Raspberry Macrons

For the Shells: 3 egg whites 100 grams, 3.5 oz ½ cup white granulated sugar 100 grams, 3.5 oz 1 cup almond flour 96 grams, 3.4 oz ¾ cup powdered sugar 90 grams, 3.17 oz A few drops of fuchsia food coloring

For the Raspberry Jam: 1 cup raspberries fresh or frozen (283 grams, 10 oz) ¼ cup maple syrup you can use granulated sugar, or other sweetener instead 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 tablespoon cold water

For the Dark Chocolate Ganache: 4 ounces dark chocolate 1/3 cup heavy cream 70 grams, 2.5 oz

To make the Shells: Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat. Under my parchment, I put a layout with circles that measure about 1 1/2 inches each. That's how big I like to pipe my macarons. Measure out all of your ingredients. Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside. Now you can finally start. Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the simmering water. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. (I use my kitchenAid bowl when doing this, because it makes it easier) With the whisk attachment, whisk mixture on high speed for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop. You don't want to overbeat the mixture at this point, because you don't want to add too much air to it. Just whisk until stiff peaks have formed. Pour powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites. Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula. Add the food coloring at this point. It's time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this, and you might have to have a couple failed batches before you get this right. First, I pick up some batter with my spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that's one indication that it might be ready. Then, I grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto my parchment paper or silicon mat. If the batter stays stiff and doesn't spread out a bit, I start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds. Test again. Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy on the parchment paper, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag. You don't want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It's always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved. This is the most important part about making macarons in my opinion. Once you've piped as many 1 1/2” circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking. Let your trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You'll know they're ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry. Pre-heat the oven to 325F. Bake one tray at a time. Bake for 4 minutes, rotate tray. Bake for 4 more minutes and rotate the tray again. Keep baking the trays for a total of 16-20 minutes each, rotating the tray in between to ensure even baking.
 When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. Remove from the oven and bake the other tray. Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

Raspberry Jam Mix raspberries, maple syrup (or sweetener) and lemon juice in a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Use the spoon to break up the raspberries as you stir. Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl. Once raspberries have boiled and reduced a bit, add cornstarch and water to the pan. Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened. Pour through a strainer, and keep on stirring the mixture to strain the jam. Make sure to press it through really well so you can get the most out of it, and just leave the seeds behind. If you like the seeds, just skip the straining. I never skip it. Let jam cool. Cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. Dark Chocolate Ganache Chop dark chocolate very finely. Place it in a bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small pan over medium heat, or in the microwave. No matter what method you choose, be very careful not to boil the heavy cream. Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a minute. Start stirring with a spatula until completely melted. Let it come to room temperature. Refrigerate for a bit before using, until it has piping consistency. To achieve the piping consistency for the ganache, you will have to rely a lot on the temperature of the ganache. If it has been in the fridge for a while, and it's too thick and hard to pipe, insert it in the microwave for a few quick seconds, and stir it again. Test for consistency and keep going until you achieve the desired consistency. To be pipeable, the ganache should be thick, but easy to spread. If it happens that the ganache is too thin, you might want to put it in the fridge for a few minutes so it will harden up. Like I said before, you need to keep testing for the consistency. To assemble Line a piping bag with a round tip, wilton number 7. Fill it with the chocolate ganache. Once the macarons have cooled down, simply pipe a ring around the edge of a bottom macaron, fill it up with about 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry jam. Top with another macaron cookie. Macarons are best after they've matured in the fridge for a day, or at least a few hours. Storage Since these macarons have a raspberry jam filling, which is a very wet filling, they won't keep as well in the fridge for so many days, and I don't recommend freezing them. You might get away with freezing it, if your jam is very very thick. I would recommend refrigerating these Raspberry Macarons for up to 3 days, and if you do freeze it, I would recommend doing so for up to 1 month.

Recipe Notes If you don't want to make your own jam, that's ok. You can use store-bought. You will need about ¼ cup of jam. You might have leftover ganache. If that's the case, you can keep the ganache in the fridge for up to 1 week and use in another recipe or to drizzle over ice cream and what not. Some people even say they freeze their ganache for up to 1 month, which I've never done, but I've seen that tip in several places. If you have leftover jam, keep it in the refrigerator and use it within 1-2 weeks. Spread it on some toast, or my favorite way is to add to a plain greek yogurt bowl, with some fresh fruit (and granola sometimes).