Parisienne Macaroons

Ever wonder how they make those jewels in the window of Laduree in Paris? The colorful and beautifully decorated little macaroons that make you want to take them all home. Well, they are not as hard to make as you think they are but it does require some little tricks. I have tried many many recipes and this one seem to be the only one that do all the tricks and I am here to share it with you. Just as long as you follow ALL the instructions, you will be able to produce the best looking macaroons with their signature little "feet" that make them unique.

Yield: 24 small inch macaroons

1 egg white at room temp

96g powdered sugar

35g almond meal (preferred blanched-skin off)

8g all purpose flour

food coloring optional

Line a Silpat onto a baking sheet pan

Preheat oven 375F

Mix together almond meal and flour in a small bowl

Beat egg white to soft peak then gradually add in the powdered sugar

Keep beating until the white resembled the texture of marshmallow cream, should be a bit shinny and stiffed (if you are adding food coloring, do it at this point and add a little more than you would like 2 drops instead of one as the color will be less once you bake the macaroons)

Then add the almond meal and flour mixture all at once

Slowly fold in the mixture into the egg white mixture and please very slow motion, the slower the better

Then using the spatula and spoon the batter into a piping bag

Pipe batter onto a Silpat (which I found to be the best because it will not stick to anything), space between these macaroons is not as crucial as they do not spread but they just rise up as they baked

Let them dry totally on the silpat until when you touch the top of the macaroons and they are shinny but dry (they should not be wet or stick to your finger at all)

Then put them into the oven and bake with door closed for 5 mins and by this time you should see them rising up nicely with their little "feet" and at that point bake about 8-10 more mins with the oven door slightly ajar to let the air out

Keep an eye on the macaroons as they will get burnt easily sometimes even 30 second difference

When done, take them out and let cool on Silpat then you can proceed to filling them and decorating them