Macarons

• 4 ounces (115g) blanched almonds or almond flour, or whatever nut you like
• 8 ounces (230g) powdered sugar
• 5 ounces egg whites (144g), temperature and age not important!
• 2 1/2 ounce (72g) sugar
• the scrapings of 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp (2g) kosher salt
• 18" pastry bag with plain tip
• 2 parchment lined sheet pans
• Approximately 10 ounces (290g) Swiss buttercream

1. Sift almond flour with the pow. sugar and set aside. If there are large bits left, grind them and re-sift.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar, vanilla bean (not the extract), and salt and mix on 4. Whip for 3 min. They will not seem especially foamy at that point.
3. Increase the speed to 7medium-high and whip another 3 min, then crank the speed to 8 for another 3 min.
4. Turn the mixer off and add in any extracts/flavor/color and whip for a final minute on the highest speed.
5. You should have a very stiff, dry meringue. If the meringue has not become stiff enough to clump inside the whisk, continue beating for another min, or until it does so.
6. Add the dry ingredients all at once and fold them in with a rubber spatula. Use both a folding motion (to incorporate the dry ingredients) and a rubbing/smearing motion, to deflate the meringue against the side of the bowl.
7. After about 25 folds the mixture will still have a quite lumpy and stiff texture. Another 15 strokes will see you to "just about right." Keep in mind that macaronage is about deflating the whites, so don't feel like you have to treat them oh-so-carefully. You want to knock the air out of them.
8. The macaron batter needs enough thickness that it will mound up on itself, but enough fluidity that after 20 sec, it will melt back down. I've heard people describe this consistency as lava-like.
9. Transfer about half the batter to a piping bag. Pipe the batter into the pre-traced circles on the baking sheet. Stop piping just shy of the borders of the circle, as the batter will continue to spread just a bit.
10. After piping your macarons, take hold of the sheet pan and hit it hard against the counter. Rotate the pan 90 degrees and rap 2 more times. This will dislodge any large air bubbles that might cause your macarons to crack
11. Bake for about 18 min, or til you can cleanly peel the parchment paper away from a macaron.

flour, powdered sugar, egg whites, sugar, vanilla bean, kosher salt, pastry, pans, swiss buttercream

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/macarons-52157401 (may not work)