The first time I tried to make macarons I fucked up.
I was a macaron virgin.
Honestly I did not even know the difference between a macaron and a macaroon.
(Macaroon’s are the coconut version; macarons are their snooty French friend)
This time was going to be better.
Last time I read the directions to a t and used a pastry bag for the pipping.
Fuck pastry bags.
Pastry bags do not close on one end so they leak out of that end and they leak out of the tip which does not close and they make your counters, cell phone and lap top a sticky mess.
And your floors.
And your pets.
This time I would be ghetto. This time I would use zip lock bags for the piping.
Besides last time I was angered and threw my pastry bags in the trash.
I had a beer first.
My first time making macarons led me to drink.
Let me tell you a thing about macarons.
People think they are a difficult recipe.
They are difficult the first time.
The second time I was ready to make macarons my bitch.
A banana and rum flavoured bitch to be exact.
You should thank me now because I totally reworked the original recipe that made me hate the art of baking macarons the first time and have cut it down to this way simpler recipe.
I wouldn’t exactly call it Making Macarons for Dummies; I would call it Macarons for People Who Just Want to Make Them the Easy Way so They Can Get Back to Watching Monday Night Football or Watching Always Sunny on Netflix already.
Bananas Foster Macaron’s
For the Macaron’s:
1 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cups hazelnuts, ground
1/3 cup superfine sugar
3 egg whites
1 tsp Cinnamon
For the Bananas Foster Cream:
2 tab rum
1 tab butter
1 banana, mashed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tab honey
1/2 cup cream cheese
Directions:
- In a food processor, combine the ground hazelnuts, cinnamon and powdered sugar; pulse for 20 to 30 seconds until evenly distributed.
- Place egg whites in a metal mixing bowl. Mix on medium speed until frothy, then slowly add superfine sugar, a little bit at a time with the mixer on medium speed, scraping down the side of the bowl periodically. When all the sugar has been added, increase speed to medium high and whip until meringue is firm and glossy and forms medium-stiff peaks.
- Pour half of the ground hazelnut mixture into the meringue and stir, folding and scraping a few times until no dry hazelnut flour remains. Add the remaining ground hazelnuts and mix, folding and spreading the batter against the sides of the bowl about 15 to 20 times or just until the meringue and flour are incorporated and the batter falls off the spatula in thick ribbons. Do not over mix.
- Transfer the batter into a zip lock bag. Pipe very small circles of dough onto the baking tray.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 9 minutes, keeping an eye on them to make sure they do not brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- To prepare filling, heat the butter on the stove top in a pan. Add the bananas and the cinnamon. Add the rum and light on fire with a match. Let the flame burn out, turn off the heat, add the honey and let this cool for twenty minutes. Stir in the cream cheese and let cool in the fridge for ten minutes. Transfer mixture to a zip lock bag. Gently pipe about a teaspoon of filling onto underside of half of the cooled cookies, then top with remaining cookies.
