Last fall when I thought I was going to be staying home for a while I decided to start baking what I wanted to go with my lunch. Yes, I shouldn't really have dessert with my meals but I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't have something sweet to finish my lunch (well, on a regular basis. And when I eat alone). So for the first time in a long time (if not ever), I made something for me.

Several of the recipes I made asked for only egg yolks. But rather than toss the whites like I usually do (i.e. my famous pepperoni pinwheels) I started saving them. My intention was to make a macaron recipe for someone for Christmas. When that plan changed, I decided to make that recipe for me.

As most of you know, my history with macarons has been hit and miss. One of the main things I've struggled with is size: as soon as the batter hits the cookie sheet, it starts to spread. No idea if this was because the batter wasn't mixed enough or I just made them too big to begin with. Which is why I bought some macaron mats at the Culinary Apple last summer while in Chelan. Didn't entirely help but the shells were better than before, so win?

The recipe itself was easy to find: a while ago I bought a book called Mad About Macarons! by Jill Colonna. She's a bit of an expert on these little French treats, having lived in Paris since the 90s. I followed her instructions, even using metric measurements instead of the usual measuring cup/spoon that I'm used to. It was a longer process than I was expecting (which is why I didn't get to making the filling until almost a week later) but totally worth it.

Chocolate Caramel Macarons (Mad About Macarons!: Make Macarons Like the French, 8th Edition, pg. 55)

Ingredients

Shells

150 g organic egg whites, aged 4-5 days in fridge then brought to room temperature 2 hours
before mixing
100 g fine caster sugar
180 g ground almonds (a.k.a. almond flour)
270 g icing sugar (a.k.a. confectioner's sugar)
10 g unsweetened cocoa powder (see notes)

Ganache

170 g pâtisserie milk chocolate and caramel bar (see notes)
140 g whipping cream
30 g unsalted organic butter, softened and cut into cubes (I just used butter from the tub I have for grilled cheese sandwiches. It's a little over 2 tablespoons)
Pinch of sea salt

Directions

Shells (pg. 24-29 in the book)

Line three flat baking sheets with perfectly flat baking parchment and set aside (I was able to get both macaron mats on one cookie sheet).
Whisk the egg whites to glossy firm peaks (see notes), adding the caster sugar gradually. (Tip: ensure the bowl and whisk are perfectly clean. Any trace of fat, yolk, or soap will affect the success.)

If making colored macarons, add a dash of coloring towards the end of mixing (Jill suggests powdered color or pastes since not much is needed).

Meanwhile, sift the ground almonds with the icing sugar using a medium sieve. Discard any large, coarse pieces of ground almonds (because I used almond flour, I didn't have this problem. Instead, both the flour and sugar clumped up but I just used a spatula to push them through the sieve. If you do use ground almonds, Jill's tip is to weigh the large pieces and replace that amount with more ground almonds). If making chocolate macarons like I did, add the cocoa here.
Mix well to incorporate flour/almonds, sugar, and cocoa powder.
Incorporate the beaten egg whites into the dry ingredients using a large spatula. Mix well. (Unlike every other macaron recipe I've come across, folding isn't necessary)
Work on the mixture using a plastic scraper, a process called macaronnage: press down well with the scraper, going back and forward, to press out the oxygen from the whites. Do this for no more than 5 minutes until you have a smooth mixture (I went in various directions throughout the bowl in an effort to get as much batter as I could).
The result should form a soft and brilliant mixture that forms a "ribbon" on the scraper.

If the mixture is too liquid from too much macaronnage, the macarons might be flat, crack, or have no feet.
If the mixture is too thick from not enough macaronnage, the macarons might have little points on the surface after piping.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a plain round tip (approx. 1 cm/1/2"). Twist or clip the bag above the tip to stop the mixture from escaping. (as before, I used a pancake dispenser, mainly because it's reusable and the tip is about the right size. I tend to make a mess when using a piping bag)

You'll find it easier to turn down the top of the bag before putting in the mixture with the spatula. That way you can unfold the bag at the top when the mixture is in and you won't have a mess around the top of the bag or on your work surface.
If it helps, stand the bag up in a tall jug or glass while you fill it. You can then use the scraper (or something with a straight, solid edge) to push the mixture to the tip.

Pipe out the desired size of rounds (about 3 cm/1" diameter for medium shells). Leave a good space between each round as they do spread out. (On my mats, there's a textured dot in the middle of the raised circles to help figure out how big to pipe the batter. Took me a while to figure this out but once I got it the process was pretty easy.)
Leave out for about 30 minutes to set (this helps make the feet, a distinct feature of macarons). They're ready to go in the oven when they feel hard/not sticky to the touch.
While they're setting, preheat the oven to 160℃/325℉ (technically this is for a convection oven but my non-convection baked them just fine at this temperature).
Bake one tray at a time, for 10-12 minutes.

Test after 8 minutes: touch the top of a macaron and gently move your finger side to side. If it wobbles or jiggles, cook for 3-4 more minutes until firm (I just did the full 10 before testing. Mine ended up needing another minute).

Leave the shells on the cookie sheet/mat until cool then carefully peel them off (you might need an offset spatula or something similar to help).
Pair up the shells, add the filling (ganache for these below) to one on the flat side, then top with the other.

Ganache

Break the chocolate into small pieces into a bowl. In a saucepan, heat the cream then pour over the broken chocolate (I just used the microwave. About 1 min. 15 sec. was needed).
Stir constantly in the middle with a wooden spoon until smooth (about 5 minutes). Add the butter to make the ganache beautifully glossy, then add the salt.
Leave to cool in the fridge for at least an hour.
Transfer to a piping bag (see notes) and assemble macarons.
Leave in the fridge for at least 24 hours before serving.

Like I said: very labor-intensive. But very worth it. Especially since this time they essentially turned out PERFECT (for once)! And I still have egg whites so I might make macarons again (just a different flavor next time. Will probably use this recipe though).

The recipe originally calls for caramel coloring instead of cocoa powder. No idea what this is or what it looks like. Jill has a list of websites near the end of the book that bakers can use to find ingredients, tools, etc., but none of the US sites were helpful. So instead I decided to make chocolate shells as suggested in the book.
Again, no idea what a pâtisserie bar is and the websites were no help. I'm not even sure if it would've been OK for me to use caramel-filled chocolate bars (e.g. Caramello). However, a couple months ago I discovered a low-sugar chocolate bar at Target called Lily's that's sweetened with Stevia. They have a salted caramel flavor so I just got a couple bars. Alternatively, the book suggests using milk chocolate bars (specifically those than can be used in baking), only 100 g of whipping cream, and 40 g of caramel syrup. I kinda combined the two and made the ganache according to the recipe but added a dollop of caramel ice cream topping before sandwiching the shells together.
To get the egg whites to firm peaks: slowly increase the speed of your mixer. There are two ways to know when to stop: 1) slowly turn the bowl upside down. If the egg whites stay still, they're done. Or 2) detach the whisk from the mixer and turn it upside down. If the whisps at the top bend over slightly, the whites are done.
Something happened to the ganache. I'm not sure if it's because the chocolate bar I used is low in sugar, the butter I used has olive oil in it, or I used heavy whipping cream instead of light whipping cream (according to the book's glossary, light is better for ganaches). Whatever happened, it was more of frosting. So I just spread it on each shell. I ended up having a tiny bit left. Not sure what to do with it.