Macarons

History of macarons

So, who invented macaroons and what is their secret? There are several theories about the origin of these cakes: some believe that macaroons first appeared during the Renaissance in Venice, while others insist on the French citizenship of this delicacy. Today we chose the French recipe for this dessert for presentation, and therefore in this review we will tell you exactly the French version of the “birth” of this delicacy. According to culinary historians, this cake gained amazing popularity even at the court of Marie Antoinette, even frames of the world-famous film of the same name by Sofia Coppola speak of this fact. For the scene in this film, macaroons were made not by anyone, but by the confectioner of the famous Laduree confectionery art house. As for the first mention of this dessert, so to speak, among the masses, it dates back to 1830. It was then that these sweets first appeared in French confectioneries, and the filling for macaroons was not quite familiar then - liquor, spices and jam. In general, in France everything is turned into high fashion and eating macaroons is another national fetish.

If you have been to France, you have probably noticed that their images crown almost every tent and shop window. Moreover, the culinary fashion is even transferred to the high status, depicting cute sweet cakes that look like miniature hamburgers on clothing and accessories. In Paris, you can easily meet a fashionably dressed young lady in a T-shirt with the image of a macaroon or a bag with the same print. And, imagine that in France this not only surprises no one, but even seems funny and quite stylish, and all because every Frenchman is well aware of the divine taste of macaroon. Thanks to its unique flavor and simply discouraging popularity at home, almond macaroons have not only spread around the world, but also expanded the boundaries of their fillings and ingredients. Today, hundreds of different flavors and aromas can be easily found on the shelves of confectionery shops. There are pistachio, raspberry, orange, berry, strawberry, caramel and, of course, chocolate macaroons. As varied as tastes are their colors: blue, green, yellow, orange, crimson or red. Of course, this is not a complete list, because there can be as many flavors and colors of macaroons as there are confectioners who prepare them. There is only one main condition - all ingredients must be exclusively natural and must be fresh. And now we will offer you our vision of how to cook macaroons and our recipe will be traditionally with a photo.

Ingredients:

Meringue Ingredients:

• Egg whites - 4 pcs.
• Almond flour - 165 gr
• Sugar - 150 gr
• Powdered sugar - 165 gr
• Salt - a pinch
• Dye (gel) - 5-6 drops

Pistachio Paste Ingredients:

• Peeled pistachios not salty - 250 gr
• Dye green (gel) - 3-4 drops
• Sugar - 125 gr
• Water - 3 tablespoons

Ganache Ingredients:

• Pistachio paste - 50 gr
• Egg white - 1 pc.
• Sugar - 60 gr
• Butter - 80 gr

How to cook macaroons:

1. Prepare products for the manufacture of meringue;
   

   First, let's do the meringue and prepare all the products we need

2. Mix almond flour, powdered sugar and salt in a bowl;
   

   In a separate bowl, combine powdered sugar, almond flour and salt

3. Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly with a mixer;
   

   To mix everything well and evenly, use a mixer

4. Now the mixture of dry ingredients should be sieved;
   

   For airiness of the meringue, sift all dry ingredients through a sieve

5. As a result, we get a mixture ready for kneading the dough;
   

   Now the dry ingredients are ready to be converted into dough

6. Separate the yolks from the proteins;
   

   Place the egg whites in a separate bowl

7. Lightly beat them with a mixer;
   

   First, beat the whites a little with a mixer

8. Then we begin to introduce sugar a little;
   

   As soon as the foam begins to set, we begin to slowly add sugar

9. Beat again until the sugar is completely dissolved;
   

   Beat until the sugar melts

10. Drop by drop, we begin to introduce gel dye;
    

    To give the meringue color, add a drop of dye

11. For our pistachio macaroons, a shade of green would be appropriate. It turns out resistant green protein foam;
    

    We are preparing macaroons with pistachios, and therefore we paint over the proteins with green dye and beat them into a dense foam

12. We introduce a mixture of dry ingredients into the protein a little;
    

    To get the dough, we start pouring a mixture of almond flour and other dry ingredients

13. As a result, we get dough of the same consistency as in the photo;
    

    After the introduction of all the ingredients, the dough should have a fairly dense consistency, as in the photo

14. Put the finished dough into a pastry bag;
    

    To make the macaroons the same in shape, we use a pastry bag

15. We cover the baking sheet with a rug with recesses and squeeze the cakes onto it. Then you should hit the baking sheet on the table a couple of times to expel the air and let the cakes dry for about 1 hour before baking;
    

    So that all the macaroons are the same size, we line the baking sheet with a special rug and place the meringue on it. Then you should beat the air out of the cake, for this you just need to hit the baking sheet on the table. Ready meringues must rest for at least 1 hour before being sent to the oven.

16. Now for 15 minutes we send the cakes to the oven, heated to 150 degrees;
    

    Cakes are baked for about 15 minutes at a temperature of 150 degrees

17. Remove the cakes from the oven, remove them together with the mat from the baking sheet and let them cool down before transferring to a plate;
    

    Ready macaron bases should not be left on a hot baking sheet, so the mat must be shifted and the cakes should be allowed to cool. Only then can they be transferred.

18. In the meantime, prepare everything you need for pistachio paste;
    

    Let's deal with pistachio paste

19. Place the peeled nuts in a blender and grind into pieces;
    

    Pistachios should be crushed

20. Then the nuts should be put on a dry frying pan;
    

    Put the chopped pistachios into the pan

21. Add sugar;
    

    Sugar must be added to nuts

22. Let the sugar melt, but don't let it brown. Then transfer the caramelized nuts to a bowl;
    

    We wait until the nuts caramelize, and then put them in a bowl

23. Add green dye;
    

    We introduce 3 drops of green dye

24. Add some water;
    

    Now we introduce a little water

25. From all these ingredients, using a silicone spatula, knead the pistachio paste;
    

    Using a spatula, knead all the ingredients and prepare the pistachio paste

26. Now we begin to prepare the cream and for this we select the necessary ingredients;
    

    It's time to cook ganache and for this we need everything that is in the photo

27. Add pistachio paste to soft butter;
    

    For ganache, mix soft butter and pistachio paste

28. We combine everything with a mixer;
    

    Thoroughly mix with a mixer until a homogeneous consistency

29. Beat the protein separately;
    

    Whisk the protein into a strong foam

30. Gently introduce the protein into the butter cream with nuts;
    

    Combine and gently mix the protein and buttercream with a spatula

31. Ready ganache should be dense enough and not spread;
    

    According to the consistency, the ganache should turn out as in the photo

32. Now we take half of the meringue, spread it with fresh ganache and cover with the second half;
    

    We spread ganache on one cake, and cover it on top with the second

33. When the process is completed, the cakes must be sent to the refrigerator for at least 12 hours; Here they are - macaroons!
    

    The finished macarons will look like this. Bon appetit to all

Benefits of Maccaroons

And here, it seems to us, it's time to move on to discussing the benefits of the dish, and only then we can talk about how to make macaroons. Already based on their proposed ingredients, we can conclude that these cakes, unlike many others, are not so harmful to the figure, because they do not contain insidious premium wheat flour. Instead, more "healthy ingredients" are used, such as almond flour and egg whites. This is the rare case when there is more taste and more benefit. Everyone is well aware of the benefits of nuts, as well as the fact that they contain a lot of healthy fats and at the same time are devoid of cholesterol, saturated with valuable white and, at the same time, are low in carbohydrates, which means they are almost harmless to the figure. As for egg whites, they, in the complete absence of fat, and hence cholesterol, give our brain the most valuable niacin, thereby nourishing it and stimulating activity.

The only thing that could not be abandoned in this, as in any dessert, is sugar. And this is natural, because without sugar no dessert will work, the poet will probably have to put up with it. In general, it should also be noted that the benefits of this dessert should be considered in terms of its components, so let's try to figure out what the cake consists of. The macaroon crust is meringue and the filling is ganache.

Meringue is a protein confection that resembles meringue in appearance and texture. However, unlike meringue, it is prepared not only on the basis of proteins and sugar, but with the addition of almond flour. There are several meringue recipes: Italian and French. They differ not so much in the ingredients as in the process of their introduction into the dough. Today we will use French, and we have already talked about the composition and benefits of French meringue.

Now a few words about ganache. In general, this term itself is clearly of French origin, denoting chocolate cream or filling for cakes and sweets in cooking. Over time, confectioners went further and began to call ganache not only chocolate, but also any other creams for spreading confectionery. In the case of macaroons, ganache can mean any filling based on butter, mascarpone cheese, confiture, chocolate, fresh berry or fruit puree, and many others. For our macaroons, we used pistachio paste cream with added protein foam and butter, so there will be some harmful animal fats in our cakes. But if you remember that butter, within reasonable limits, is extremely useful for skin beauty, stomach health and cell renewal, this should only be rejoiced.

From all of the above, we can conclude that macaroons can be classified as low-calorie desserts, especially if you use not oil as a ganache, but, for example, jam or nut paste. As you can see for yourself, cooking macaroons at home is not so easy and certainly not fast. On the other hand, you and everyone at home will definitely like the result, and therefore it is very worth trying. Just imagine how, instead of chewing cookies, you put such a tender and crunchy macaron in your mouth. I think there is no doubt left and you are already heading to the kitchen to cook delicious cakes. If you have your own recipes for equally delicious desserts, we are looking forward to them. Remember that in our person you always have a friend, adviser and interlocutor. We wish you all a great mood and culinary success. Always Your HozOboz.

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