Strawberries and Cream Macarons

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm on a macaron kick. Once you figure out these persnickety bitches, well you feel like you've conquered something and you want to make them over and over again. It also helps that they're delicious and bite-sized, so you can just pop one in your mouth every time you go in the kitchen. I made these with my friend and fellow baker, Liz. We did a double batch, so I will tell you those measurements (with the weights in case you want to do more or less). This recipe makes about 48 macarons (96 shells- they're sandwich cookies).

For the Shells:
132 g egg whites (4 eggs for me) *if you recall from the lemon macarons, this is your base number, so everything else you can measure based off of this.*
198 g almond flour (1.5 amount of egg whites)
105 g granulated sugar (0.8 egg whites)
198 g powdered sugar (1.5 part egg whites)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla

*a dash of red food coloring if you want a more "strawberry" look

1. Prepare a piping bag with a large round tip and set aside. Line baking sheet with silpat mat or parchment. *You will want to draw a circle template to pipe your macarons on to if you're using parchment;**You'll need at least four baking sheets with the parchment ***If you plan to make a lot of macarons, just invest in some mats. I bought mine on amazon for like 12 bucks for 2 mats.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, start mixing egg whites. Don't mix them on too high of a speed (no higher than 6 on a kitchenaid). While this starts out, move to the second step.

3. Weigh out almond flour and powdered sugar. Sift together into a large bowl and set aside. 

4. Once egg whites have started to foam up, add cream of tartar. 

5. Slowly add granulated sugar to the egg whites and keep mixing until egg whites get to a stiff peak. 

6. Add vanilla to the egg whites and allow to incorporate. 

7. Fold half the dry ingredients into the egg whites. You don't have to be gentle here. You think you do because it's egg whites, but you don't. Mix that shit.
8. Fold second half of dry ingredients into the mixture. Here you can be a bit more gentle. You are going to mix for a while until the mixture gets shiny and the batter ribbons back onto itself. If the ribbons incorporate back into the rest of the batter within 20 seconds or so, you should be okay.
9. Pour batter into prepared piping bag and pipe onto the circles of your sil pat or parchment. Don't draw around the circle; just pipe directly down until it fills the circle.
10. Slam the baking sheet on the counter several times to get rid of air bubbles.
11. Allow to sit at room temperature until they are matte and don't stick to your finger when you try to touch them gently. This can take 20 minutes if it's not humid, or an hour if it's June in the midwest when you're making them...

12. Towards the end of your sitting, you can preheat oven to 350F. 
13. Once you are ready to bake, drop the oven to 325F and bake for 12-14 minutes (but check at 10 mins). You can check by placing your finger on a shell and gently moving it back and forth. If the shell moves, it is still not baked enough. Once the shell stays on its base, they're done. **ONLY BAKE ONE TRAY AT AT TIME!** I tried to do more than one, but then my shells cracked. I did the same batter but one tray at a time, and it worked. I mean, you can do more than one, but don't come at me if it doesn't work, but feel free to say "I told you so" if it works out totally fine for you.
14. Allow to cool completely before filling.

For the filling:
3 c powdered sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 c crushed dehydrated strawberries
Zest of one lemon
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp strawberry jam *You will also use strawberry jam in the center of these macarons as well.

1. Prepare two piping bags- one with a star tip and another with a small circular
piping tip.
2. Crush dehydrated strawberries and sift together with powdered sugar in a large bowl.

3. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, start whipping up butter. Slowly add powdered sugar mixture to the butter, incorporating before adding more.
4. Add salt, lemon zest, and strawberry jam and mix until fully incorporated. Place in the piping bag with star tip.
5. In other piping bag, place some of the strawberry jam.

Assembly
1. Take one shell and pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge. Be careful here- you don't want to overdo it on the filling.
2. Plop a little dollop of jam in the middle of the buttercream ring.

3. Add the top shell and gently push together.
4. Store in an airtight container. *Others say to put it in the fridge, but I don't It doesn't need to be refrigerated, and I like the texture better when they're not refrigerated, but you do you, boo.