Almond Macaroons

Lesson learned!

I shall never doubt Cook's Illustrated again!

Being a fan of all things almond, this weekend I set about making a classic almond macaroon.  While I have nothing against the coconut version I simply prefer the more sophisticated and complex taste of almonds.

Being me however I simply can’t leave well enough alone!  And in the process of meddling I nearly ruined what turned out to be a very tasty recipe.

Not that it will keep me from meddling with future recipes.

The idea came from this month’s issue of Cooking Light.  They had the prettiest picture of amaretti all stacked up on translucent parchment paper.  Looking at them I could almost smell the heavy perfume of almonds.  But reading down the list, I saw that the recipe was for crispy cookies.  Not what I wanted.

What I wanted was the kind of macaroon with whom you could conduct a lingering love affair.  The kind of cookie that, beneath a handsome, crisp crust held a deep moist chew.  The kind that you could spend some time chewing as you contemplated the universe over a cup of black tea.  The kind that would not vanish instantly after a few bites leaving nothing but a hint of lingering sweetness.

So I did my usual thing.  I started searching for recipes for almond macaroons.  My first stop was of course Cooks Illustrated which had a lovely recipe for macaroons [1].  The one I should have used to begin with.  But it was the Cooking Light recipe that had caught my attention and I had already bought the almond paste.

I was flipping between the two recipes looking for commonalities and differences to see what I could do to the amaretti recipe to make it more like a macaroon.  And this is where I got in trouble.  It didn’t quite register that the recipe in cooks illustrated had more than twice the amount of almonds.  Yikes!

So I prepared my three egg whites as per Cook’s Illustrated recipe and started down the direction list for the Cooking Light version.

The almond past which I had so carefully crumbled into the bowl of my stand mixer refused to crumble any further.  It laughed at the paddle attachment and dodged nimbly around the whisk.  The pebble sized pieces of almond paste refused to get any smaller.  In response I added some almond extract hoping that a wee bit of moisture would get things going.  This however, only served to make the almond paste pugilistic.  Instead of further breaking down it leapt out of the mixer at me getting its momentum by sticking to the whisk and at high speeds releasing itself violently onto the front of my shirt.

That really should have been my first clue to stop listening to Cooking Light.  There was no way that stand mixer was going to take on those little chunks.  But I persisted anyway, adding the egg whites in hopes that they at least would tame the savage almond paste.

No such luck!

Around and around the mixer went and really all that it was doing was helping the egg whites to encourage the almond paste to misbehave.  I was being ganged up on by my equipment and my recipe.  This was not good.

You know that old adage, the one that goes “When all else fails read the directions”?  There is another one for the kitchen; “When all else fails do what Cook’s Illustrated tells you to do!”

Their recipe used a food processor, a much more sensible piece of equipment than the mixer for this task!  So off to the food processor the mixture went to puree while I perused the rest of the recipe as by this point I had given up all hope of the Cooking Light recipe turning out at all. 

The Cook’s Illustrated recipe indicated that you could roll the cookies gently into a ball which would be a problem as the contents of my food processor was about the consistency of a milkshake.  Even if I could roll it into a ball, admittedly a very runny ball, it would never stay that way.  It is at this point I noticed the difference in quantity of almond.  The one extra egg white had turned what I had hoped would be a cookie into a Slurpee.

Right… time for emergency measures!  This is where having a well stocked pantry come in handy.  I scraped all of the almond sludge out of my food processor bowl and poured in my emergency stash of blanched whole almonds (Yes I have an emergency stash of blanched almonds, doesn’t everyone?).  Of knowing that processing just plain almonds in the food processor leads to almond butter, which while tasty was completely opposite of what I wanted, I went ahead and added some sugar to help absorb some of that wonderful almond oil.

Having added all of my emergency stash of blanched almonds I crossed my fingers and hope that it would be enough.  But after getting them mixed in the dough was still just a wee bit too loose.  Eyeing my supply of regular almonds I was beginning to contemplate just how much I wanted these cookies.  Was it really worth the effort to actually blanch my own almonds?

Fortunately I had remembered that the Cooking Light recipe called for allowing the dough to stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.  Egg whites, being no more than a potent organic glue, would dry out some and bind more closely with the almond meal….or so I had hoped.

When I returned the mixture had thickened.  It was no the consistency of organic cement.  It stuck to everything, refusing to let go of my silicone spatula or the side of my bowl.  But at least….if I closed my eyes and pretended really hard… I could form the mixture into a ball.

So with my toes crossed I lined my baking sheets with parchment and doled out level tablespoonfuls of my almond cement onto the parchment and stuck the tray into the oven.

Twenty-three minutes and a few turns of the tray later my cookies were done.  They had gone from putty colored lumpy ugly ducklings to golden crackle-skinned Adonis’.  It was a remarkable transformation.

Once cooled the cookies became everything I had hoped for.  Crusty and just a tiny bit crisp on the outside they were dense, chewy, and moist on the inside.  The untoasted almonds lent a gentle flavor; still definitely almond but not overwhelmingly so. 

It was definitely cookie love!

And Cook’s Illustrated once again saved the day.

This is the recipe as I will make it next time… and there will be a next time.

Almond Macaroons
Note: This is a simple recipe that mostly takes place in the food processor.  Don't let the directions intimidate you.

7 oz almond paste (NOT Marzipan) or 7 oz blanched almonds
6 oz blanched almond (silvered or whole)
1 ¼ cups sugar (regular or vanilla)
3 egg whites from 3 large eggs [2]
1 tablespoons Amaretto (optional)
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside [3].

Place almonds into the bowl of a food processor and process until roughly chopped.  Add the sugar and continue to process until the almonds are finely ground.  Crumble in the almond paste (if using) and continue to process until the paste is pulverized and you have a fairly uniform mixture.  If you are not using almond paste, process untill the almonds are fine and crumbly but not powdery, about 1 minute to 90 second.

Add the egg whites, extract, and Amaretto and continue to process until the dough is smooth and begins to form into a ball at the edge of the processor blades.

Remove from the food processor and allow mixture to stand for 20 minutes.

Drop level tablespoons of the mixture onto your prepared parchment paper leaving about 1 ½ inches of space between each cookie.  For an even prettier cookie, gently roll the dough into a ball.

Bake for 20-25 minute, rotating the cookie sheets top to bottom and side to side during the baking process.  The cookies should be golden on top but should not be over baked as they will have a tendency to harden.

Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool completely on the parchment paper.  To make removal easier, scrape the cookie off with a table knife or thin spatula to reduce the chance of tearing.  Once cooled the cookies can be stored air tight for up to 4 days or frozen for 1-3 months.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

[1]  Normally I prefer to link directly to the recipe but as the Cook’s Illustrated site is password protected I cannot link to the recipe directly.  If you are a member you can do a search for “almond macaroons” for the recipe I used.
[2]  Use the yolks to make Ginger-Lime Curd!
[3]  Macaroons MUST be baked on parchment.  They will stick to ungreased cookie sheets and they will spread like crazy on a buttered cookie sheet.  Silicone liners are a great alternative to parchment.

Comments

[Tina]

Very cute article! I'd like to know how the Cook's Illustrated version (undoctored) turned out as well.