Lavender Chocolate Macarons

Now that I'm getting the hang of macaron making, I can't stop thinking of all the tasty combination possibilities.  At Christmas my niece brought us some lovely dark chocolate from the Sunshine Coast that had lavender in it which I thoroughly enjoyed.  So I tried making the macaron shells with ground lavender, and a dark chocolate ganache as the filling.  Yum, perfection.

Even my husband, who doesn't really like macarons, and doesn't like lavender (sheesh) thought these were excellent.  Macarons are incredibly sweet, and the bittersweet chocolate ganache was a perfect compliment.

Lavender Chocolate Macarons

Basic macaron recipe from Brave Tart 

I used her recipe for the shells, grinding up 1 tablespoon of lavender with the almonds.  I found the scent quite strong so I didn't add any additional lavender gel paste.  I did add a few drops of food coloring to get a bit of a purple color

Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache
from Hisako Ogita

3.4 ounces whipping cream
3/5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (or whatever type of chocolate makes you happy, just use high quality), finely chopped

Place chocolate in a medium mixing bowl.  Put whipping cream in a small sauce pan and bring to just a boil.  Pour the heated cream over the chocolate and whisk slowly until completely smooth.  Let it cool completely and harden up a little bit before spreading between macaron shells.

Linked to:
Sweet Indulgences Sunday

Raspberry Meyer Lemon Macarons

Yes!  I did it!  I finally made the perfect macarons!  They don't look like little boobs and they're not hollow.  Absolute perfection.  The secret?  Brave Tart.  Go check out her blog, she is seriously a macaron goddess. 

After many failed attempts and sometimes mediocre results, I found her blog post about macaron myths.  She made making them sound so easy, not like some detailed ritual that most recipes do.  So I did what she said.  The first batch came out completely cracked, and I thought I had another dud.  Until I checked my oven and it was 50 degrees higher than what I had set it at, so yeah, if you're having macaron issues get thee an oven thermometer.

The second batch I monitored the temp carefully, and voila.  Don't these look kickass?

Raspberry Macarons with Meyer Lemon Filling

use the basic Vanilla French Macaron recipe from Brave Tart, but substitute 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract with 1/2 teaspoon raspberry flavoring (you may need to adjust this depending how strong your raspberry flavoring is and how strong you want it to be)

If you like it quite pink add a few drops of pink food coloring when she recommends adding in the recipe (before last whipping of the meringue)

Meyer Lemon Buttercream:
from utry.it

1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon
Juice of 1/2 a Meyer Lemon

In the bowl of a stand mixer or a heat proof bowl, add the sugar and egg whites together. Whisk constantly over a saucepan of simmering water. Keep whisking the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and place the bowl back to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the meringue on medium high until it cools. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream until thick and very smooth, about 6-10 minutes. Add lemon zest and lemon juice and beat until well incorporated.

Linked to:
Sweet Tuesday
Mrs Fox's Sweet Party 
Strut Your Stuff Saturday 
 Sweet Indulgences Sunday

Coffee Macarons

I told my husband last week that I intended to make macarons over the long weekend and he groaned and said "ugh, you're always so cranky when you make macarons".  Well, that usually may be true but not this time, I had sweet macaron success!  Okay, some of the tops were a little hollow and one batch still looked like little boobs, but otherwise these ones are keepers.  I made vanilla macarons with my sister during Christmas and they turned out lovely, but since then the macaron has eluded me.

In the past few months I had tried raspberry macarons (fail), chocolate macarons (huge fail), and vanilla again (turned out mediocre).  What was I doing wrong?  If you've made macarons before, you know that the slightest little thing can ruin the entire pastry.  My discovery this weekend?  Don't use carton egg whites.  I had some pastureized egg whites that I had tried to whip up the night before for some frozen lemon souffles (more on that later), I cranked my kitchen aid and they simply woudln't get past soft peaks.  I had plans to make macarons the next day and had some leftover egg whites from making lemon curd so I used those instead.  I could immediately see the difference when I piped them.  Another thing I did differently was go by weight rather than measurement. 

I used a coffee buttercream from my favorite UK blog The Art of Being Perfect (go check out her blog for some of the most creative macarons I have ever seen!), and they turned out quite delectrable.  Yay me! ;)

Coffee Macarons
from I Love Macarons

2 teaspoons instant coffee, finely ground
2/3 cup (3 ounces/85 grams) almond powder
1 1/2 cups (5.25 ounces/150 grams) powdered sugar
3 large (90 grams) egg whites, at room temp
5 tablespoons/65 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.  Draw 1-inch circles on the paper, spacing them at least 1/2 inch apart.  This pattern will be your guide for squeezing out the macaron batter

2. In a food processor, process the instant coffee and almonds with the confectioners’ sugar until well blended. Sift the mixture through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl twice.  Set aside. 

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Very gradually add the granulated sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Add the vanilla and stir lightly.

4. Add half of the sifted almond mixture and fold it in with a spatula. Add the remaining almond mixture and mix it in a light circular motion. Once the almond mixture is just combined, press and spread out the batter against the side of the bowl. Scoop the batter from the bottom of the bowl and turn it upside down. Repeat this motion about 15 times (no more, no less). When the batter becomes nicely firm and drips slowly as you scoop it with the spatula, it is ready to be piped.

5. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Note: this is the temp recommended by the cookbook I Heart Macarons, but as I mentioned some of my macarons had hollow tops.  Xiaolu from the blog 6Bittersweets suggested I might try a lower temp, around 300 next time.  

Fit a pastry bag with a .4-inch plain tip (Ateco #4). Scrape the batter into the bag. Pipe out 1-inch rounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them ½ inch apart. Rap the baking sheet firmly against the counter. Dry the batter at room temperature, uncovered, for at least 15 minutes, I did 30 minutes though. The batter circles should not stick to your finger when you touch them. If they do, let them dry a little longer.

6. Stack the baking sheet with the macarons on it on another baking sheet. Place both sheets, stacked, in the oven and bake the macarons for 15-18 minutes, until slightly crisp (they will crisp more upon cooling). Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Coffee Buttercream:

from The Art of Being Perfect

100g butter, softened

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1tbsp instant coffee

2 tbsp hot water

Cream the butter and add half the powdered sugar. Mix well.  Dissolve the coffee granules in the hot water and cool before adding to the butter mixture along with the vanilla extract, mix to combine. Add the remainder of the sugar until you reach your desired consistency (you may need more or less). 

Fill a piping bag, pipe buttercream onto half of your macaron shells and sandwich them together with a plain shell.

Linked to:

Sweet Treats Thursday

Sweet Tooth Friday 

Sweets for a Saturday

Sweet Indulgences Sunday 

Vanilla Vanilla Macarons

In case you haven't heard, macarons are the new cupcakes.  And I'm not talking about the coconut chocolate confections known as macaroons.  Macarons are light airy French pastries that are becoming very popular in bakeries around the world.

Mike and I tried to make pistacio macarons from Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess a few years ago and failed miserably.  Recently I have notieced macaron recipes popping up all over the Internet and have been wanting to give them another try.  Then my sister, lover of all things Parisian, mentioned that she wanted to make them as well.  Since she was coming here for Christmas I found a lovely little book called I heart Macarons by Hisako Ogita and bought it for her.

We decided to make our first macaron attempt a team effort since while there aren't a lot of ingredients the technique is pretty detailed and I didn't want a repeat of my earlier failure.  So, if I do say so myself they turned out quite lovely!  According to the book if the macaron doesn't have a pied or foot (pleatlike frills on the bottom of each) "the pastry cannot be called a macaron."  Okay.  And ours do!  Hah, my sister went to check on them mid-way through baking and rushed in exclaiming, "they have a foot!  They have a foot!".

Like I said, the technique that Ogita explains is very specific, down to numbering the amount of times you need to "macronanage" the batter.  And to her credit, it worked like a charm.  We used a vanilla buttercream from The Food Network that was super tasty, but halve the recipe since you really don't need much for each macaron. 

Vanilla Macarons from I Heart Macarons

 Ingredients:
2/3 cup ground almonds
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temp
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean

Make the macarons:

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.  Draw 1-inch circles on the paper, spacing them at least 1/2 inch apart.  This pattern will be your guide for squeezing out the macaron batter

2. In a food processor, process the almonds with the confectioners’ sugar until well blended. Sift the mixture through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl twice.  Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Very gradually add the granulated sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Add the vanilla and stir lightly.

4. Add half of the sifted almond mixture and fold it in with a spatula. Add the remaining almond mixture and mix it in a light circular motion. Press and spread out the batter against the side of the bowl. Scoop the batter from the bottom of the bowl and turn it upside down. Repeat this motion about 15 times (no more, no less). When the batter becomes nicely firm and drips slowly as you scoop it with the spatula, it is ready to be piped.

5. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Fit a pastry bag with a .4-inch plain tip (Ateco #4). Scrape the batter into the bag. Pipe out 1-inch rounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them ½ inch apart. Rap the baking sheet firmly against the counter. Dry the batter at room temperature, uncovered, for 15 minutes. The batter circles should not stick to your finger when you touch them. If they do, let them dry a little longer.

6. Stack the baking sheet with the macarons on it on another baking sheet. Place both sheets, stacked, in the oven and bake the macarons for 15-18 minutes, until slightly crisp (they will crisp more upon cooling). Cool completely on a wire rack.

Easy Vanilla Meringue Buttercream from thefoodnetwork.com

• 4 large egg whites (1/2 cup)
• 1 cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• 12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla

Place egg whites, sugar and salt in medium-sized heatproof mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk gently and constantly until egg whites are hot (about 140 degrees) and sugar is dissolved, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whip by machine until thick and cooled, about 5 minutes. Beat in butter and continue beating until buttercream is smooth and spreadable. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, for up to 5 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature and beat smooth by machine. Beat in vanilla, a little at a time, and continue beating until buttercream is smooth, about 2 minutes longer (always flavor buttercream immediately before using it).
 

Assemble the macarons:

11. Scrape the buttercream into a pastry bag fitted with a .4 inch plain tip (about the same size as you used to pipe the macarons). Pipe a grape-sized dollop of buttercream onto the underside of a macaron. Gently press the underside of another macaron against the buttercream until it spreads almost to the edge. Repeat with the remaining macarons and buttercream. Store the macarons in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 5 days.