Christmas Macarons

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Fa la la la la, la la la la

Shove a macaron in your face hole-y

Fa la la la la, la la la la

   

Yes, once again 'tis the season for Christmas cooking and after a bit of a delay I have finally got myself into the swing of things! Needless to say many of the gifts I give in the festive season are edible and in the weeks leading up to the big day most of my hours are spent bustling around the kitchen making a mixed array of jams, spice rubs, biscuits, truffles, oils, relishes, tarts etc. etc. (keep and eye out as I will be putting up some of these recipes as soon as I have my jars and bottles prettily wrapped!). So, when my sister told me she was after some Christmas treats to take into work this week it took me a few minutes to calm myself, wipe the excitement froth from my mouth and decide to make her, surprise surprise, MACARONS!

Not long ago I wrote a post about my foray into the crazy world of multi-coloured macarons and promised that it wouldn't be my last post on the subject (seen here). Guess what? I wasn't kidding! So, here we go again and I give you my latest attempt at the two-tone macaron - Christmas style!




Holly = Instant Christmas-ication

As per the pink/red and white colour of the shells, my initial plan was to make a candy cane flavoured filling based on the recipe of the wonderful Mr. Zumbo (just google Adriano Zumbo + candy cane macaron to check it out).

 

 

 

 

 

However, just like seeing a film featuring a suicidal looking Kristen Stewart, all too often for my liking I find my best laid plans going awry and in the end a shortness of time (mixed with a little bit of pure laziness) meant that I just whipped up a simple white choc ganache with a few drops of peppermint essence to fill these little babies with.

 

Was this the original plan? No.

Did they still taste feakin amazeballs? Hell yes!

 

How can I experience this supposedly 'amazeballs' taste for myself? Well you have to make them, silly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas 'Candy Cane' Macarons

 

For the Macaron Shells:

2 egg white (at room temperature)

100g icing sugar

60g ground almond

60g caster sugar

1 tsp red powder food colouring *

 

*How much you need will depend upon the exact shade of colour you want to achieve, the brand of colouring used etc. so just add a little at a time until you get the colour you want.

You can also double the recipe easily if you want to make more! The quantities listed above only make 12 or so depending on how big you pipe them*

Method:

1. Put ground almond and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender and process until they are finely ground.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater (or your ass-kicking Kitchenaid mixer!), beat the egg white until frothy (start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed).

4. Add in the caster sugar in a little at a time and continue to beat at maximum speed for around 2 minutes until they reach the stiff peak stage.

5. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites with a spatula until the mixture is incorporated (don't overwork at this stage like I did! It only need to have just come together!)

6. Divide the mixture into 2 parts and add the red food colouring to into one part.

7. Fold each mixture until the batter flows smoothly and falls from your spatula

8. Spoon each mixture into a zip lock sandwich bag and snip the ends to make little piping bags then, trying not to squeeze the mixture out, put both bags into a larger piping bag so they are at the same height (i.e. so when you go to pipe the colours come out at the same time)

 

9. Line several baking trays with baking paper and carefully pipe out the macarons (aim for a roughly 2cm diameter, or whatever size you are after!)

10. Leave the macarons for at least half an hour for the 'skin' to form (when you gently touch the shell your finger shouldn't stick to it!). How long this will take can depend on the weather, temperature, humidity etc. so just keep gently poking them until they are ready. Poke, poke, poke!

11. Bake them in a 160C oven for about 7 min then turn the tray around to (to ensure they bake evenly) and cook for a further 7 min or until firm to touch ( to test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's ready!). If not yet ready keep a close eye on them and give them another test every minute or so.

12. When finished take out of the oven and leave to cook completely on the baking trays.

 

For the Candy Cane Filling:

 

100g White Chocolate

60ml Cream

Few drops of Peppermint Essence

50g Butter (optional)

*I never used to add the butter but I find it does give you a nicer consistency in the end*

Method:

1. Break the chocolate into small, even sized pieces and place in a heatproof bowl

2. Bring the cream to the boil (either on the stove or, if your short on time) in the microwave and pour over the chocolate

3. Leave the mix to stand for a minute then stir with a spatula until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth

4. Add the peppermint essence (add as much or as little as you want, subtle or bold flavours: both a good!) and mix well

5. Allow the mixture to sit and cool until it is at room temp and has thickened then, if desired, using a hand blender to blitz in the butter.

6. Pipe the mixture onto the macaron shells and sandwich together. Voila!