Strawberry-mint macaroons from Pierre Hermé

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 1 day 3 hr

1. STEP 1

   

   1) You need to age the whites in advance: Separate the whites from the yolks in advance and put them in a jar. Leave for a day at room temperature. Such proteins, in a closed jar, can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 40 days. Take them out a day before use so they have time to reach room temperature. The “older” the whites are, the thinner they become and the better they whip.

2. STEP 2

   

   2) Next, prepare almond flour, if you sell it, then you are in luck! Pour boiling water over unsalted, unroasted almonds for 10 minutes (if they are unpeeled). Salt the water and remove the skin from the kernels. Place the peeled almonds on a baking sheet and dry them in the oven for 10-15 minutes, at a temperature of 100-120 degrees. After this, grind the nuts into flour, adding a little powdered sugar using a coffee grinder.

3. STEP 3

   

   3) Preheat the oven to 150C, pour almond flour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and dry in the oven for five minutes. Then we sift again.

4. STEP 4

   

   4. Sift almond flour and powdered sugar (150 g) into a bowl in which it will be convenient to knead the dough later, mix well with a whisk. And add whites (50 g). Set aside.

5. STEP 5

   

   5. Cook syrup for Italian meringue. Mix 150 g in a saucepan. sugar and 50 ml. water, bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved and, running a brush along the walls of the saucepan, so that the sugar does not crystallize. Cook the syrup until it reaches 118C.

6. STEP 6

   

   When the syrup is 95 C, begin to beat the second whites (50 g) until fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and pour in the hot syrup in a thin stream. We continue to beat until the mass cools down to 45C (that is, it is still quite warm to the touch), becomes shiny, thick and smooth.

7. STEP 7

   

   At this stage we add dye. But it should not reach the state of “strong peaks”. Properly whipped whites will be dense, but at the same time soft. And the tip, hanging from the corolla, smoothly bends into a “bird’s beak”.

8. STEP 8

   

   6. Lightly mix the dry mixture with the protein. It should lose its texture. Then add Italian meringue (whites whipped with syrup) to this mixture. Gently mix clockwise with a silicone spatula, while rotating the bowl counterclockwise with the other hand. The mass should be homogeneous and flow like a ribbon from the spatula.

9. STEP 9

   

   7. Place the dough in a piping bag and pipe it into even circles 3-4 cm in diameter onto parchment paper or a silicone mat. If the dough is kneaded correctly, the “tails” will immediately separate after being deposited.8. Leave the baking sheets at room temperature for 1-2 hours. This is an extremely important stage of preparation - a light crust appears on the surface of the cookies, due to which they do not crack during baking, and a beautiful “skirt” is formed below

10. STEP 10

    

    9. Heat the oven to 160C. Bake cookies for 15 to 18 minutes. The time depends on the power of your oven and the diameter of the cookies themselves.10. Take out the finished cookies and transfer them along with the paper or mat to a wire rack. Let cool completely.

11. STEP 11

    

    Properly baked macarons will easily pull away from the surface they were baked on.

Comments on the recipe

Oriole

09.10.2023

4.5

Beautiful

Dot (Varya)

09.10.2023

4.8

Thank you, I tried my best!

AnnaWi

09.10.2023

4.8

Macarons are my weakness! Yum!

miLiSa

09.10.2023

4.5

Dot, this recipe is worthy of a win!!!

♚Larisynshik

09.10.2023

5

I've tried them. It is something. I vote.

Irisha

09.10.2023

4.5

Dot (Varya), thank you for such a wonderful recipe, I really hope that someday I can repeat this! Now the main thing is to buy a thermometer, otherwise I doubt by eye that I can guess the temperature

Marina

09.10.2023

4.7

The French pronounce it Macaron. Why macarons?