Sweet City Woman

So there's this song. One of my all-time faves, actually. And, as it turns out, also my inspiration for the name of this blog! "Sweet City Woman" by The Stampeders. It's about this guy who's totally revved about going to see his "sweet city woman". And who could blame him? She sounds awesome! For instance, in the song she makes him feel "shiny and new" and "sings in the evenings" and, most imporantly, "feeds him love and tenderness and macaroons". That's a pretty stellar combo. Does it really get any better than that? No wonder he's so pumped. Anyhow, right in the middle of the song, just after the first chorus, they stop to sing this simple phrase over and over again: "Bon, c'est bon, bon, bon, c'est bon, bon, bon, c'est bon, bon, bon, bon, bon" which translates to "Good, it's good, good, good, it's good..." and you get the point. It's good there. Of course it is! He gets to eat macaroons!! Which are, arguably, the most delicious and most adorable treat known to man.

Now, okay. He might have been talking about the little coconut cookies, but I am most definitely not. When I say 'macaroon' what I really mean is 'macaron'. Ze French Macaron! Precious little almond and meringue batter cookies baked and sandwiched with anything your heart desires: flavored buttercream, lemon curd, ganache, the list goes on and on. Any flavor you like. My personal favorite? These little guys right here -->
Almond macarons with strawberry French buttercream. The first time I made these amazing confections was during our petit four block about a month and a half ago. One bite and I was a goner. Who would have ever thought that these pink (I say pink because I chose strawberry for mine but like I said earlier, any flavor/any color you like) hamburger-esque cookies could turn your mouth into one big deliciously sweet party? And the best part? They're not nearly as much of a daunting task as everyone seems to think they are. I don't have pics of the whole process but fortunately for you I'm excellent at explaining things. Let's get started. :)

One of the first things you learn in pastry school? Mise En Place. French for "Everything in it's place." Before you begin something like macarons (or really anything, for that matter) you need to have everything together. All your ingredients and tools ready and waiting for you at your convenience. Today you'll need the following:

Ingredients
(Macaron)

• 4 oz Almond Meal
• 8 oz Powdered Sugar
• 4 oz Egg Whites (room temperature)
  
• 2 oz Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1-2 drops Food Coloring (preferably one that correlates to the flavor of your buttercream but if you'd rather be unpredictable and crazy then I say go for it)
  

(French Buttercream)

• 8 oz Granulated Sugar
• 2 oz Water
• 3 oz Egg Yolks
• 10 oz Butter (room temperature)
  
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• Flavoring to taste

Tools

• KITCHEN AID STAND MIXER!! (my favorite piece of equipment in the whole world even if I don't own one just yet...)
• Spatula
• Mixing Bowl
• 2 Piping bags, one fitted with a #4 round tip for your cookie batter and the other for your buttercream (no need for a tip on that one, just snip the end)
  
• Sheet pan lined with parchment or a silpat
• Metal Sieve (for sifting your almond meal and powdered sugar)
• Small Sauce Pan (for cooking your sugar)
• Candy Thermometer (so you know when your sugar is ready)
• Pastry Brush and Glass of Water
  

Macarons:

Step 1
Together, sift your almond meal and 1/2 of your powdered sugar onto a piece of parchment paper or into a bowl. Got it? Good. Now do that 2 more times. This makes sure you get rid of all those hard lumps in your almond meal and makes it nice and light and airy. Set aside.

Step 2
Take your room temperature egg whites and dump them into the bowl of your stand mixer. Using whip attachment, mix on medium speed until frothy. Now sift the second half of your powdered sugar and gradually add to egg whites. Mix until glossy, medium peaks form but be careful to not over-mix or your meringue will be too dry. Using a spatula, fold in 1-2 drops of food coloring.

Step 3
Now we're gonna add our sifted almond meal and powdered sugar using a technique called "macaroner" (pronounced macaronay) which basically means to slightly deflate or over-mix. Add about 1/3 of your almond meal/powdered sugar mixture into your meringue and fold about 5 0r 6 times or until it's mixed just enough so that you still see traces of unmixed batter. Repeat 2 more times. Now check your batter. when you run your spatula through it, it should look like a thick ribbon. It should flow but not be too runny. If it's still a little thick, give it a few more folds but make sure you don't turn it into soup.

Step 4
Okay. Now it's time to pipe. Grab your sheet pan lined with parchment or silpat and your pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip (I use Ateco #804). Fill with batter and pipe small rounds (about the size of a quarter) in rows about an inch and a half apart from each other. If your rounds have tips on them you can go back and smooth them out by dipping your finger in a little water and running it over the tops of your macarons. Now set them aside for about half an hour until they look dull. In the mean time preheat your oven to 300 degrees F (275 F if your using a convection oven). After about 1/2 hour go ahead and slide your sheet pan into the oven and bake for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Just watch them to make sure they don't get brown on top. When they're done, let them sit and cool while you make your buttercream.

French Buttercream:

Step 1
In clean stand-mixer bowl, beat egg yolks using whip attachment until pale yellow.

Step 2
Pour sugar into sauce pan along with your 2 oz of water. Using a pastry brush dipped in water brush down the sides of pot to make sure all the sugar is at the bottom where it belongs. No stray sugar for us, otherwise crystallization happens and you'll never get your sugar to be smooth and pourable! Set over medium heat and gently stick your candy thermometer inside the pot. Now leave it alone and let it do it's thing. The key to cooking sugar is to not disturb it. Every so often brush down insides of pot with water but that's it. Just watch the magic happen! Once your thermometer reaches 240 degrees (aka softball stage) pull your sugar off the stove.

Step 3
By now your yolks should be a nice, pale yellow. With your mixer on, slowly SLOWLY begin to pour sugar down the inside of the bowl, just letting it run down the side into the yolks. Now let the mixer do it's thing until the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch.

Step 4
Is the bottom of your mixing bowl cool? Are you sure? Because it has to be cool before you move on to step 4. Okay? Okay. Now that your yolks and sugar have mellowed out it's time to add the room temperature butter in small chunks, one at a time. Add one every five to ten seconds. Just make sure you give it time to mix in completely otherwise your buttercream will seperate.

Step 5
Now that all your butter is in, go ahead and pour in your vanilla and your flavoring of choice. I used strawberry jam for mine, about a tablespoon and a half, but you can use whatever flavor you'd like. Whip until light and fluffy.

Assembly:

Step 1
Match up your macaron shells by size, you'll need 2 shells for each. Now fill your second pastry bag with your buttercream, snip off the very end of it, and start piping swirls of buttercream onto the bottom of every other shell.

Step 2
Sandwich and ENJOY!

I know. They're delicious. Now all your friends will call you a pastry god or goddess and you'll be the most popular person at work. No need to thank me. It's my pleasure. And now that your taste buds are totally satisfied I'll leave you with something that will appeal to another one of your senses. My inspiration. Hope the rest of your Tuesday is spectacular. :)

XOXO,
Mindy