Wednesday, December 31, 2014

NYE Macarons + A Step by Step Method for Foolproof Macarons

Ring in 2015 with these festive, gluten free French macarons!  These sophisticated black macarons are filled with shimmery buttercream and decked out with sprinkles, ready to help you celebrate the new year.
2015 New Year's Eve Macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Yield: A Dozen
Prep time:
Cook time:

NYE Macarons

Macarons are the perfect way to ring in the new year and these sophisticated babies are no exception.They're fun and festive with their sprinkled tops proclaiming the upcoming year and 'NYE' for New Year's Eve!
Happy New Year's Eve from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
A line of NYE gluten free French macarons from Anyonita-Nibbles.co.uk


There's a hint of shimmer in the buttercream that fills each macaron and the shells have been dyed black with gel paste colour before getting the sprinkle treatment.

French macarons with sprinkles from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

My macaron obsession is no secret and I regularly get asked tips for how to make macarons as they can be tricky. You're in luck! I'll be sharing a step-by-step process for how you can make foolproof macaron every single time.

Happy NYE from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Okay, are you guys ready to learn to make some macarons? First I'll give you the instructions in usual recipe format and then beneath, the step-by-step photos!

A stack of New Year's Eve macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Ingredients:

For the macarons
2 egg whites
35 grams caster sugar
70 grams ground almonds
140 grams icing sugar or confectioner's sugar
vanilla buttercream dyed purple

black gel colour
edible glitter
New Year's Eve Celebration Macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

For the macaron decoration
edible glue
round sprinkles or nonpareils

2015 macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

New Year's Eve Macarons

Instructions:

  1. Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar together into a medium size bowl.
  2. Whisk the egg whites with the caster sugar and some of the black dye until you form stiff peaks.
  3.  Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites and scoop into a piping bag.
  4. Pipe onto parchment paper lined baking trays and allow to rest about 20 minutes.
  5. Preheat the oven to 150C while the macarons rest.
  6. Bake the macarons for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through.
  7. Add purple dye and edible glitter to vanilla buttercream while the macarons cook.
  8. Once the macarons have been cooked, fill with the buttercream.
  9. Paint '2015' and 'NYE' on the tops of alternate macarons and dip into sprinkles. Use a toothpick to straighten out the sprinkles so that the phrases are legible. 
  10. Pop the macarons into the fridge for at least 4 hours to set before enjoying.
Gluten free French macarons with nonpareils from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Step-by-Step Method for Foolproof Macarons

Making macarons isn't that difficult, with just a few tips, you'll be able to churn out patisserie-quality cookies in no time:

Sifting almond flour for macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Sift the ground almonds, being sure to get rid of any big bits of almond shell or skin.

Why you sift almonds when making macarons  from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
These are the bits of almond shell or skin that you want to avoid. Including these bits into your macarons can cause them to crack,especially as almond skin contains natural oils (moisture).

Sifting icing sugar to make macarons  from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Anyonita's Tip: Sift the icing/confectioner's sugar, too! Sifting the icing sugar helps to add more volume to the macaron shells.

Whisking egg whites  from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Whisk the egg whites for a few seconds until they start to foam.

Adding dye to egg whites for macarons  from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Anyonita's Tip: This is the point in the macaron making where you add the dye (like so) or any liquid flavouring you are using.

Whisking egg whites and dye from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Continue whisking the egg whites with the dye.

Adding caster or superfine sugar to egg whites for macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Add the sugar to the dyed whites while you continue to whisk.

Beating egg whites to stiff peaks from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Keep whisking until the whites begin to stiffen. Look out for ripples and ridges in the whites, that's when you know you're on the right track.

Perfect peaks from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Once you have stiff peaks, knock all of the excess egg whites from the whisks, like so:

Scrape egg whites from beaters from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Add dry ingredients to egg whites from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites all in one go.

Add more dye from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
To achieve a really rich black hue, add more of the food colouring once the dry ingredients have been put in the bowl.
Incorporate wet and dry from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Begin to incorporate the dry ingredients with the egg whites.

Macaron folding technique from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

The technique for folding macarons is often the trickiest to master, but it makes the biggest difference. Anyonita's Tip: The macaron folding technique I use is to bring the spatula down through the middle of the bowl, then around the side of the bowl halfway. Then, turn the bowl halfway and repeat. Watch this GIF:

How to fold batter for macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Once the batter has fully mixed, it should be thick, like this:

Consistency of macaron batter from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Let the batter rest while you prepare the piping bag. Alternatively, do this bit before you start making the macarons.
Wilton 10 nozzle for making macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 You'll need a nozzle. I use a Wilton 10.

Trim the piping bag from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Take your piping bag and snip off a bit of the end.

Push the nozzle to the bottom of the bag from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Insert the nozzle into the bag and coax it down by pushing.

The nozzle should extend beyond the bag from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

The nozzle should extend just beyond the piping bag.

Twist the nozzle closed from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Twist the end of the piping bag just above the nozzle.

Push down to seal from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Push the twisted bit into the nozzle to prevent any spills while you fill the bag.

Fold the bag back to make a cuff from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Fold the top of the piping bag to make a cuff so that you can slip your fingers under.

Ensure fingertips fit inside the piping bag cuff like a glove from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 You want to be able to slip your fingers beneath the cuff of the bag. This way, you can open and close it like a puppet.

Use the piping bag cuff to scrape batter from the spatula from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

When you scoop the batter into the bag, use your fingers to grip the spatula and scrape the batter from it.
Filling a piping bag with macaron batter from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Ready to pipe macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Once you've filled the bag, twist the top so that you are ready to pipe.

Piping out macaron batter from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
 Hold the piping bag so that it is perpendicular to the baking tray and apply gentle pressure and pipe out discs of macaron batter.

Continue to pipe until all batter is used from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Pipe until there is no more space on the tray.

Drop the tray to knock air out of the macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Lift the baking tray just a few inches above the counter and drop 5 or 6 times to pop the air bubbles in the batter. You'll notice little bubbles pop on the surface of the macarons. Keep banging the tray until there are no more bubbles.
How to tell macarons are ready for the oven from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Let the macarons rest at least 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 150C. Test that the macarons are ready to be baked by poking your finger on the side of one. You should have a slight indentation but no batter should be visible on your finger when they are ready for the oven.

Back the macarons, fill, decorate and enjoy!

NYE 2015 Macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2015 Macarons  from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Now that you've mastered macarons, try my other fun recipes:

Spooky Halloween Macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk

Lavender & Rose Macarons from Anyonita-nibbles.co.uk


3 comments:

  1. These are adorable and so festive! Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My teenager has been asking me to make macarons forever, and I've been kinda scared of it, lol. But, you make it look not so scary! Definitely trying this soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. How fun, what a great macaron!!! LOVE how festive they are decorated!!!

    ReplyDelete

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