Ingredients
Macarons
- 4.5 ounces (1 3/4 cups) almond flour or meal
- 7.5 ounces (2 cups minus 3 tablespoons) Imperial Sugar Confectioners Powdered Sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 cup egg whites, no yolk traces
- 2 tablespoon Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
- 4 drops blue + 4 drops red food color or 8 drops purple food color in gel or paste form
Pineapple Filling
- 1 medium ripe pineapple
- 1 cup Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
Cream
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
- 1 cup sifted Imperial Sugar Confectioners Powdered Sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Set aside 2-3 cookie sheets lined with silicone baking mats or lined with parchment paper.
- Fit a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch (Ateco 806) plain round pastry tip and set aside.
- Combine almond flour/meal, powdered sugar, and salt in a food processor and mix until almond flour is super fine. Set aside.
- In a bowl whip egg whites and granulated sugar to very stiff peaks.
- Stop whipping and immediately add food color and almond meal mixture. Using a rubber spatula mix until batter is smooth, but do not overmix to avoid making batter too runny. Batter should appear like thick pancake batter.
- Fill pastry bag with filling and pipe quarter size and dome shaped mounds onto prepared sheets about 1 inch apart. Macarons will spread a little just after piping.
- Allow macarons to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before placing in oven. However, if you notice that macarons are still spreading and not holding their shape place immediately in oven.
- Bake for about 15-17 minutes or until you can lift one up from baking sheet without tearing it apart. If you see golden or light brown color develop on surface they are completely done.
- Allow to cool on sheets they were baked on.
- For pineapple fruit spread, peel and core pineapple. On large eyes of a box grater, grate pineapple and obtain 4 cups, juice and bits.
- Place in a non-reactive saucepan. Add sugar and juice of lime. Stir to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat low to medium and retain a low simmer. Keep stirring until jam has thickened, about 50 minutes.
- This fruit spread does not contain enough sugar to preserve. It must be stored in a refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in a freezer.
- Combine butter and powdered sugar and beat smooth. Add vanilla and salt. Place cream in a piping bag fitted with a small-medium plain piping tip.
- Flip half of macarons upside down and pipe a border on edge of each. Fill with a generous teaspoon of pineapple filling.
- Sandwich macarons and place in a refrigerator.
Imperial Sugar Insight
- Short on time? You can use store bought pineapple jam rather than make your own.
- Obtaining a perfect shiny and smooth surface the first time of making these darling cookies may be a challenge. However, even if the outcome is not picture perfect, they still will impress your friends. Make them a couple of times and you will master these before you know it! Chef Eddy highly recommends using a scale for optimum results.
- For more macaron tips, read Chef Eddy's Tips for the Perfect French Macaron.