I’d be lying if I said these were easy. If you’ve mastered macarons and are ready for a challenge, welcome to the next level. There might be a few fails along the way to get the correct consistency, but they are totally worth it. They have an addictively nibby texture and distinctly corn bread-like flavor, one of my favorite cookies of all time!
Ingredients
- 115g medium grind cornmeal
- 230g powdered sugar
- 7g neutral flavored oil
- 144g egg whites
- 72g sugar
- the scrapings of 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2g kosher salt
Procedure
To get started, combine the cornmeal, powdered sugar, and oil in a food processor and pulse until homogeneous. Sift and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, sugar, vanilla bean (not the extract), and salt and turn the mixer to medium (4 on a Kitchen Aid). Whip for 3 minutes, then increase the speed to medium-high (7 on a Kitchen Aid) and whip another 3 minutes. Crank the speed to 8 for go another 3 minutes. Finally, turn the mixer to high (level 10) and whip one more minute. Now add in the dry ingredients all at once and incorporate with a rubber spatula. Fold until you get a runny consistency, around 75 strokes (perhaps a bit more since the cornmeal batter sometimes behaves funny)
Transfer half the batter to the piping bag and pipe the batter into rounds on the baking sheets.After piping, take hold of the sheet pan and rap it hard against the counter. Rotate the pan one hundred and eighty degrees and rap again. This will dislodge any large air bubbles that might cause your macarons to crack.
Bake for about 18 minutes at 300F , or until you can cleanly peel the macarons away from the parchment paper. Cool thoroughly.
Fill with your favorite cream and enjoy!
Stop and Smell the Flours 