Galaxy Macarons

My first attempt at these were a failure; albeit a beautiful failure. People seemed to think they were pretty cool, so I wanted to share the recipe anyway. BUT since I’m a bit obsessive, I wanted to make sure they worked as an actual macaron with feet and everything.

Spoiler:they do.

If you want to have these just as “almond galaxy cookies” add extra color and bake them immediately without the resting period. If you do want macarons, make sure to rest and go lightly with the gel color.

If this is your first time here, be sure to check out Charis’s recipes at Floral Frosting, as she is the creator of this recipe. She’s got some beautiful recipes there, her buttercream is one of our favorites! You also should take a look at the Vegan Meringue Facebook group for more amazing recipes. If you have trouble with the directions, try reading my troubleshooting guide for a little more in depth description.

Ingredients:

• 100 ml reduced aquafaba (close to 1/3 cup)
• 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 100g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
• 100g almond meal (1 cup)
• 65g confectioners sugar (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• purple gel color (for natural color, use TruColor)

Filling:
• elderberry jelly

Directions:
1.  Reduce 200 ml of aquafaba in a small pan over medium heat until you have 100ml. (Make sure you’re using liquid measuring cups!) Refrigerate overnight.

2. With a clean bowl and beaters, begin whipping aquafaba until soft peaks form. Add the apple cider vinegar and continue whipping until the mixture can no longer move when you tilt the bowl.

3. Slowly add granulated sugar to your soft peak aquafaba, 1 tablespoon at a time and beat for at least 30 seconds after each addition. When all of the sugar is incorporated, your meringue should be stiff and glossy and hold peaks when you remove the beaters. Add vanilla extract.

4. If you have a rougher texture of almond meal, sift it together with the confectioners sugar and grind up any large bits that won’t fit through you sieve in a spice grinder or food processor. If it’s fine enough to pass through a sieve, just sift the two together.

5. Pass half of the almond/confectioners sugar mixture through the sieve into the meringue. Use a flexible spatula to fold the mixture into the meringue. When there are no more large dry clumps, sift in the rest of the almond/confectioners sugar into the meringue and fold it to incorporate.

6. Once all of the almond meal is mixed and there are no large streaks of meringue or dry clumps, begin macaronnage. Push the batter against the side of the bowl to deflate and scoop from underneath.

Check every few strokes by letting a piece of batter fall off the spatula onto the remaining batter. If it melds back into the batter within 20 seconds, stop there. If it still holds its shape, give it a few more strokes. I usually undermix just a bit because the batter will warm up a bit during piping.

7. Drip gel color down the sides of the piping bag in four spots, starting about halfway down. It should slowly slide down the sides. This picture is not mine, but it should kind of look like this.

Pour batter the piping bag.

8. Pipe batter onto parchment lined baking sheets from a 90° angle. Squeeze from the back of the piping bag and let the batter spread into a circle beneath the tip while holding it straight up and down. Repeat until you run out of batter (depending on how large you pipe it, this could require two-three trays.)

9. Tap the trays 2-3 times on the counter to loosen any bubbles and smooth out any peaks. This will give you the “stars and moons” as the bubbles pop.

Let dry for three or more hours, preferably with a fan blowing on the tops if you are in a humid region. The tops should be nice and dull after an hour or so, but you should be able to tap the top without any tackiness before baking. The gel color adds moisture so the more you use the less likely your shells will dry.

If you are just wanting the galaxy effect, you can bake shortly after making them without a resting period. They won’t be “macarons” but they will be cookies!

10. Preheat oven to just under 215° F. When oven is preheated, place pan on TOP rack of the oven for 30 minutes. Turn oven off after this time and leave pan in the closed oven for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let the pan come to room temperature before removing any shells.

11. When the macaron shells are completely cooled, gently peel them off the parchment paper. Fill the shell with jelly. Top with a similar sized shell.

Unfilled macaron shells also make an awesome ice cream topping.

Tags: dessert, elderberry, galaxy, gluten-free, jelly, macarons, recipe, space, vegan, vegetarian