Piña Colada Macarons

I am taking a well deserved study break (I swear I was studying!!). Complete with ooey gooey pizza, buzzfeed and blogging. I have been stuck at school for too long and the off white walls and neutrality of this place makes me feel like I'm in a mental asylum. Haha kidding. Love this school (?) :/  I would study someplace else, except we're in the middle of Embryology and Reproduction and let me tell ya...those lecture pictures cannot be seen in public.  Anyhoo, only 5 more days until our last exam and then SUMMER! I am super super excited yay!

Now that I can make macarons.... can't stop, won't stop making 'em! Dreaming about summer, fun in the sun with cocktails...and piña colada in macaron form :)

Piña Colada Macarons

makes about 25 macarons

Macaron Shells
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites, ages 1 day in fridge and 1 day at room temp
5 tbsp granulated sugar
handful of unsweetened shredded coconut

Details on making shells Boston Cream Pie Macarons

Pineapple curd filling
2 egg yolks
1 cup pineapple juice, canned
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp butter

• Pineapple Curd: whisk all the ingredients other than the butter in a small pot. Heat on medium and keep whisking it from time to time until it starts to simmer. Keep whisking until its pretty thick and starts spitting large bubbles from the top. You want it pretty thick so you don't get your macarons soggy. Also, I forgot I was making it and it burned really quickly in the bottom. So keep whisking! Remove from heat and stir in butter. Let it cool and then fill up a piping bag to chill in the fridge.
• Macarons:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
2. In a food processor pulse almond flour and powdered sugar until mixed and fluffy
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
4. Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with. Try not to over beat.
5. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. You do want to deflate the meringue and after about 40-50 foldings it should look glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 20 secs for it to mold back into the mix. Don't over mix or it will a runny and watery mess!
6. Fill your pastry bag and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart. 
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them. 
8. Preheat your oven to 325 F in the last 2 minutes. Bake for 15 mins each pan separately, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
9. Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled curd filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together.
10. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. Seriously!! They taste 100x better when the insides of the macaron shells soften a bit and the filling flavors come together.