This is 2nd time I bake macarons, the 1st batch was in 2011 but I made a tiny batch and of course it didn’t survive long enough to be photographed. Despite the fact that I like the sweet delicacies, I do not like how they are full of sugar. I always wanted to make a sugar free versions of macarons but don’t want to waste ingredients without knowing if there is anyone has already done it. I had difficulties finding a sugar free versions in English, but found one in French, from which I adapted and think it’s really delicious compared to the real ones.
SUGAR FREE VANILLA MACARONS
21g sugar substitutes ( I used Splenda, it does have a minor acceptable aftertaste)
130g almond flour
90g egg whites (egg whites from 3 large eggs, at room temperature)
7g sugar substitutes
pinch of kosher salt
1 vanilla bean
Method:
– Sieve the almond flour and 21g powder sugar to make a smoother mixture.
– Egg whites needed aging at least 24 hours before baking. I just learnt that egg liquid can be used too, so I may use it next time to save the trouble of thinking what to make with the left over yolks.
-Combine egg whites, 7g splenda and the pinch of salt, whisk 1 minute at medium (my mixer has only 5 speed, I whisked at 2). Increase speed to medium high 3 for another 2 minutes. Crank the speed to high (5) for another 2 minutes until it forms a dry stiff meringue.
– Dump in the dry ingredients at one time. Fold in. Do not fold more than 50 times while folding dry ingredients into meringue. It often takes me 40 strokes to completely make the mixture incorporated. Use both a folding motion to deflate the meringue.
– Pour the mixture into a piping bag to shape the macarons. I find drawing circle templates on the back of the parchment paper help attaining perfect macaron shapes. I didn’t bother doing mine though.
– Lots of food bloggers recommend that one should let the batch air dry 30-45 minutes after piping the meringues out on the baking sheet. The best is when touching the piped meringues with your fingertips, they do not stick. I never wait until this but my first batch made with sugar did have feet. Thus I don’t think this is critically important.
– Preheat 300F 20 minutes in advance. Bake at 300F for roughly 12 minutes depend on the macaron size.
RESULTS: The outer of the shell is crispy while the inside is soft, chewy almost marshmallow-like. However, the cookies have no feet, I notice in the French recipe, there were no feet developed either. After applying all the tips from dozens of food blogs and my own experience, I tend to believe that because there is NO sugar in this sugar free recipe, which makes it appear as no feet and the shell is not entirely crispy. The shell is quite flat due to my hilly baking sheet (I didn’t flatten the parchment paper while fixing it on the sheet).
Despite the look, these taste wonderfully delicious for a sugar free cookies whose taste are still good enough to remind me of macarons. I ate half of the batch even before filling them.
For filling, I used Jello sugar free mousse temptations or you can make any sugar free buttercream as you wish.
I wonder is there any way to perfect the look of sugar free macarons. I’ll try again when I’m in the mood.
