Archives for category: Macarons

Pimms Macarons

May 14, 2013 //
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So it was summer for like 5 seconds. Over last weekend’s bank holiday there was actual sun and it was warm. I wasn’t aware that this country was capable of warm anymore so it was a pleasant surprise, and perfect timing too. I mentioned we went to a birthday picnic but after that we went to a BBQ. This BBQ was amazing for many reasons, but one being the Pimms that was served. It was stuffed full of fruit and having not had it in so so long, it tasted even better. Although this weekend we didn’t have a repeat forecast (It rained and I got drenched. Boo) my friend Fiona came to stay and we decided to make macarons and immediately I knew what flavour to make. Pimms has such a great flavour and it’s one of those drinks that doesn’t taste like you’re drinking any alcohol (Dangerous. In a good way.) and reminds me so much of summer and tennis and our garden. For these macarons I began by making the shells using this recipe and had a tough time getting the pimms colour; they ended up a bit pink but I now I know for next time. For the fiilling I made a buttercream, flavoured with neat Pimms and mixed in strawberries, cucumber and mint. When assembling them I added in a large piece of strawberry in the centre which I might not do next time as it made the macarons go softer the next day and ooze strawberry goo. But boy did they taste like Pimms, especially when they were still a little chilled from the fridge. These definitely distracted me from the lack of sunshine and made it feel like summer again for 5 seconds.

Categories Alcohol, Macarons, Mint, Strawberry

Macaron Cake

April 14, 2013 //
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This might be one of my favourite things I’ve made to date. Nothing says birthday like rainbow and this birthday cake is for my cousin Eloise. She doesn’t really like cake (what?! yes.) but really liked my raspberry macarons so I decided to go on that. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look and made multiple scrawly drawings trying to plan and get it perfect. Because I feel a birthday cake should have at least a small amount of cake, I made a vanilla sponge to act as a pedestal for the macarons. I lined the outside of the cake in two tiers of macarons and put the rest on this clear 4 tier stand. I chose to do a reverse rainbow and one of the hardest parts was deciding on what flavours to use. I went for pinky red raspberry, orange, yellow passionfruit, green mojito, blue coconut and purple blueberry. I loved mixing up all the fillings, especially the mojito using rum, lime and mint. It tastes exactly like the drink! I adored making this cake but it took a long time, in fact, ALL day. But after 12 hours and many batches of macarons later it came together. I couldn’t have done it without my sister who was such a massive help. I think she secretly enjoyed it, even if I did make her wash the spatula about 16 times. I’m really proud of how it turned out and I hope Eloise enjoys eating her mountain of macarons! Happy Birthday Eloise x

Categories birthday cake, Eloise, Macarons, Rainbow

Blueberry Macarons

April 3, 2013 //
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My sister has become pretty obsessed with my macarons. She even requested some for her company, Found‘s quarterly review. I still think it’s pretty amazing that my sister works for a company whose colour is purple. It’s her favourite. So deciding what colour the macarons had to be was easy, but I wasn’t sure what flavour to make them. Most purple macarons I’ve seen are lavender, not my favourite, so I went for blueberry because it creates the perfect purple and I knew my sister would like it. For the filling I used both blueberry jam and fresh blueberries. I hope everyone enjoys them!

Macaron Filling

(for approx 36 whole macarons)

500g icing sugar

160g unsalted butter (room temperature)

3 tbsp blueberry jam

splash of milk

a large handful of fresh blueberries

Beat together the icing sugar, butter and milk. Then add the jam and mix until smooth. Add in the fresh blueberries and mix until the berries are broken up in to large pieces.

Categories Blueberry, Found, Macarons

Sweet Corn and Bacon Macarons

March 21, 2013 //
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Yesterday was ‘Macaron Day’. I was informed of this by my Sister who loved my last attempt at macarons. She recently bought me a macaron book which includes a section with savoury options. I decided to surprise her by making some with her favourite ingredient, sweet corn (I once even made her a sweet corn cake). Sweet corn and bacon is one of our family’s favourite combinations; we have it in things like chowder and even our Christmas stuffing. To make these I fried some bacon and then blended it so I could sprinkle it on top of the piped macarons before they baked. For the macarons I used this recipe and added a tiny bit of yellow colouring. For the filling I made some fresh sweet corn, chopped it up and blended it with some marscarpone. Then I added a tiny bit of icing sugar to make it extra sweet. I assembled them by putting a bit of filling and some more bacon bits inside. They are kind of delicious and have that sweet and savoury thing going on that people seem to be mad for. They need to be eaten soon after assembling as this filling makes the shells soften quicker.

Categories Bacon, Macarons, Sweet corn

Raspberry Sherbet Macarons

February 28, 2013 //
2

In my mind macarons have always been one of those things that are super difficult to make and you have to be professional and delicate and French to make them properly. Saying that, they have been on top of my list of things to learn/attempt for ages now but I’ve been putting it off for fear of total failure. After making these I can say that they are really simple and fun to make. There’s more than one way of making macarons but I decided to look around for the simplest recipe, anticipating that lots of steps, ingredients and time would be involved in the process. I chose this recipe because it seemed friendly, and it was. Only a couple of things to note: I added food colouring to the meringue, the temperature is 140°C, and they only really take about 12 minutes to bake. Oh and another thing, do not use greeseproof paper like I did on my first batch. They stick, so badly (Doh!). Use baking paper or those wonderful reusable baking sheets. Because I didn’t want to make anything too serious I chose to make raspberry sherbet flavour. I did this by sprinkling some raspberry sherbet on the macarons just after I piped them, before they had formed a skin, and then baked them. For the filling I made a buttercream with jam, fresh raspberries and more sherbet (recipe below). I put them in the fridge after assembling them which makes them taste even better. I survived my first macaron attempt and can’t wait to try some more complex combinations!

Macaron Filling

(for approx 20 whole macarons)

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 tbsp seedless raspberry jam

splash of milk

a handful of fresh raspberries

2 tsp of raspberry sherbet

Beat together the icing sugar, butter and milk. Then add the jam and sherbet and mix until smooth. Add in the fresh raspberries and mix until the berries are broken up in to large pieces.

Categories Macarons, Pink, Raspberry