Christmas Macarons

Christmas is here once again and once again I felt motivated to cook something and something also for Christmas. I again turned to the macaron, to give it a Christmas feel. With my cooking ability and creative license limited I decided to search for recipes to take a slightly different approach. I was to add lemon rind in the making of the macaron shell, but actually forgot to add it. So the macaron shell is made in the same way as the ones I have made previously.  I even tried to sprinkle some coconut over the uncooked shells but that did not work out as I did not cook them completely in the oven and took them out too early. So they broke as I tried to remove them from the baking paper. Taking then out too early was motivated by paranoia about the macarons turning brown and so I took them out when the started rising in the oven. Make chocolate ones I say. So here are macarons that were made successfully.

The ingredients

The shell

3 egg whites aged

60 grams caster sugar

195grams icing sugar, sifted

120grams ground almonds, sifted

1 tablespoon of lemon rind, finely grated

Green food colouring

Raspberry Cream

60 ml thicken cream

150 grams white chocolate, coarsely chopped

45 grams defrosted raspberries, crushed

The method

Preheat a fan forced over to 130 degree Celsius. Line two trays with baking paper.

Beat the egg whites with an electric mixture until they turn white and form soft peaks. Gradually add the caster sugar until it becomes thick and glossy. It generally has a sheen to it. Add the green food colouring.

Egg whites

Egg whites and caster sugar, with green food colouring

Add one half of the sifted icing sugar and almond meal mixture to the egg whites and fold gently. This is the time to add the lemon rind.Fold the mixture until it has a smooth ribbon like consistency.

Smooth ribbon like consistency

 

 

 

 Fill a piping bag with a 1 cm wide nozzle and pipe it onto the baking trays. Allow to stand for 30 minutes until the mounds form a crust.

Place the trays into the oven and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes. When completed remove from the oven and allow to cool.

 

While the shells are baking away you can make the raspberry cream.

In a saucepan bring the cream to the boil and remove from heat. 

Thicken cream on the stove

Add the white chocolate and mix until smooth. 

Allow to cool and then add the crushed raspberries.

Crushed raspberries

Raspberry cream

Now I found this cream to be slightly runny, even when leaving in the fridge over night. I would probably increase the white chocolate content or reduce the cream or raspberry content.You can see the runny raspberry cream in the finished product.

Then sandwich two shells together but using the raspberry cream. Your Christmas colour macarons are complete.

Look they are not brown