Instructions

COOKIES

1. Weigh out all of your ingredients.
2. Sift together your almond flour and powdered sugar in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Add your egg whites to the bowl of your mixer and start mixing on a medium speed until they get frothy. Add in the salt.
4. Gradually add your granulated sugar to the egg whites and mix at a medium speed until you get a soft peak consistency. Beat in the vanilla to the meringue mixture before adding in the dry ingredients.
5. Add about 1/3 of the dry mixture to the egg whites and fold in until there are no dry spots left.
6. Add in the remaining dry mixture to the meringue and fold in until there are no dry spots. Begin to check for the “ribbon” stage, where the batter falls off in ribbons and you can make a figure 8 without it breaking off. Once you get to this consistency stop folding.
7. Divide the batter into 2  and place in 2 separate bowls. On the first bowl, put the orange food coloring a drop at a time until you get the right shade. Do the same on the 2nd bowl with Silver or gray gel food coloring.
8. Prepare your 2 piping bags with a medium round tip. 1 for the orange color batter and 1 for the silver color batter. Place your bag in a large cup to make it easier to add your batter. Slowly add in your batter.
9. Place the macaron template under a silicon mat on a baking sheet.
10. Hold your piping bag completely vertical when piping and lift straight up. Making cookie dough dots the size of the circles on the template under your silicon mat.
11. After you have piped all the batter, bang the baking sheet on the counter 10-20 times (seriously) to remove all air bubbles. Use a toothpick or something sharp to pop any remaining bubbles.
12. Now it is time to let them dry. Leave them sitting on the counter for 30-60 minutes until you can touch them and you can feel that a “shell” has formed over them. No batter should come off on your finger.
13. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. and bake your macarons for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. When you touch the top of the macaron it should not wiggle around.
14. Allow them to cool COMPLETELY before taking them off the baking sheet.

BUTTERCREAM FILLING

1. Place the softened butter, cream, powdered sugar, and Vanilla into a large bowl
2. Beat using an electric mixer until thoroughly combined.
3. Divide the filling in half and place in 2 separate bowls.
4. Color the first filling with orange gel food coloring 1 drop at a time until you get the right shade of color. Do the same in the second filling with green gel food coloring.
5. Place the 2 bowls in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, or until the icing has thickened slightly but is still soft enough to pipe. Transfer to piping bags with medium tips.

Assembly

1. When macarons have cooled, place them in similar-sized pairs.
2. On the flat side of one cookie from each pair, pipe a generous amount (about one tablespoon) of Buttercream. Orange-colored buttercream on the orange-colored macarons. Then Green colored Buttercream for the silver-colored macarons.
3. Place the top shell on and refrigerate in an air-tight container overnight to age.

DECORATING THE EASY HALLOWEEN MACARONS

1. To make the Icing: Mix your coconut (or regular) milk, powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup of your corn syrup together. If it’s still too dry, add more corn syrup. You want thick icing – but not so thick that you can’t push it through a piping bag & tip. Add 1/2 Tbsp of coconut milk or water if necessary to loosen up, and beat an additional 2 minutes.
2. Divide the mixture into thirds and place in separate small bowls.
3. On the first bowl, place a drop or two of green food coloring. Blend well. Then place in a small piping bag with a leaf piping tip 
4. On the second bowl, place a drop or two of the silver or gray food coloring. Then place in a small piping bag with a small round tip
5. On the third bowl, use the icing in its natural white color. Then place in a small piping bag with a small round tip 
6. To make the leaf: Hold the piping bag with green-colored icing diagonally above the orange-colored macarons. Squeeze out the icing, touching the surface of the cookie, then move your hand going in one direction as to where you want the leaf to position before lifting off and stop squeezing.
7. Repeat a few more times. Do the same on other macarons
8. To make the face: Hold the piping bag with black colored icing vertically above the macarons. Then just below the "green leaves" pipe out to make 2 small triangles to make the eyes, a smaller triangle at the middle as the nose. Then make a zigzag line below the triangles as the mouth.
9. To make the cobweb design: Hold the piping bag with white-colored icing vertically above the silver-colored macarons. Make 3 lines from the edge straight to the opposite edge. then connect them with lines to look like a cobweb. 
10. To make the ghost design: Hold the piping bag with white-colored icing vertically above the silver-colored macarons. Make an outline of a ghost figure then fill the whole figure with white icing. 
11. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes or until the icing is set.
12. Keep the macarons in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours to allow them to “mature”.