French Macarons With Raspberry Filling Recipes

MACARONS WITH RASPBERRY FILLING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line parchment paper with 2-3 baking sheets and set aside. Weigh 107 g almond flour and 176 g powdered sugar; transfer to a bowl of food processor. Process dry ingredients for about 1 min. Stop and scrape of the sides with spatula and pulse 4-5 times. Pass almond mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl, gently pressing with spatula. You will have about 1 tbsps of solids in the sieve (discard or if you have a lot more, pulse them few more times in the food processor).
• Weigh 70 g granulated sugar. Separate egg whites from egg yolks. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk 3 egg whites and 70 g sugar by hand to combine (30 circles). Beat on medium speed-KitchenAid (2 mins on #4 speed, 2 mins on #6 and 2 mins on #8). The egg whites should hold stiff, glossy peaks when you lift the whisk out of the bowl.
• Add sifted almond mixture all at once OR egg whites mixture into bowl with almond mixture (I prefer this way because the mixer bowl bottom has a shape that kind of stands in my way to properly stir the batter). Fold with spatula from bottom of the bowl upward, then press flat side of spatula firmly through middle of mixture. Repeat until batter is smooth and falls of spatula in a thin flat ribbon (35-40 complete strokes). Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" round tip. Holding the piping bag about 1" above the sheet, pipe batter into a 1 - 1 1/4″ circles, keeping them 1" apart. Firmly tap the baking sheets against the counter to release any air bubbles (5-10 times). These don't need to rest, put them straight into the oven. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 13 minutes. (When you have 6 minutes left, open oven door all the way and close - this will prevent macaron shells from turning out hollow, letting all that extra air out). When time is up, remove baked cookies from oven immediately, and gently slide onto a counter to cool. Repeat with 2nd and/or 3rd baking sheets.
• TO MAKE THE FILLING: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 3 oz fresh raspberries, 3 tbsps sugar and 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir and press raspberries to let the juice out and heat until it starts bubbling. Spoon the raspberry mixture through a sieve pressing on the raspberry seeds to get the most juice out. Set raspberry juice aside to cool to room temp and discard the seeds. (I got 2 tbsps juice.)
• In a medium bowl, beat 2 oz room temp cream cheese for about 1 minute to break into smooth texture. Add cooled raspberry juice and beat again for 2-3 minutes on high to fully combine. Last, pour 1/3 cold heavy whipping cream and beat until filling is soft but fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). This fluffy and soft filling will make the macarons melt in your mouth.
• Pipe a good amount of filling onto one side of cookie and top with 2nd matching cookie by gently sliding cookies to the right and left to spread the cream evenly and have perfect macarons. Refrigerate for few hours or overnight and enjoy with cup of tea or coffee!!!

CHOCOLATE FRENCH MACARONS WITH RASPBERRY FILLING

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 325F. Use an oven thermometer to be sure your oven temperature is exact. Slight variances will cause large changes in your results.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy with an electric hand mixer fitted with wire whipping beaters and set to medium high speed. (You're looking for the consistency of bath tub bubbles.)
• Add the cream of tartar and beat for a few seconds more.
• While beating, slowly add the granulated sugar. Continue to beat until you have nearly stiff peaks, 1-2 minutes. (To tell if you have nearly stiff peaks, stop beating, and lightly dip the beaters into the meringue. When you pull the beaters out of the meringue, the peaks that form should stand up, with the tips folding over only slightly.)
• Sift half of the almond flour mixture into the bowl with the meringue. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the meringue for a few strokes, using a circular motion around the bowl and under the batter. Sift in the remaining almond flour mixture and continue to fold, until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the meringue. The batter should be smooth and glossy. It should slowly shift if you tip the bowl, but it should not be too runny or liquidy.
• Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a ½ inch tip with the batter. (If you don't have a pastry bag, you can use a quart Ziploc bag with one corner snipped to create a ½ inch hole.)
• Gently pipe the batter into 2 inch circles spaced 1 inch apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. To pipe, hover your tip a 1/2 inch above the cookie sheet and squeeze the bag gently. The meringue should flow in an even circle outward from your tip. Stop piping when you have a 2 inch diameter circle. Gently lift your tip. The batter should flatten into itself after a few seconds, but if it forms a small beak, that's ok. We'll take care of those in a minute.
• After piping your cookies, if they still have a small beak, dip your finger in a bowl of cool water to slightly dampen it. Gently pat the piped meringue to flatten the beaks and create a smooth top.
• Let the piped cookies rest until a dry film forms on the macaron, the batter should lose its shininess and become dull in color. You should be able to lightly touch the cookies and the batter shouldn't stick to your finger. This could take anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depending on the batter and the moisture level of your kitchen.
• Bake the rested macarons at 325F for 14-15 minutes until crisp on the outside and dry to the touch. (The foot should not squish or wiggle when you lightly touch them.)
• Remove the macarons form the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes before gently removing them from the parchment paper to cool on a wire rack completely before filling.
• While the cookies are cooling, make the filing. Beat butter and jam with an electric hand mixer fitted with wire whisk beaters on medium speed until the butter is fluffy and the two are combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar until a thick and fluffy frosting forms. It should be spreadable but firm.
• When cookies are completely cool, spread about 1 tsp of filling on the bottom of one cookie. Gently sandwich the filling with a second cookie, pressing until the filling nearly reaches the edges of the cookies.
• Store the filled macarons in a sealed container on the counter for up to a week or in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
• We recommend filling the sandwiches no more than 1 day before you plan to serve them. If you want to make your cookies ahead of time, keep the cookies, unfilled, in a sealed, dry container, until you are ready to fill them.

RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE FRENCH MACAROONS

Steps:

• Make macaroons:
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Pulse almonds with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar in a food processor until very finely ground, 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a bowl. Sift in remaining cup confectioners sugar, stirring to combine.
• Beat egg whites with salt in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add granulated sugar, a little at a time, beating, then increase speed to high and continue to beat until whites just hold stiff, glossy peaks. Add drops of food coloring to reach desired shade and mix at low speed until evenly combined. Stir almond mixture into meringue with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. (Meringue will deflate.)
• Spoon batter into bag, pressing out excess air, and snip off 1 corner of plastic bag to create a 1/4-inch opening. Twist bag firmly just above batter, then pipe peaked mounds of batter (the size of a chocolate kiss) onto lined sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Let cookies stand, uncovered, at room temperature until tops are no longer sticky and a light crust forms, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 300°F.
• Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until crisp and edges are just slightly darker, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on sheets on racks, about 30 minutes.
• Make ganache while macaroons bake:
• Melt chocolate with cream in a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. (Bowl should not touch water.) Remove bowl from heat, then add butter and raspberry extract, stirring until butter is melted. Let stand at room temperature until cooled completely and slightly thickened.
• Assemble cookies:
• Carefully peel cookies from parchment (they will be fragile). Sandwich a thin layer of ganache (about 1/2 teaspoon) between flat sides of cookies.