spreadable).
- Place in a piping bag and pipe onto the bottom macaron shell. Top with another shell.
