Cookies and Cream Macarons

 

Here we are again, back at our favorite, the macaron. A friend had ordered some macarons and wanted cookies and cream flavor, and who am I to say no? Who am I to not make an extra dozen to eat by myself in a dark room while Netflix plays softly in the background? So here we are, making macarons again. Honestly, they were fucking scary to make in the beginning, but the more you make them, the less intimidating they are, and they're still the same amount of delicious, so I say, give it try, folks! 

This recipe makes about 2 dozen small macarons. 

For the Shells:

1 part egg whites - 69 grams (2 egg whites for me- this is why I always go by weight, because sometimes 2 egg whites is 64 grams, so it is better just to weigh and change your weights accordingly)

1.25 part almond flour - 86 grams (69 from egg whites x 1.25)

0.8 part granulated sugar - 55 grams

1.5 part powdered sugar - 103 gram

0.3 part Oreo cookie crumbs (outside of Oreos crushed up) - 20 grams

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1. 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.

2. Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar, and Oreo crumbs into a bowl. *I just put my bowl on my food scale and poured through my sifter until the right weight because I'm lazy.* Put aside until the egg whites are finished.

3. After the egg whites have started to foam up, add cream of tartar. *this is just to help stabilize the meringue, so you can leave it out if you want.

4. Start adding in the granulated sugar to the foamy egg whites a bit at a time. Let mixer keep whipping until you get to stiff peaks, like you see in the picture.

5. Pour in about half of your dry ingredients into the egg whites. You'd think you have to be gentle here because it's egg whites and you don't want to lose all that air. Nah. You can mix the shit of out of this; it's okay.

6. Pour the second half of dry ingredients in and keep mixing. Here I was a bit more gentle. You want to keep mixing until it looks glossy and it ribbons back on itself. You want the ribbon to homogenize and mix back into the mixture within about 20 seconds or less. 

7. Line baking sheet with silpat mat and/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 two 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. ****this is a lot of addendums, but I also just put the parchment on top of the silpats because they tend to come off of the parchment better, but I like that I can see the circles on the silpats. Okay, I'm done now.... 

8. Pour batter into a prepared piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe into the circles on your parchment of silpat. I just blop it in there; I don't make a circle motion, if that makes sense. 

9. Whack the cookie sheet on the counter at least 3 times to get all the air bubbles out. *Again, you can whack them on the counter pretty hard.

10. Allow to sit at room temperature until they look matte and when you try to gently touch them with your finger, they don't stick. They form a skin on top. This can take between 20 minutes to an hour (usually more like an hour). In more humid months, this will take longer, but it's one of the most important steps! *also put them away from the edge of the table if you have a dog ;)  

11. While you're waiting, preheat oven to 350F.

12. BEFORE you put them in the oven, drop to 325F. I would only bake one sheet at a time. I tried double once. It doesn't work out well. Anyway, bake for 12 - 14 minutes, but check at 10 minutes. If you can lightly touch it and the macaron doesn't move on it's base, it should be done.

13. Allow to cool completely before trying to remove from the sheet and fill.

For the Buttercream:

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Insides of 15 regular Oreos *it would behoove you to get double stuffed so you don't have to scrape as many cookies.

1/2 c powdered sugar

2 tbsp Oreo crumbs *sift these so that you don't have big clumps stopping up your piping tip later

Splash of vanilla

Pinch of salt

1. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, put in butter and Oreo innards. Slowly add powdered sugar and Oreo crumbs into the butter.

2. Add vanilla and salt into the mix. Check for taste. If you feel like it needs a bit more powdered sugar, this is a good time to add it, and if it feels too thick, you can add a splash of cream or milk if you feel so inclined; I did not.

Assembly:
1. Put buttercream in a piping bag with a round tip *or any tip really- you do you, boo.

2. Pipe a dollop of cream on half the shells- a little goes a long way. 

3. Put the other half of the shells on top of the buttercreamed shells.

4. Most recipes say to store in the fridge; I don't like this, so I don't do it. It's buttercream, so, pretty shelf-stable. I just store them in an air-tight container on the counter. They may last longer if you put them in fridge, but eating them before they go bad has never been an issue for me!