Peanut butter and jelly...

One of the things I have fun doing is taking a classic food item and re-interpreting it into a different dish altogether. Once I took the idea of a tomato basil salad and turned it into a cupcake (I'll save that recipe for a future blog posting!). Today, I've turned a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into a French macaron.

Macarons are not to be confused with macaroons, the cookie made from shredded coconut. Macarons are French sandwich cookies made with almond meal, sugar and egg white and filled with everything from buttercream, to chocolate, to jam, to citrus curd. As I like to tell my students, they taste divine, but they are the fussiest eff-ing cookies to make. The slightest variation in meringue stiffness, texture of the almond meal, oven temperature, baking time, oven rack position, you name it, can cascade through the rest of the recipe and have dramatic results in the final cookie. 

For example, the characteristic features of a macaron are the smooth surface of the cookie atop a ruffled "foot" base. In order to achieve this, the cookie batter is first piped onto a baking sheet, then allowed to dry until a skin forms on the top of the cookie. You test the skin by lightly touching it--if it is dry to the touch, you are okay to bake, but if they are still tacky/sticky, you need to wait. If the cookies have dried just right, the skin holds intact and rises straight up off the sheet pan, leaving the ruffled foot. If they are not dry enough, the cookies will "mushroom", the top of the cookies will expand and crack, and you won't get the foot formation. If the cookies have dried too much, the top skin can become stuck to the base, either causing the top to rise unevenly or crack. And this is just the impacts of drying time--don't get me started on over/under mixing the batter!

Because macarons are so fussy, precise measurements are key, so in the following recipe, you'll see I use weights instead of volumes for the ingredients. Also, the baking times and temperatures in the recipe are what worked for me in my home oven. I can tell you that if I was baking this recipe at work, I'd use different times and temperatures based on how those ovens operate. You will have to try baking a tray or two (or more) before you figure out what works best for your home oven. The cookies pictured in the photos are from the second batch I baked--it took me a couple of attempts to figure out my oven, and even so, I'm still not 100% satisfied. But, I'll work on that with my next attempt. In the meantime, enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons

Makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies

For the cookies:

7 ounces powdered sugar

1 ½ ounces roasted, lightly salted peanuts

2 ¾ ounces almond meal

4 large egg whites (about 4 ounces)

pinch of Kosher salt

3 ½ ounces granulated sugar

Brown gel food coloring (optional)

For the Concord grape jelly buttercream:

2 large egg whites (about 2 ounces)

4 ounces granulated sugar

6 ounces unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup Concord grape jelly

To make the cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and place a rack in the center. Line 3 baking sheets with silpat baking mats or parchment paper. (I liked the results I got using the silpat best.)

Place about ¹/₃ of the powdered sugar and the peanuts in a food processor and pulse to breakdown the peanuts into a fine meal. Add the almond meal and about half of the remaining powdered sugar and pulse until a fine powder is formed. Transfer the nut and sugar mixture and the remaining powdered sugar into a fine mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Sift the mixture into the bowl, using the back of a wooden spoon to press any remaining bits of almond meal of peanut through the mesh.

Place the egg whites and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium high speed until frothy and white in color. Gradually add in the granulated sugar, and once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed and whip until stiff peaks are achieved. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Scatter about ¹/₃ of the almond mixture over the egg whites and gently fold them into the egg whites. If you are choosing to use the food color gel, add it at this time. Add the second third of the almond mixture to the egg whites and fold as before. When incorporated, fold in the remaining almond mixture. Continue to fold and mix the batter until it is loose enough to slowly flow and drip off the spatula.

Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a ½ inch round piping tip. Carefully pipe rounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. You can pipe them to whatever size you like, but be careful to leave space in between the cookies as they will spread after piping. (I piped mine a little larger than 1 ¼ inches in diameter, and the finished cookies are about 2 inches in diameter.) Lift the baking sheets a few inches off the counter and drop them, this will allow any trapped air bubbles to release. Let the cookies stand at room temperature to dry. The cookies are ready to bake with they are dry and not sticky when lightly touched by your fingertip. This may take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. 

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 6 minutes, then rotate the pan in the oven and bake for another 3 minutes. Let the macarons cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To make the Concord grape jelly buttercream:

Place the egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk the egg whites by hand until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot to the touch.

Attach the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment and whisk on medium high speed until stiff glossy peaks form. Continue to whisk until the bottom of the bowl no longer feels warm to the touch.  Reduce the speed to medium low and add the butter, about 1 tablespoon at time, whisking well after each addition and scraping down with a silicon spatula as needed. After all the butter has been added, increase the mixer speed to high and whisk until fluffy. 

With the mixer on medium low speed, add the grape jelly and whisk until thoroughly incorporated. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a star tip.

To assemble the cookies:

You will likely have cookies of slightly varying sizes and shapes, so take a few minutes to organized matched pairs. Pipe a circle of the buttercream on the bottom of one cookie, then top it with its matching mate to form a sandwich. Repeat with the remaining pairs of cookies.

You can store the cookies in a closed container at room temperature, but I recommend storing them in the refrigerator. Storage in the refrigerator will also soften the texture of the cookie and make them even more delicious.