Today's recipe is yet again, a recipe for macarons. Truth is, in my family love them, specially my 5 year old cousin. You can bring him a big Pirate Ship cake o a pretty iced cookie and, although he will like it, he won't eat all of it. But if you bring him macarons... I can assure you, he will go crazy!
Plus, I needed a lot of macarons for a project that I had in mind and that you'll see very soon!
Macarons are tricky (very tricky) but once you get the hang of it, it's really rewarding to make them.
This time, I did not flavor the shells. I simply put a little bit of food coloring on them and I let the ganache shine. This white chocolate and strawberry ganache is made with fresh strawberries! Delicious, let me tell you!
Strawberry
Macarons
Ingredients
(yields
50 macarons)
- 3 egg whites (aged for 3 days)
- 125g almond meal
- 210g confectioners sugar
- 30g granulated sugar
- Pink food coloring
Directions
- Three days before you make the macarons: separate the whites of three eggs and place them in an open container in the fridge, without covering them.
- Mix the almond meal and the confectioners sugar and triturate it in the food processor for some minutes and sift it.
- Beat the whites until they reach a fluffy consistency. Add the granulated sugar while beating until they are glossy and opaque, and they form peaks. Add the food coloring and mix carefully with the spatula, from bottom to top.
- Add the almond meal and sugar mix little by little. You should do it in 4 or 5 times, always mixing carefully with the spatula with movements from bottom to top, in order not to deflate the whites.
- Once all the ingredients are incorporated, pour the mix in a pastry bag with a round tip.
- Make circles with the mixture, about a little less than 3cm diameter. It's better if you have done yourself a template with the circles drawn, so you can put it under the parchment paper. Once you have finished piping the mix, hit the tray on a flat surface three times. The air inside the mix in the macarons will come to the surface, puncture the bubbles with a toothpick.
- Let the macarons sit until the surface has dried (you can test it by lightly touch them with your finger- it must come out clean). They can be done in 20 minutes or 2 hours, depending on the humidity of the ambience. You must wait, however, otherwise the macarons will not rise when baked.
- Preheat the oven at 160ºC (320ºF).
- Bake for 15 minutes. After this time, open the oven door and, carefully so you do not get burned, touch the upper part of one of the cookies. If the top can be slide off the bottom, let them bake for 5 more minutes, testing them again after.
- The baking time will depend on the oven and the temperature. It is better to let them cook longer than to rise the temperature too much; I have baked them for a little more than 25 minutes.
- Take them out of the oven and let the parchment paper slide off the tray onto the table or the kitchen marble. Wait for them to cool down completely before peeling them off the paper.
Assembling
the Macarons:
- Match the cookies by size. Put a small ball of ganache on one of them and put the other half on it, gently. Twist the halves until they are separated only by some millimeters.
- Let the macarons sit in the fridge, in an air sealed container for at least 24 hours before serving.
Strawberry
Ganache
Ingredients
- 150g white chocolate (chopped)
- 150g strawberries
- 15g sugar
Directions
- Slice the strawberries and put them in a pot, along with the sugar. Cook at medium heat until the strawberries can be squashed with the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and triturate them. (Optional: sieve the puree.)
- Pour the puree on the chopped white chocolate while still hot, to melt the chocolate.
- Stir with a spatula until the chocolate has completely melted.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours before using it.
Hope you like them!
Here are the pdfs for the Macarons and the Strawberry White Chocolate Ganache.
Anna
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