Rilakkuma Macarons – with Detailed Instruction

My recent cookie projects have been super fun. This week I wanted to challenge myself to bake something new… Macarons! I had never made macarons myself until this week. This was certainly a learning experience, but overall my macarons turned out cute and tasty<3 I went with the Rilakkuma theme for the macarons.

Macarons

This macaron recipe is adopted from Popsugar.

Ingredient

• 2/3 cup almond flour, superfine
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ¼  teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder (for chocolate macarons)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 280ºF. Prepare baking sheets that fit about 40 macaron halves by lining them up with parchment paper (I needed to prepare two separate baking sheets.)
   • If you have time, draw 1-inch circles on the back of each sheet, spacing the circles at least 1/2-inch apart. (Remember to draw the circles on the back side of your parchment to avoid ink or pencil stains on your macarons).
2. In a bowl, sift almond flour and powdered sugar through a mesh strainer.
3. In a different bowl, place egg whites and cream of tartar then beat on medium-high with a hand mixer or a stand mixer. When the eggs are frothy, gradually add granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until fully incorporated. Continue to beat the egg white mixture until glossy and stiff peaks form when you lift the beaters. Gently stir in the vanilla extract. Be careful to not overbeat the meringue (e.g., the meringue takes on a clumpy texture).
4. Split the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture in half. In one of the half, add unsweetened cocoa powder and mix well (this is for a chocolate version). Leave the other half as is (This is for vanilla version).
5. Split the meringue in half and place it in a separate bowl.
   1. A. Into the one-half of the meringue, gently fold the chocolate version of the dry ingredient (a small portion at a time) using a flexible silicone spatula. Lift from the bottom, up around the sides, and toward the middle, being careful to not overagitate the meringue and lose too much air.
   2. B. When the almond mixture is just incorporated, you will need to transform the batter into the appropriate texture. Using the flat of the spatula, “punch” down into the center of the batter, then scrape more batter from the sides to the center, and punch again. You will need to repeat this 10-15 times (or more, depending on your arm strength and the beginning texture of your batter) until the batter slowly and continuously drips back into the bowl when you scoop it up with the spatula. Think of the consistency of molten lava. For the best results, punch the batter a few times, check the consistency, then punch a few more times, etc. Do not make the batter too runny or the macarons won’t rise as they should, and you could end up with oil stains on the surface.
   3. C. Repeat the same steps, A and B, for the vanilla version.

Don’t make the same mistake I made. I definitely overmixed the chocolate version of the batter. The batter was so much runnier than the vanilla version and it did not rise as much 🙁

6. Pour batter into two separate pastry bags fitted with a 0.4-inch tip. In a pinch, you can also use gallon-size Ziploc bags: just snip a teeny bit from one of the bottom corners. Twist and clip the top of the bags to avoid overflow. On your prepared baking sheets, pipe out 1-inch rounds in the circles you drew.

7. Holding the baking sheet in both hands, rap each baking sheet firmly on the counter two or three times. This smooths out the tops and helps form the “pied” or frilly foot on the bottoms of the macarons. Allow the piped macarons to dry, uncovered, for at least 15 minutes. The macarons should form a very thin, smooth crust where, if you tap it lightly with your finger, the batter will not stick to your finger. If after 15 minutes, the batter is still sticky, let it dry longer. This may take up to an hour on humid days.

8. Place the baking sheets in the lower section of the oven and bake for 10 -12 minutes. After the first 2 minutes, open the oven to allow any excess humidity to escape. Halfway through, swap oven racks and rotate the sheets for even baking. The macarons are done when they are baked all the way through and the shells are just hard. Take care to not underbake (insides will still be mushy) or overbake (tops will begin to brown). Remove them from the oven, and cool on a baking sheet placed on a wire rack.

9. When fully cooled, assemble the macarons with your choice of filling. The assembled macarons can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Filling

For my filling, I decided to make white chocolate cream.The recipe is adopted from Tastemade.

Ingredient

• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. Add the white chocolate and cream into a large microwave safe bowl, microwave for 30 seconds at a time, mixing each time until well combined.
2. Set aside in a refrigerator for an hour and then use an electric hand mixer to whip until fluffy.

Decoration

I had some leftover white icing in my freezer from my previous project (click to open the recipe in a new tab).

With the leftover icing, I made pink, black, and yellow icings. Then I drew:

1. Mouth area (white icing)
2. Eyes (Black icing)
3. Ears (Orange & Pink icing)
4. Nose & Mouth (Black icing)

Summary

I think my first macaron project was a success overall. Aside from overmixing chocolate macaron batter, everything turned out cute and tasty. I’d love to explore more macaron projects in the future with different character themes!

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