For the shells: (made 10 pairs)
35 gr egg white (about 1)
12 gr granulated sugar
60 gr powdered sugar
30 gr almonds
red powdered food coloring (the end color will depend on how much you use)

Egg whites: separate your egg and store the white at room temperature in a covered container for at least 48 hours. In this way, it will decrease the humidity, which is in a better condition to make macarons. In a large bowl, use an electric beater to beat the egg white. When it starts foaming up, gradually add the sugar and powdered food coloring. Keep beating until it turns into a glossy texture. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry. Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and pulse them until they are finely ground. Or you can use almond meal and icing sugar, sift them in a small bowl, and use a little spoon to mix them well together. In this way, the almond meal and icing sugar will spread out evenly. Add them to the meringue, fold quickly to break some of the air and then fold carefully until a batter flows like lava. The whole process should not take more than 25 strokes. To see if the mixture is ready, drop on a small plate, if the tops flattens on its own then it is ready. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of folds.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper lined baking sheets or Silpat. Preheat the oven to 140c/275F/Gas Mark 1. Let the macarons sit at least an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 18-20 minutes, depending on their size. I suggested you to leave the shells until they have a texture like play dough… when you touch them, they don’t stick to your fingers… that’s when they’re good to go. (On a rainy day, there is a high humidity in the air… it might take more time, several hours for the shells to harden)

The baking part is very tricky. Each oven works differently. The upper part of my oven is quite warm; I needed to put the tray on the bottom part of the oven, use top and bottom heat without fan… Some ovens work well when baking macarons with fan turned on. Some give a perfect macaron’s shape when you put the tray in a middle part… it depends… I guess you will have to find out how yours work by trying it a couple times.

Once macarons are baked and if you are not eating them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.

To make macarons, pipe the butter cream on a center of macaron shells then put another empty shell on top. Gently push them together (if the cream is too thick, you may use a finger to help spreading the cream out evenly)

Rose Butter Cream
Ingredients:
50 gr rose jam
50 gr unsalted butter (at room temperature)
10 gr granulated sugar
2/3 cup of milk
½ tsp of all purpose flour

In a small sauce pan, boil milk with low heat and gradually add the flour… stir constantly until it gets thicker Turn of the stove and let the milk cool down. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and gradually add sugar. Beat the mixer until it becomes fluffy then add rose jam and milk mixture. Keep beating at low speed until it is mixed well and becomes creamy.
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Beat egg white and gradually add granulated sugar
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Add red powdered coloring and continue beating egg white until it becomes glossy
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Add ground almond and sugar into the mixture… fold quickly a first few times, then carefully fold until it becomes like lava texture
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My macarons…
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Macarons with Rose Butter Cream
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My macarons with a very cute box (from Ladurée)!
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Macarons with Rose Butter Cream (with purple color)
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As you can see that the ingredients are quite simple, but the procedure to make is somehow not that simple. There are so many factors involved; humidity, temperature, oven, etc. Macarons like dry and cold weather. The shell will harden easily, which is good. This will prevent the face to break (or crack) when you put into the oven. If the surface is not hard enough… the heat will damage its look. If the temperature is too low, the legs of macarons might not go up. Or if your oven is too hot, it might burn macarons…But once you tried to make a couple times then you’ll get a hang of it… and see how they are going to turn out… hope you enjoy, good luck!

Here our dining table… ready to receive everyone in the family (12 seats)
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Name tag (handmade) — my father in-law made these and put them on each seat! They are cute, love them!
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Primo (first course), it was lasagna.
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Secondo (second course) : grilled lamb with rosemary
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Side dish — it is called “Sformato di Verdure”. Mashed potato with green beans, eggs, grated parmesan … mixed all together until it become creamy, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven.
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Another side dish – baked potatoes
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Before dessert we had “madedonia” (mixed bowl of chopped fruit such as pears, apples, strawberries, kiwi, etc.)
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As Italian tradition – people exchange chocolate eggs … each egg weighs around 300-400 grams (standard size). They are wrapped in colorful papers.
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Some prefer to give gift set instead of one big chocolate eggs (chocolate and traditional Easter cake called “Colomba”)
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We were in the middle of exchanging eggs in the family… fun fun!
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There they are!… chocolate eggs for Easter
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Inside chocolate eggs there are little gift (or souvenirs) hidden, you need to break or tear all eggs to see them.
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This cake is called “Colomba” (English = Dove). It is considered to be Italian Easter Cake. The texture is like sweet bread, topped with baked almond and sugar. The shape is like “dove” with head, tail and 2 wings.
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Our gifts for the family — nice package of chocolate eggs and little baskets from Lindt… good quality chocolate and beautiful package design, love it!
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Hope you all had a great Easter… it is huge family get together event here in Italy (beside Christmas). Have a great day, everyone!