Tiffany Macarons
September 18: Tiffany & Co. founded in 1837
Islander was gifted with a gorgeous Tiffany & Co. sterling silver heart keychain when she volunteered to design a take-out menu for some friends who were opening a Thai café in California. Although she appreciated their generous gesture, she seemed more fascinated with the bag and the box than with the costly content! So she made macarons matching the famous color of Tiffany blue and Highlander photographed the luxurious cookies as if they were part of the pricey package. The decadent white chocolate-cream cheese filling is just as fancy. These Tiffany & Co.-inspired macarons are perfect indulgences on the day the company was founded in 1837.
Recipe
(Adapted from Mélanger)
For the macarons (Italian meringue method)
- 1 cup almond flour/meal
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 egg whites (fresh, unpasteurized and aged overnight at room temperature)
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- blue and green food coloring (we used a combination of Wilton brand’s Sky Blue and Leaf Green concentrated gel icing colors)
Directions
Sift the almond flour/meal with the powdered sugar. Grind in a food processor in batches to remove any lumps. Whip the egg whites until peaks form. Make a simple syrup to stabilize the egg whites by boiling the sugar and water together until it reaches a temperature of 245 degrees F on a candy thermometer (or until it reaches a soft ball stage). Pour into the egg whites and whip again until stiff and glossy. Stir in the almond flour/meal-sugar mix until the consistency “flows like magma.”
Tint with Sky Blue and Leaf Green food coloring until the macaronage closely matches the Tiffany blue hue. Make the shade slightly darker as the macarons will bake a lighter color. Fill a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe one-inch discs on a parchment paper on top of an insulated baking sheet. Let the discs air dry to develop a thin skin for at least 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Watch the “feet” develop, but be careful not to brown or burn the macarons. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Peel off the macarons from the parchment paper. Sort by size and match pairs. Make the filling.
For the filling
- 2 1-ounce squares of white chocolate (we used Baker’s brand)
- ½ block (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 1 – 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
Directions
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the melted chocolate with the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar and a pinch of salt until thickened into a frosting consistency. Refrigerate for a few minutes to harden, if necessary. Fill a piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe in the filling and sandwich the macarons together. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the filling set. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
- Thanks to JW for the Tiffany & Co. gift and for inspiring this macaron project.
- Thanks to Lisa L. for sending us the ground almonds from Europe for this recipe.
- After several experiments, we concluded that the above recipe adaptation gave us more “maca-rights” than “maca-wrongs!” See our blog recipe post for details on how we finally found our own method of making traditional macarons for Macaron Day on March 20.
October 10, 2010 at 1:55 am
These are utterly gorgeous!
April 7, 2011 at 8:53 am
i loved tiffany but i definitely loved this macs more!
April 7, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Macs are cheaper than Tiffany’s, too! 😉
June 24, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Made these yesterday but they did not turn out!! I used egg whites from the carton and I think this might be why they didn’t work…anyone else have a problem with them???
What could i have done wrong??
June 24, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Macarons are soooo tricky to make! My first batch never turned out until the fifth try–and I still have food flops! A few tips I’ve learned about egg whites for macs:
1) “Real” egg whites are better than the ones in the carton. The latter is pasteurized so there is more moisture in them. However, I have used the ones in the carton before. They don’t beat as high and fluffy, though. It is probably written on the carton that it is not recommended for meringues.
2) Egg whites need to “age” to get the moisture out. So leave them at room temperature to “dry” overnight.
3) The Italian meringue method seems to work best in my humid kitchen as it stabilizes the egg whites, although I have also used the French method before.
To all my other macaron-making friends out in the blogosphere, has anyone tried using powdered egg whites?
Don’t give up trying on making macarons, Michelle. Be patient. Good luck and let us know how your next batch turns out! 🙂
August 18, 2015 at 12:51 am
The problem is probably that the egg whites proteins have already been separated to make the prepared egg white mixture. With out the expanding proteins you won’t be able to make the meringue and that is an integral part of making the macs.
August 31, 2012 at 2:09 am
I am very excited about these macaroons 🙂 I’ve made them and now they’re sitting on the bench, forming a thin crust, I hope they turn out well when i bake them!!!
October 18, 2012 at 3:05 pm
[…] a luxe day! Photo Credits: Board 1: Favor, Dress, Bridesmaid Invite, Cake, Macaroons, Dessert, Board 2: Cake, Invitation, Dresses, Table Setting, Board 3: Dress, Macaroon & Ring, […]
March 19, 2013 at 8:19 am
They look beautiful! I made blast year french macaroons they came out beautiful but i can`t wait to make Tiffany Blue macaroons.
July 30, 2013 at 2:29 am
Mine was Failed! Didn’t developed any “leg”. Its just flat? What’s wrong?
July 30, 2013 at 8:23 pm
Sorry to hear your macarons didn’t grow “feet” (we have had our share of Food Flops, too!). So many factors could have made them a failure:
1) Weather–humidity makes macarons soggy and not as crisp
2) Not waiting long enough after piping the discs; it needs to develop a dry top before baking so the feet will push up
3) Overbeaten batter
Macarons are tricky to make. We’ve tried the French method but found that the Italian meringue method works best in our kitchen.
Hope this info helps! Good luck and don’t give up!
August 17, 2013 at 1:14 pm
can you tell me where you found the tiffany containers?
August 31, 2013 at 6:28 pm
The real Tiffany boxes can only be found at Tiffany & Co. To obtain an authentic package, one must purchase a product from the company. Even their blue hue is patented. For more info, please read the press release at: http://www.tiffany.com/About/TheTiffanyStory/default.aspx#p+1-n+6-cg+-c+-s+-r+-t+-ri+-ni+1-x+-pu+-f+/1/0/4/0
There are other companies that sell party favor boxes in a similar color (robin’s egg blue, turquoise, light aqua, etc.). Wrapped in a white ribbon, the knock-off containers still evoke the essence of Tiffany’s.
July 2, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Very cool. Thanks for recipe
April 21, 2016 at 11:06 pm
how many does this make?
April 22, 2016 at 1:02 am
Hi! We got around 2.5 dozen out of this recipe. We piped about 60 individual macaron shells (1 inch rounds) before pairing them up. Some came out lopsided, some cracked and others were just fine. Good luck making some macarons. They can be fickle!
July 4, 2018 at 11:23 pm
Just made these my first try. They came out perfect. So good!
July 11, 2018 at 12:14 am
Congratulations! Macarons are so tricky to make so we’re glad these little gems turned out for you.
March 28, 2019 at 1:55 pm
I have always used the egg whites in cartons..and macarons turn out fine. I leave the egg whites to sit overnight at room temp.
April 30, 2019 at 2:41 am
Hi, Sharon. We have used egg whites in a carton in a pinch. For us, it doesn’t whip as high, though, but they’re okay to use. Thanks for stopping by our blog and sharing your experience.