A BOUQUET OF MACARONS

Last month I was minding my own business when my friend Vy sent me a message with a little macaron-design-teaser. This amazing baker – check her page here – shared some carnation macarons that were simply spectacular, and Vy thought I should try to make them (don’t I have great friends????). I resisted for a while, but then decided to go for it. I attempted two floral designs, first using my regular French meringue method, but that did not work well. So I am sharing the exact recipe I used for both, a Swiss-meringue version that is slightly sturdier and performed better to hold shape. The tulip-shape template for piping was from this site. I used it for the larger, pink flowers, the others were free-hand over a circle shape.

MACARON FLOWERS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

100g almond flour
100g powdered sugar
100g egg whites
100g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pink, red, green gel food color

Process almond flour and powdered sugar in food processor, about 10 pulses, then pass through a sieve. Reserve.

Bring the sugar and egg whites to the top of a pan with simmering water and whisk until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture feels smooth if you rub your fingers into it, 2 to 3 minutes. Immediately transfer it to a KitchenAid bowl and whisk on medium-high until the meringue form solid peaks that fold just slightly as you hold the whisk up. This will take 8 to 12 minutes. Add vanilla. Add the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture, put the blade beater and mix for a few seconds. Mix a little more by hand, remove a small amount do dye green, and dye most of the meringue pink or red. Proceed to do the macaronage but do not take it as smooth as normally for regular macs, you need to hold it back so that the mixture is thicker and holds its shape when piped.

Place the red meringue in a piping bag fitted with a leaf icing tip (104 works well). Place the green meringue in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, maybe 1/4 inch.

Pipe petals in the shape you desire, then a little green stem. Do not bang the sheet. Let them fully dry until the surface is not moist at all. These need to dry more than round shells, or they will explode. Some cracks will happen, but they usually do not interfere too much with the design.

Fill the shells with the filling of your choice. I used raspberry buttercream (from this post, but regular butter instead of vegan).

Leave the macarons in the fridge for 24 hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The larger, pink version had a slight curve in the shape, so it is important that you print the template in two orientations, and then pipe half the shells in one particular way. The smaller, red flowers were symmetrical, so no need to worry about that.

The more you hold back the macaronage, the sharper the shape will be, and I could have made my batter slightly thicker, but it is hard to judge when to stop. I think it was a good compromise and I did not have that many cracks or explosions. All the shells were painted with a little luster powder and vodka but that step is of course optional. It is hard for me to leave cookies alone, as you know…..

If you enjoy making macarons, consider trying some alternative ways to pipe the batter, there are so many possibilities, I am thinking of autumn leaves next, so stay tuned!