Macarons with Vanilla Bean Honey Buttercream

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you had a wonderful night and aren't too hungover. I had a gorgeous night with good food, good friends, good games, and lots of champagne! The perfect low-key kind of New Year's Eve if you ask me. One of the things I decided to make for my friends were these macarons. I have been wanting to make macarons for a while, but I decided to keep it easy for my first go-round. My very first attempt was not so great. The shells ended up with a good consistency, but they still had peaks on top from piping and they weren't quite as big as I wanted them to be. The second time around, I decided to go with a basic macron recipe that I found on Tartlette. Helen seems to be the reigning queen of macarons in the food blogging world, so I followed her instructions basically to the letter. These turned out much better. I think one of the secrets to success is weighing the ingredients versus just spooning them into measuring cups. I made these the same day as the pork tenderloin. I separated the eggs early in the morning and left them out all day to come to room temperature to have these turn out to the right consistency. I'm not gonna lie, these were still difficult to pipe out to the right size and have things match up, but this attempt was so much better than the first, that it made me pretty happy. I am excited that I got some decent ones out of the bunch and I am looking forward to trying different flavor combinations in the future.

Macarons with Vanilla Honey Buttercream
(Adapted from Tartlette)

For the shells:
90 grams egg whites at room temperature
30 grams granulated sugar
200 grams powdered sugar
110 grams ground almonds/almond meal


In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and ground almonds. Add them to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 280F. Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 20-22 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool. To fill: pipe or spoon about 1 big tablespoon in the center of one shell and top with another one.

Vanilla Bean Honey Buttercream

1 stick unsalted butter, soften
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon honey
Seeds from a 1-inch piece of vanilla bean

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, combine all of the ingredients until they reach the desired consistency. You can add more confectioners sugar if desired.