Happy Saturday and Happy Pride! We are celebrating with these Rainbow French Macarons - basically our ultimate go to, a vanilla bean french macaron shell with a vanilla bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream. This year is 50 years since the riots at Stonewall Inn - i’ve found myself in many a rabbit hole reading about how rights have changed throughout the world. While there’s still so far to go, especially with some people’s views (we see you), on the whole the world has come a long way. I am so proud to have so many of my good friends a part of the LGBTQ community, and will forever be an ally - I’m here, standing in all the corners, standing up for all of the rights!
We certainly weren’t going to let pride go past without a rainbow macaron happening! We riffed on our fave - the basic macaron shell with a vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream. We divided the buttercream into seven - keeping some white for the middles, and then colouring the rest the colours of the rainbow, and piping them into the shells. I love how they turned out - such a fun and colourful riff on a classic!
A few wee tips:
- All my macaron tips are here!
- Because Swiss meringue buttercream has so much fat in it from the butter, it can be hard to get the colour to really take. To combat this we coloured the buttercream, then left it to sit overnight, which helped lots to brighten up the colour. My friend Chelsea says if you whip the shit out of it in your mixer after you add the colour that works well too - but I haven’t tried that out yet!
- It’s hot here and pretty humid, which may affect drying time for your macs - just keep an eye on them!
- Be careful when you are choosing sprinkles to use - if they are solid sugar or chocolate balls, they may get hot and melt through the shells. Go for small balls and baubles in your sprinkles mix if you can!
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Rainbow Macarons (Vanilla Bean Macarons with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream)
- Yield: Makes about 24 Macarons 1x
Description
Rainbow Macarons (Vanilla Bean Macarons with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream)
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 170g ground almonds
- 300g powdered sugar
- 180g egg whites, at room temperature
- 160g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- Sprinkles to finish (we used white non pareils)
Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- ½ cup (123g) egg whites, or 4 large egg whites
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 455g (16oz, or four sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- Gel Food Colour as desired
Instructions
MACARON SHELLS
- Preheat oven to 300˚f / 150˚c, and position the oven rack in the centre of the oven. Using a round cookie cutter or the base of a large piping tip (something about 1.5 inches in diameter), draw a "template" for your macarons on a piece of parchment paper, leaving about ¾" between each circle.
- Combine the almond meal and powdered sugar together in a large bowl. Sift the mixture twice, to ensure there are no large lumps and that the mixture is properly aerated. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, increase the mixer speed, and whip on high until the meringue starts to firm up. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. Continue to whip until the meringue forms stiff peaks (there is a good example here).
- Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add half of the ground almond and powdered sugar mixture, and fold into the meringue. You want to deflate the meringue just a little at this stage, to combine the meringue and ground almond mixture.
- Add the remaining ground almond mixture, and stir lightly to combine. Now comes the important part - mixing the batter to the correct consistency. Again, this video does a good job of explaining it. Fold the mixture in a series of 'turns', deflating the batter by spreading it against the side of the bowl. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat the movement - scooping the batter from the bottom of the bowl, and spreading it against the side. Continuously check the consistency of the batter - you want it to flow like lava when you lift the spatula from the bowl, and you should be able to 'draw' a figure 8 with it, without the batter breaking (again, watch lots of videos to get an idea! They help so much). This step can take some practice until you know what it should feel and look like. If in doubt you are better to under mix them than over mix them - the process of putting the batter into the bag and piping out will help mix a little too.
- Fit a large pastry bag with a medium sized round tip, such as an ateco #805. Place the macaron template on a sheet pan, and place a second piece of parchment over it. Holding the piping bag at a 90˚ angle to the surface, pipe out the batter into blobs the size of the circles drawn on the template. Finish off each piped circle with a little "flick" of your wrist to minimise the batter forming a point (it will still form a small one, but we can get rid of this with banging). Remove the template from under the macarons.
- Hold the baking sheet in two hands, and carefully but firmly, evenly bang it against the bench. Repeat this a few more times - this will get rid of any air bubbles, remove points on the top, and help them to spread out slightly. Sprinkle the shells with sprinkles of your choice.
- Repeat the piping and banging process until you have used up all of the batter - I usually make three sheet pans worth.
- Allow the macarons to dry at room temperature for approximately 30 minutes, or until they form a skin that you can touch without your finger sticking to them. This time will drastically vary depending on the humidity.
- About fifteen minutes before you are going to bake the macarons, place a spare sheet pan in the oven to preheat - this is going to be used to place under the pan with the macarons on it, to double up, which should help with even baking. Bake the macarons one sheet at a time - place the sheet with the macarons on the preheated sheet, and place in the oven.
- Bake for approximately 18 minutes, rotating the pan once during the cooking process, and checking for doneness after 15 minutes. The macarons should develop a foot (the ruffled part on the bottom of the macaron), and bake without browning. To see if they are done - press down lightly on a shell. If the foot gives way, it needs a little longer, if it is stable, then it is close to being done. Test a macaron shell - if you can peel it away cleanly from the paper, they are done. If they are stable but cannot yet peel away cleanly, give them another minute or so. Again, this part takes a little trial and error depending on your oven. If they seem done but do not peel away cleanly, do not worry - there is a little trick for that!
- Remove from the oven, and allow to cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes before peeling off the parchment paper and allowing to cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat the baking with the remaining trays, using the same spare sheet pan to double up.
- If your macs do not peel away cleanly, place them, on the parchment paper, into the freezer for 5-10 minutes, then peel away from the paper.
- Store cooled macarons in an airtight container until ready to use.
VANILLA BEAN SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
- Place the egg whites, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a heat proof bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water, ensuring that the water does not touch the bowl. Heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture registers 160˚f / 70˚c on a thermometer and the sugar has dissolved. Carefully transfer the bowl to the mixer, and fit with the whisk attachment. Whip the egg whites on high until they are snowy white and fluffy, 8-10 minutes. Add the butter one chunk at a time. The mixture may look curdled - but just keep mixing! Once all the butter is incorporated, mix on high for a further 10 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Once the buttercream has finished mixing, and is smooth and silky, add in the vanilla bean paste. Mix for a further 2-3 minutes, then switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for one minute to remove any air.
- Divide the buttercream into seven, and colour six of the portions with your desired gel food colour. Transfer to piping bags fitted with various small french star and round piping tips.
ASSEMBLY
- Pair up each macaron shell with another of an equal size. Pipe a round of white buttercream on one half of the shell, then place the second shell carefully on top. Using the coloured buttercream, pipe blobs of buttercream around the edge of the macarons, so the blobs face outward (as opposed to these where we piped the blobs directly onto the shells and then topped with a second shell). Repeat with the rest of the macarons. Macarons are best chilled overnight to allow the flavours to meld, but can also be eaten immediately.
Notes
Macaron Shell Recipe from I love Macarons, with adaptations from Fox and Crane