New French Macaron Recipe : Orange Vanilla

Other recipes and pictures:
Lavender Vanilla Macaron Recipe
Chocolate Raspberry Skyr Macaron Recipe
Orange Blossom Macaron Recipe
Rose Vanilla Elderflower Macaron Recipe
Eggnog with Cinnamon & Nutmeg Macaron Recipe
Vanilla-Ginger Macaron Recipe
Snickerdoodle Macaron Recipe

Orange Vanilla Macaron Recipe

Green Tea and Honey Macaron Recipe
Green Tea Vanilla Macaron Recipe

Tried my hand at another new macaron recipe.  We were so pleased with how the green tea macarons turned out that we shared with friends and neighbors.  As a result, we had only a few tasty treats left for ourselves.  So, I again looked at the ingredients I had on hand and decided to make Orange Vanilla French Macarons.

I made a slightly smaller batch than the green tea macarons as this was an experimental batch to test the recipe.  But, I'm very happy to report that they turned out well! I also don't like to overfill the macarons. I find that a thin layer of filling is all that is necessary given the fragility of the shell.  You can certainly add extra filling, but it may make the cookie a bit soggy if you don't eat them within a few days.  Using a thin layer of filling also keeps the sugar content and calories down if you are watching your calories.

Here’s what I did:

Orange vanilla macarons
Made 16 medium-sized sandwiched macarons (32 shells)

The dry ingredients:

90g powdered sugar 

90g super fine almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour)

Pinch salt

The meringue ingredients:

2 large egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar or 1/4 tsp white vinegar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Orange Vanilla Buttercream Filling (The recipe makes enough for a thin layer of filling. Double the recipe for thicker layer as desired.)
4 tbsp softened unsalted butter

1/2c powdered sugar

2 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla

1tsp cream or milk (if desired)

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the first 4 ingredients: powdered sugar, almond flour  and salt. Set aside.

Make the meringue mixture: Put the egg whites into a spotlessly clean large mixing bowl. Add the cream of tartar (or vinegar) and vanilla. With stand (or hand) mixer on high, beat the egg white mixture until foamy. Continue to beat on high speed as you slowly add the granulated sugar. Do a tsp at a time, let the sugar get mixed in smoothly and then add another tsp. Continue adding sugar slowly while beating on high about 5 minutes until the meringue is glossy and stiff peaks have been created.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the dry mixture atop the meringue. With rubber spatula scrape the bowl in clockwise direction and cut down through half the mixture as you gently fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. The meringue will deflate slightly. When the dry ingredients are folded in smoothly, add another 1/3 of the dry mix on top of the wet mix. Fold in gently until no additional dry mix is visible. Add the last 1/3 of the dry mix. Fold into the meringue mixture. Do not over fold. Fold the mixture until the mixture runs off the spatula in a sticky ribbon. Test a spoonful on a plate. You want the mixture to self level in about 15-20 seconds. The folding process takes about 3 minutes or 50 folds. The mixture should have the thickness of cake batter or molten lava. 

Add the mixture to a pasty bag with round tip. Squeeze out round cookies that are about 1.25 inch in diameter. (There are silicone mats with templates preprinted on them or see below) Tap the tray firmly and evenly on the countertop 2-3 times to smooth out air bubbles. Leave on counter, or in dry oven for 30 mins -1 hr until they are no longer sticky. (This resting period is perfect for cleaning up the cooking area and prepping the buttercream filling.) After about 30 minutes, touch the piped macarons lightly with your finger. If no batter sticks to your finger, then they are ready to bake. On humid days, it may take longer than an hour to get to the correct baking stage. (Usually takes 40-45 minutes for my trays.) You may need to let them rest in a dry oven on humid days or place under your oven's fan. If you bake the cookies too soon, you will not create the feet on the cookie that is such a distinguishable feature of the French macaron.

When they are no longer sticky to the touch (I had to wait 40 mins for this batch), bake in center rack on a tray lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper at 295 degrees in a convection setting for 15 minutes. You might need more time if you made thicker, larger cookies. Place an empty cookie sheet on the top rack of oven to absorb some of the heat from the top of the oven and help prevent the tops of the macarons from browning too quickly. If you don’t have a convection setting on your oven, bake at 315 for about 13-14 minutes. Check the cookies after 12 to make sure they aren’t browning too soon. 

Remove from oven and cool for about 15 minutes. They are done if they are easy to lift off the paper or mat after cooling.

(Note:After 15 minutes, I turned off the oven. Opened the oven door and let the tray sit in the open oven for another 3 minutes.  A few of my macaron shells were on the large size so I gave them a little more time to bake.)

The Orange Vanilla Buttercream filling:

With whip attachment, whip the butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and continue to whip. Finally add the orange juice (and cream/milk if desired) and whip until smooth and fluffy. Add the filling to a pastry bag with round tip and keep cool until ready to use.

When the macarons are fully cooled match up pairs of similarly sized shapes. Squeeze out a small amount of icing and place between two macaron shells. Don’t over fill the cookies. A thin layer is usually all that is needed in order to sandwich the cookie and still keep the shell light and crunchy while the center stays chewy.

Keep in fridge for up to a week. The cookies freeze well too!

Enjoy.

The cookies straight from the oven. 

The finished macarons.

One macaron sacrificed as a sample. Delicious!!!

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Materials Used:
These are the actual items that I used. You can use parchment paper in place of the silicone mats and you can use a plastic ziplock type bag in place of the pastry bag.

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I purchased the above items at full-price. I did not receive a discount or a promotional credit in exchange for my post. I'm simply linking to the items that I actually bought and used in this recipe in case others might be interested.