Making Macarons

Here is an easy recipe to bake a sweet treat for Valentine’s Day.

1. Weigh out all ingredients with a food scale. It’s important that you use a scale because if measurements are off it could mess the macarons up.

2. Make a double boiler with a saucepan and a heat safe bowl. Put a small amount of water in the pan and bring it to a low simmer.

3. Place the sugar and egg whites in the bowl and whisk until white and frothy. Try to whisk constantly so you don’t cook the egg white.

4. Take the mixture off the heat when you can stick your finger in and don’t feel the individual sugar grains.

5. Place the mixture in a stand mixer, and whisk until you reach stiff peaks (should take around five minutes).

6. Once you reach stiff peaks, carefully fold in the powdered sugar and almond flour. This is also where you can add any food coloring, if desired.

7. Using a spatula, fold everything together until you can pick the spatula up out of the mixture and it flows off the spatula at a consistent rate (do not overmix).

8. Get a piping bag, or you can use a Ziploc bag and cut a hole on one of the corners, and fill it with your mixture (make sure you wait until after you put the mixture in to cut the hole).

9. On a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, pipe circles that are about the size of a dollar coin. It is okay if they aren’t all the exact same size (gives them some character).

10. Let them dry out until you can touch the tops of the shells without anything sticking to your finger. While the macaron shells are drying, preheat your oven to 310 degrees.

11. Bake for 10-15 minutes, making sure to rotate the baking sheet every 5 minutes to ensure even cooking. You will know that they are done when they have deepened in color and have formed “feet” (meaning the bottoms have risen).

12. Let shells cool until completely cool. While they are cooling, use your mixer to cream the butter for the frosting.

13. Once the butter has lightened in color and become creamy, add in your powdered sugar and almond flour and mix until it has reached your desired consistency. This is also when you would add milk, if too thick. You can also add any food coloring or extracts.

14. Add frosting to another piping bag (or Ziploc). Pipe frosting onto the flat part of a macaron shell and place another shell on top. Repeat until you have all of your macarons! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

100 grams egg whites

100 grams granulated white sugar

105 grams almond flour

105 grams powdered sugar

Food coloring of your choice (I used red gel)

Almond Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup almond flour

6 tbsp softened butter

1 tsp almond extract (or any other extract)

1-2 tbsp milk (only if necessary)

Difficulty:

Enjoyment:

End result:

Awkward Romance

Sion students sent in some of their most embarrasing romance stories.

They tried to kiss me, but I went in for a hug!

When I was in middle school I liked a guy. We were just friends and continued to talk until sophomore year. I stopped liking him after 8th grade. But I asked him to winter formal (because I didn’t want to go alone). A week later I found out he had a girlfriend. It was really awkward because one of my friends told me and he didn’t want me to know.

A guy took me on a date to Andy’s and I can’t even have ice cream so I had to get root beer. Root beer. At Andy’s.

I didn’t get crushes very often, so whenever people asked at sleepovers or something I would always make someone up or name a random classmate.

I was dating this guy and we were on our Valentine’s Day date and he said, “I forgot to get you a valentine’s gift and my breath kinda smells, but how about a kiss instead?” AND I FREAKING DID. It was terrible. Side note, I broke up with him two weeks later.

I lip synced a song to someone I wanted to ask out.