Cookie Dough Macarons #cookies

Ingredients

Macaron Shells

3 egg whites 100 grams 3.5 oz
1/2 cup white granulated sugar 100 grams 3.5 oz
1 cup almond flour 96 grams 3.4 oz
3/4 cup powdered sugar 90 grams 3.17 oz
A few drops of purple food coloring

Cookie Dough Buttercream

1 cup confectioners’ sugar sifted
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

For coating

4 oz white chocolate chopped, or candy melts
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions
Macaron Shells

Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. There are places you can print your own, and just place it under silicon mat, or parchment paper.
Measure out all of your ingredients.
Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
Now you can finally start.
Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. (I use my kitchenAid bowl when doing this, because it makes it easier)
With the whisk attachment, whisk mixture on high speed for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
You don’t want to overbeat the mixture at this point, because you don’t want to add too much air to it. Just whisk until stiff peaks have formed.
Pour powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula. Add the food coloring at this point.
It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this, and you might have to have a couple failed batches before you get this right.
First, I pick up some batter with my spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
Then, I grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto my parchment paper or silicon mat.
If the batter stays stiff and doesn’t spread out a bit, I start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
Test again.
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy on the parchment paper, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
This is the most important part about making macarons in my opinion.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
Let your trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
Pre-heat the oven to 325F.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 4 minutes, rotate tray.
Bake for 4 more minutes, check if it needs to be rotated again. You will know if it needs to be rotated again depending on how the macarons are baking. Take a look at them, if one side seems taller then the other, maybe you have to rotate the tray again.
Bake for around 4 more minutes. You will bake for around 18-20 minutes total.
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And be peeling off the mat easily.
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

Cookie Dough Buttercream

Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream for 30 seconds at high speed.
Slowly start to add brown sugar. Cream for 60 seconds.
Turn mixer off. Add sifted powdered sugar to the bowl. Mix on low.
Once incorporated, raise speed to high and cream for another 30-60 seconds.
Add milk, and vanilla.
If the consistency needs any adjusting, simply add more milk if the buttercream is too stiff, or add more powdered sugar if the consistency is too runny.
Place buttercream in a piping bag.

To assemble

Pipe filling on half of the shells. Top with a few mini chocolate chips.
Top with another shell.
Place in the fridge until buttercream is set.
Melt white chocolate, or candy melts, dip half of the macarons in. Top with a few mini chocolate chips.
Let it set. It’s always best to let macarons refrigerate overnight before serving, because that’s when the shells mature.

Storage
Store in the fridge for up to 1 week, well covered. Or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

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