Day 12 Star Wars BB-8 and R2D2 Droid Macarons #12daysofStarWars

And finally here we are Day12 of the #12daysofStarWars! It's been 12 days of all Star Wars themed treats here (phew!)

And last but not least are:

Star Wars Droid Macarons! 

Everyone's favorite old and new droids 

R2D2 and BB-8

I've only done French macarons a couple of times so I figured it was time to try them again. 

Once they are baked, you can draw on them with edible food writers.  I thought they might be too delicate for that, but they hold up really well when you write on them.  And they take the color really well too.

And if the macarons are relatively even you can even stand them up.

I think R2 definitely needed a new friend.  Well at least I hope they are friends in The Force Awakens!  Who knows maybe they are droid rivals?!

I think I'm sticking with friends.  How cute are they together??

Only one of my kiddos can eat macarons since they are made with almond flour but they approved of them just the same.  Well one was expressing his "dark side" in the pic!

That wraps up the #12daysofStarWars for me.  I hope you enjoyed all the treats, it was fun doing the new ones and fun to look back at some of my favs from over the years.  Now to wait until Sunday when we see the movie.  I'm hoping anyone that sees it tonite or opening day tomorrow doesn't ruin it for everyone seeing it later.  Like where is Luke????? Can't wait to find out! Thanks for following along and for swinging by everyday to see more!  I think I'm done with SW for quite awhile!

I've also posted everything over on  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!  #12daysofStarWars @sugarswings

How To Make Star Wars Droid Macarons

Ingredients:

• 212 grams almond meal
• 212 grams confectioners’ sugar
• 82 and 90 grams egg whites, divided
• 236 grams granulated sugar, plus a pinch
• 158 grams water
• vanilla buttercream or other preferred filling
• Edible food writers in black, blue, and orange
• Parchment paper
• Printed images of BB-8 and R2D2

For step by step directions for making macarons.  Please visit Annie's Eats post here.  She does an excellent job in explaining how to do them well and relatively easily.  The directions below are to make the droid shapes and detail.

1. Once you have your macaron batter ready and in a piping bag, place printed images underneath parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
2. Pipe the droid shape following the images.
3. Bake at 325 degrees for 9-12 minutes.  Check to ensure tops are done and macarons are not browning.  Let rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes.  Macarons should come easily off parchment.
4. Once cooled, use edible food writers to add the droid details on half of the macarons.
5. Add a later of buttercream to the plain macaron shells and cover with the other macaron with BB-8 and R2D2 detail.

See all of the #12dayofStarWars Treats:

Day 1 Princess Leia Marshmallows

Day 2 Chewbacca (or Ewok!) and Wampa Coconut Macaroons

Day 3 Star Wars Bundt cake (with Yoda inside!)

Day 4 Star Wars Roll Cake

Day 5 Star Wars Character Christmas Cookies

Day 6 Star Wars Oatmeal Creme Pie Galaxy Cookies

Day 7 Star Wars Creature Candies and Cupcakes

Day 8 Star Wars Christmas Wreath Treats

Day 9 Star Wars - Mickey Mash-up Cookie Pops

Day 10 Star Wars Trooper Gingerbread Men

Day 11 Star Wars Bunny Peeps Pops

Day 12 Star Wars Droid Macarons

Big Hero 6 - Baymax Vanilla Macarons

Did anyone go see the new Disney movie Big Hero 6 this weekend? With 3 kiddos (a 10 year old and 7 year old twins) this one was a no brainer.  Robots AND Heros? Yeah total no brainer.  And Disney definitely has their movie formula pretty down to a science.  Young kids that lose parents/parent figures early on and must persevere through the hardships to realize the true meaning of loving something and the goodness that triumphs over evil.  Yup, it works well so why mess with a good thing?!

The robot in the story is the lovable Baymax.  Baymax is a personal healthcare companion programmed to fix anyone in distress.  He's pretty much the most awesome robot ever and totally inspired me to make some Baymax macarons.  Is that weird that I automatically said, yes I'm going to make him in macaron form? 

Once you have your macaron mixture combined, pipe the characters onto parchment by tracing from a printout underneath the parchment paper

I've only made macarons one other time, and didn't even post about it.  I used the Italian method, and they came out ok.  Definitely far from perfect but at least they were recognizable as macarons!  I used the same method for these Baymax ones.  I'm not even going to try to post directions, but you can see a step by step How To over at Annie's Eats.  She posted a great tutorial here on how to make macarons using this Italian method.   My one suggestion (which everyone seems to agree on) is to measure all your ingredients with a scale.  It's pretty easy to do, so don't get worried that its a lot of extra trouble.

Just to give you and idea of how un-perfect mine were, check out the underside.  They should be flat not like this.  My trouble is knowing when they are done.  You don't want them to brown too much, but you need them done enough to not stick when trying to remove them.  Depending on your oven, you should bake them for about 8 minutes then check them every minute to see if they are done.  

I had some vanilla beans so thought it would be the perfect flavor for Baymax.  Add his accents with black and white melted candy wafers and some large black flat sprinkles for eyes.  

Even though Baymax is a robot, he's got a heart of gold.  He will make you cry.  

Chocolate buttercream seemed to fit well with his center.  

And Disney totally set this up for a sequel, if they want to go this route.  Overall I really enjoyed the movie and the kiddos gave it a big thumbs up.  Right there on par with Guardians of the Galaxy.  

For anyone looking for the recipe, please head over to Annie's Eats for her step by step tutorial.  I followed it pretty much exactly, except adding some vanilla bean seeds (scrapped from one vanilla bean pod) when she points out to add color/flavor.  Once the macaron mixture is ready to be piped, I traced it onto parchment on top of some Baymax templates that I printed out from Google (thanks Google!).  The chocolate buttercream, is store bought, to save some time.  You can use any type of flavoring for the centers since vanilla goes so well with pretty much anything.  

Did you see Big Hero 6 and if so what did you think???