Sunday, June 8, 2014

Cookie monster macarons



C is for cookie, that's good enough for me!

I think Cookie Monster and I would get along great. I could bake as many cookies as I wanted and he could taste test all of them for me. In honor of my favorite Sesame Street character (and to celebrate my new-found skill of macaron-making), I crafted these adorably delicious macarons for a friend's birthday!

These came up when I was browsing Pinterest and I instantly knew that I had to make them. Macarons aren't actually that hard, once you get the hang of it, and this recipe wasn't too complex. It was just like a basic macaron, except the shells were colored, I added eyes, and stuffed a cookie in between.


For coloring macarons, I highly recommend using gel food coloring to do so. Liquid food coloring can dilute the meringue and throw off your ratio (and we know how finicky the batter can be).


As for the eyes, I suppose you could make your own (the original recipe made her own), but I was lazy and short on time. Same thing goes for the mini chocolate chip cookies - I used store bought cookies, but you could definitely bake your own cookies!


Many of my macaron-making tips can be found in my previous macaron adventure.

Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C!


Cookie monster macarons (makes 30 macarons)
(Recipe adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes)

  • 110 g almond meal
  • 200 g powdered sugar
  • 100 g of egg whites (aged)
  • ¼ tsp cream of tartar
  • 50 g white sugar
  • Blue food coloring (gel form)
  • Candy eyeballs (I used Wilton brand)
  • Mini chocolate chip cookies
  • Chocolate ganache (recipe below)
  1. Sift the almond meal, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together and set aside. 
  2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  3. Whip egg whites and cream of tartar in a stand mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. 
  4. Add white sugar in. Continue mixing on medium-high until stiff peaks form.
  5. Add gel food coloring to the mixture and beat until the coloring is even. The amount you add will depend on the type of coloring you use. I just added more gel until I got the blue I wanted. 
  6. Add the almond mixture to the meringue - I added it in three parts. I sifted a third of the mixture into the meringue, and then folded/scrape the bowl for 10 strokes. Repeat with the remainder of the mixture, a third at a time. The batter should run off your spatula in thick, slow ribbons. 
  7. Transfer batter to a piping bag with a ½ open round tip.  
  8. Pipe macarons shells that are 1½ inch wide and 2 inches apart from each other. Keep the tip low and close to the paper so the shell can spread out instead of pile up. 
  9. Let shells sit at room temperature for 60 minutes or until the top no longer feels tacky when you touch it. 
  10. Bake in preheated oven at 325F for 14-16 minutes, or until the bottoms just barely separate form the parchment paper. 
  11. Let cool completely before removing from the parchment paper. 
  12. Attach the candy eyeballs to half of the macaron shells (I used leftover frosting to glue the eyes on)
  13. Sandwich ganache (recipe below) between two shells to form a macaron. Stick a mini chocolate chip cookie between the shells
  14. Enjoy!
Chocolate ganache

  • 1 cup (6 oz) of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup of heavy cream
    1. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. 
    2. Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan and then pour it over the chocolate. Stir until smooth. 
    3. Let ganache set in fridge until needed for macaron filling. 

    2 comments:

    1. Raspberri Cupcakes' blog started this macaron design. Definitely should site sources instead of just say you found it on Pinterest. :)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. I did credit her - it's in the recipe text. :)

        Delete

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