Ingredients
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup almond flour
3 large egg whites, at room temperature (the room temp is important)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup superfine sugar
2 to 3 drops of gel food color (whatever color you want your macarons to be)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (I used almond)
Assorted fillings (I made a chocolate ganache and white chocolate ganache)
Recipe
Food Network calls for the some"special equipment" which you can see below. I do not have a convection oven so I set my regular oven to 300 degrees F. I also used parchment paper instead of silicone baking sheets and they turned out just fine.
Special Equipment: Oven with convection setting, 4 baking sheets, 3 silicone baking mats, Fine-mesh sieve, Pastry bag with 1/4-inch round tip
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F using the convection setting (I used a regular setting on an oven). Line 3 baking sheets with silicone mats (Or parchment paper). Measure the confectioners' sugar and almond flour by spooning them into measuring cups and leveling with a knife. Transfer to a bowl; whisk to combine.
2. Sift the sugar-almond flour mixture, a little at a time, through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to pass through as much as possible. It will take a while, and up to 2 tablespoons of coarse almond flour may be left; just toss it. (not gonna lie, this is probably the worst part of the whole process so once you get through this, you're golden)
3. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high; gradually add the superfine sugar and beat until stiff and shiny, about 5 more minutes. (I actually ended up having to redo this step because I didn't let the mixture get stiff enough, if the mixture is too runny it won't have enough standup when you go to pipe the cookies, so be sure to be patient in this step and make sure you have stiff peaks)
4. Transfer the beaten egg whites to the bowl with the almond flour mixture. Draw a rubber spatula halfway through the mixture and fold until incorporated, giving the bowl a quarter turn with each fold. (This step and the one following are probably the most important because you don't want to smash all the air that you whipped into the egg whites out, so try to be delicate in your turns and mixing)
5. Add the food coloring and extract (see options on Food Networks post for flavors). Continue folding and turning, scraping down the bowl, until the batter is smooth and falls off the spatula in a thin flat ribbon, 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet, pipe 1 1/4-inch circles (24 per sheet). Firmly tap the baking sheets twice against the counter to release any air bubbles.
7. Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the tops are no longer sticky to the touch, 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the humidity. Slip another baking sheet under the first batch (a double baking sheet protects the cookies from the heat).
8. Bake the first batch until the cookies are shiny and rise 1/8 inch to form a "foot," about 20 minutes (mine only took about 15 minutes, so I would set a timer for maybe 10 min and keep an eye on them). Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat, using a double sheet for each batch. Peel the cookies off the mats and sandwich with a thin layer of filling.
And voila!
