Peppermint French Macarons

In case you missed it, here are the cookies I shared last week as part of Sugar Tart Crafts‘ Sugar Rush 2013. Enjoy!

 

The shells look pepperminty, but the flavor really comes from the yummy peppermint buttercream filling. To create the peppermint swirl look of the shells, I used a lollipop stick to paint stripes of gel food coloring onto the inside of a pastry bag. Then I filled the pastry bag with batter.

When I piped the shells onto the parchment lined baking sheets, I did it in a swirl pattern. If you are a perfectionist, you can use guidelines printed on a piece of paper under the parchment, but they don’t have to be perfect, so I just wing it. Here’s what they looked like before going into the oven:

And, here they are all baked and filled! Yum!





Peppermint French Macarons
Recipe Adapted from Entertaining with Beth

INGREDIENTS

1. Preheat oven to 300 F degrees
2. Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. Discard pieces that don’t go through the sieve. 
3. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar and white sugar until they form a glossy peak that stands upright.
4. Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture. Press the air out of the mixture to get a shiny batter with a consistency like molten lava (see this video for visual). 
5. To create the candy cane stripes, paint the inside of your pastry bag with stripes of red gel food coloring. Transfer batter to a pastry bag.
6. Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. 
7. Let them sit out for 20-30 mins, up to an hour. They are ready to go into the oven, when the batter does not stick to your finger when lightly touched.
8. Bake for 15-20 mins. Turning sheets once halfway through baking time. Shells are ready when the feet do not bulge when lightly pressed on from the top. They should lift off of the parchment paper easily when they are done.
9. For Peppermint Buttercream Filling, beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and mix. When sugar has been incorporated, increase mixer speed to medium and add peppermint extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk and beat for 3 minutes. Add milk or powdered sugar to adjust consistency as needed.
10. Pipe peppermint buttercream onto one cooled shell and cover with another shell.