The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
How did I feel about making macarons? Intimidated was the first feeling I got. I thought to myself “I can’t do this! I always hear how much of a pain in the ass they are to make!” Was I wrong? Yes! They were a lot of fun to make and not as hard as I originally thought they would be. I worked on them one lazy morning and by the afternoon I was rewarded with cute little cookies with adorable little feet. I decided to do a vanilla bean flavor because I just bought a half pound of beans and needed a good excuse to start using them 
To fill my macarons I used Nutella. I know I should have made a ganache but I was lazy and saw my jar of Nutella being neglected so I went with it
One of the best things about making these macarons is that Tartelette even said they looked great….hooray! If you don’t know who Tartelette is then you need to head on over to her site immediately! That women can make one mean macaron
Enjoy!!!!!
Also please remember that on the 28th Faith will be collecting submissions for our All Through the Year Holiday Cheer event. There will be an awesome prize rewarded to the winner
Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)
Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
Yield: 10 dozen.
I’m still intimidated about making my own macaroons. I’ll eventually get to it, but for now I’ll just take a few made by others. Hey, you made some. Pass them over my way. ;-D
Sure I will send you some! Although we ate them all so you will have to wait until I make some more…haha
Your macaroons look lovely. Nutella was a great choice for the filling. I really enjoyed your blog, Ill be back soon.
Thanks for visiting Mimi’s Kitchen.
Mimi
Thanks! I’m glad you liked my blog:)
Macaroons look and sound terrific!
Awww you are so nice:) They were quite tasty.
These look great! I love Nutella!
Thanks!
Those are so cute! I could never make something that elegant!
There are always happy endings at the Pond!
Gotta love happy endings! And I totally think you could make a macaron…you are an awesome cook:)
Yes!! They are great and from the last picture I can tell you that you achieved the right consistency: crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside!
And you used Nutella! Love that!
Hooray Tartelette approves
The Nutella was great and really delicious with the vanilla bean macarons…yum!
Your macarons look great! It’s fascinating to me how different they can all look and still be “right.” (As long as they have feet, right?) I was lazy on my filling as well and went with a cream cheese buttercream that I already had on hand. It wasn’t half bad. I will definitely be making them again. Nice work!
Best,
Casey
Editor
http://www.tastestopping.wordpress.com
Mmmmm cream cheese buttercream sounds delicious! Thanks for visiting my site:) I have put a few of my pictures on your site….darn Foodgawker just does not love me:)
I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper macaroon. The only macaroons I’ve ever made are the coconut kind, and I know they’re worlds away from these little beauties! I’ll have to make them, they look perfect for a Christmas cookie tray!
I love the coconut kind but these are definitely different. They were not that hard either. The hardest part was picking out flavors and fillings…haha
Beautiful macs.. and beautiful photo. Well done!
Thanks! It was my first time so I’m just happy I got some feet
nanyy!! they look soo pretty!! you did a great job!! keep it up!!
cheers!!
Thanks:)
Adorable! Love the nutella centre – it sounds like the perfect compliment =D.
Nutella makes everything more delicious!
Fantastic job!
Yours look beautiful! I need to give them another try… I love the idea to fill them with Nutella… Delish!
Thank you so much! I say give them another try. There are a lot of times recipes don’t turn out and then I try again and they do.
Nutella filling. Few off-the-shelf products would make for such a nice thing to sandwich between two macaron shells.
Nice work with the post
Thanks
I have to agree…Nutella is the best! Also thanks for visiting my blog:)
I love your choice of Nutella! MMMM with vanilla bean! These look perfect! Such cute little things!
Aww thanks! They are sorta cute aren’t they
It must be the feet 
Gorgeous macaroons and applause to your idea of using nutella, nice twist.
Thanks! I never realized how much people love Nutella. I think a Nutella recipe needs to appear on the site
They do look fabulous!! And …. they have feet..
Great choice of the nutella filliing too! Sounds delicious!
You have no idea how happy I was to see feet…I felt like such a nerd in the kitchen trying to explain to my boyfriend why the feet were very important…hahaha.
They look delicious…one day I will work up the courage to try and make these…..
Give them a whirl! I was scared too. I want to make them again but secretly I’m scared they might not turn out again. Beginners luck maybe…?
I think filling them with Nutella is genius!
Thanks:) I love that I can pull Nutella right out of my cabinet and use it. I wanna hug the person that invented that delicious treat
Great job! I especially love the last picture with a bite. I just want to finish it off!
GOOD JOB! I, too, was intimidated, but it wasn’t so bad! I love your little tower of macarons:)
Hey, good job, these are notoriously difficult to master. I am still working to perfect mine. Dont they taste just divine though? They are so worth it.
Your macarons came out very well. You’ve inspired me to make my next assignment a vanilla flavored macaron…:)
Those look delicious. GREAT photos too!!!
Sweet! Your macarons turned out really well.