Macarons à la Framboise - Raspberry Macarons

I've been planning to make these macarons for the past week. I had made them with my boyfriend a few years ago, but they had turned out rather flat.. still delicious though! This time, I was feeling confident. I did my research: I read and reread Tartelette's "Demystifying Macarons" (a must for beginners), checked out some blogs like La cuisine Mercotte and chefNini and even found some good tutorial videos on Youtube (you'd be surprised)!

It's really different knowing all the steps in theory and actually doing them. Everything went well until the ''macaronnage'' part. I added the egg whites and almond powder to the meringue and kept stirring cause there were lumps. I think I stirred to much though, over 50 times for sure (Tartelette suggests). Then I dipped the measuring spoon into the powdered food coloring container and it flew everywhere! I can be so clumsy! As I tried to pipe out the dough onto the baking sheet, I couldn't control how much was being piped out! Either the tip I used was too big (Ateco 807) or the mixture was too liquid. So I ended up with large deformed shapes. Finally when they came out of the oven, they looked flat just like the last time I had made them! I was so discouraged at this point, I didn't even want to fill them with the raspberry jam. Half of the macarons didn't peel off the parchment paper...

I will not give up though. I want to achieve those pretty, colorful macarons! I tried my macarons this morning, after I had left them in the fridge for the night and they still tasted good. Better, actually.

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Macarons à la Framboise - Raspberry Macarons

Adapted from ''Demystifying Macarons'' by Tartelette

100g egg whites

50g granulated sugar

200g powdered sugar

110g ground almonds

Food coloring of your choice

Raspberry jam at room temperature

With whisk attachment in stand mixer, whip egg whites to a foam and gradually add granulated sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (you should be able to turn the bowl upside-down).

Combine powdered sugar and ground almonds in a food processor and grind them to break sugar lumps and combine almonds with it evenly.

Add powdered sugar and ground almonds mixture to the meringue, folding them. Give quick strokes in the beginning to break the mass and then slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes.

(This is when I added the food coloring. I think I should have added it with the powdered sugar and ground almonds instead to minimize strokes.)

Fill pastry bag with plain tip and pipe small round (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper on baking sheets.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and let macarons sit out for around an hour to harden their shells a bit. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely before spooning some raspberry jam on one shell and sandwiching with another. (Macarons taste best after being placed in the refrigerator for a few hours.)