The Easiest Vanilla Bean Macarons

Ingredients for shells:

2 Egg Whites (room temperature)

Dash of salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup almond flour

1 cup Powdered sugar

Ingredients for "buttercream":

1/2 Cup Butter

About a cup of Powdered Sugar

Vanilla Bean or Vanilla Bean Paste

Tools:

Hand or Stand Mixer

2 piping bags

Parchment paper

Macaron silicone mat (Optional)

Check out these links for everything you need to make macarons on Amazon! All my picks are at a great price! Linked Below:

Directions:

1) First, sift the Powdered Sugar into a large mixing bowl. Then sift the almond flour/ground almonds on top of the Powdered Sugar.

2) In another mixing bowl, add both egg whites and a dash of salt, mix until frothy and foamy, about 1-2 minutes.

3) Start slowly adding the Granulated Sugar to the egg mixture. Add about a Teaspoon to a Tablespoon at a time, ensuring it is all mixed in before adding the next scoop. Continue until all the sugar is mixed in. Meringue should be turning very bright white, getting thick & glossy. Mix meringue until stiff peaks.

4) Carefully stir the Almond Flour/Powdered Sugar mixture into the meringue.

5) Using a spatula, scoop the mixture into a piping bag. (Tip: Put piping bag in an empty cup, this makes it easier to fill!) On a parchment paper covered baking sheet, pipe 20-24 cookies, about an inch apart. (If I have extra batter, I usually pipe some mini cookies in the gaps) .

6) Hit the baking sheet on the counter/hard surface a few times, pretty hard, to make sure you get the air bubbles out of the cookies.

7) Preheat oven to 320° and then let the cookies sit out at room temperature for 20 minutes. Then, put them in the oven for 14 minutes. At the 7-8 minute mark (halfway through baking), I pull out the cookies from the oven and rotate the tray.

8) While the shells are baking, begin making the frosting. Add the softened butter to a mixing bowl, and mix on high for about 1 minute. Then slowly add the Powdered Sugar until the frosting is to your desired thickness & sweetness. I typically add about a cup, or a bit less. Feel free to add your Vanilla Bean or Vanilla extract at this point and then put the frosting into a piping bag with a star tip. Refrigerate frosting until the cookies are cooled.

9) Once the shells are out of the oven, let them cool completely. You can take them off the metal pan so that they cool faster. Pipe swirls of frosting into the middle of every other cookie, using the other as a top shell.

Feel free to decorate any way you'd like - I used pearlescent luster dust on my macarons to make them white & shiny!

Enjoy your macarons! 🤤

Link to Pearl Luster Dust on Amazon: Here

If you have any suggestions or questions, please leave a comment!

-Auntie Tay 🤍