It has been 11 years since I last made macarons – Proof: http://chaaarlotti.com/2010/07/26/apple-pie-macarons/

I gave up on these delicate (read: diva) desserts because watching ‘feet’ rise began to annoy me – also because @ryanforeveryang who has zero sweet teeth was tired of eating the rejects 😀

But after watching an episode of @masterchefjunior with the kids and with Child #2 asking if we could make macarons – I said ok, why not?

So we did! Searched for a foolproof recipe – there’s sure to be one from my 10 year hiatus and I found one from @bromabakery and put in a raspberry + rainbow twist 🙂 Here’s the adapted recipe:

Recipe adapted from bromabakery.com with Swiss Meringue method
Makes 20 macarons

Setting the stage – ensure that the environment that you are baking in is not humid (in Singapore, I’d have to either close all the windows in the house OR switch on the air conditioning. Humidity and macarons are not friends)

• 100g almond flour (finely ground almond meal)
• 100g icing sugar (use SIS as other brands may mix cornstarch in it) 
• 100g egg whites (approx 3 egg whites from a 50g egg)
• 100g caster sugar
• 5g raspberry powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 – 3 drops of pink food colouring

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175°C and line 2 baking trays with silicone baking mats/ baking paper .
2. In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, raspberry powder and salt twice, set aside.
3. Heat a small pot of water over medium-low heat until it steams.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites and about 3 tbsp of caster sugar. Place bowl over steaming pot, to create a double boiler.
5. Holding on to the bowl of the stand mixer, whisk egg whites and sugar continuously until sugar is completely melted and egg whites become white and frothy (approx 1 min). Do not be tempted to leave for any longer after sugar is dissolved, as it will cook the egg whites.
6. Remove from heat and place the bowl back onto the stand mixer. Fit stand mixer with whisk attachment and whisk on high speed while slowly adding in the remaining caster sugar.
7. Add 2-3 drops of food colouring.
8. Continue to whisk for another 3-4 minutes, until stiff peaks form (meringue peak when whisk is lifted will hold it’s shape and turning the bowl upside down over your head does not render you a walking meringue). This is your Swiss Meringue!
9. Add sifted dry ingredients to the meringue mixture and place mixing bowl back onto stand mixer with the whisk attachment and give it a mix on medium speed and whisk for 5 seconds – enough to combine both mixtures.
10. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand mixer and use a large spatula to continue to hand-mix the batter.
11. Gently fold the mixture with your spatula – scooping the batter along the sides of the bowl and folding it into the centre in a circular motion. (See bromabakery’s video here from 00:31) Continue mixing until your macaron batter passes the figure 8 test – make a figure 8 with batter dripping from the spatula without it breaking. Once you are able to do this you may stop mixing. Consistency of the batter is described as slow-moving lava – it has some give but does so very slowly.
12. Fit a large piping bag with a 1-inch tip and fill the piping bag with the macaron batter.
13. Pipe 1-inch circles onto the prepared baking trays leaving 1- 1.5 inches between piped macaron shells.
14. Lay a dish cloth or 2 on the counter and rap baking trays repeatedly until air bubbles are removed and/ or piped batter spreads out a little. Rotate the tray on all 4 sides to ensure the macarons are evenly distributed.
15. Allow the macaron shells to air dry for 15 – 30 mins or until the surfaces are dry to the touch.
16. Bake each tray individually for 13 mins on the middle rack and rotating the tray half way through.
17. Allow to cool completely before removing macaron shells from baking trays.

Filling
– We made a simple filling for this by whipping cream to piping consistency and piped a small amount on 1 side of the macaron shell and after sandwiching the shells together – rolled the sides of the macaron in rainbow sprinkles.
– You can use other fillings such as – nutella spread, matcha butter, peanut butter, chocolate ganache etc. for fuss free filling!

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