Saturday, March 5, 2016

Strawberry-Rose Valentine's Macarons


Last month had been a little busy, hence this belated Valentine's day post. The hubby and I were both working on Valentine's day this year, but I was able to whip up a batch of strawberry macarons for the occasion, and of course they were heart shaped! Made with crushed freeze-dried strawberries and filled with rose buttercream, these macarons were a perfect little mini-celebration. We did eventually make it out to Pasadena the following weekend for a day-date and had delicious honey-lavender ice cream at Carmela. The ice cream was so scrumptious that it inspired me to make my own. Click here for my version!



Strawberry-Rose Macarons Recipe

Yield: 35 macarons


What you will need:

2 baking sheets
1 piping bag and round piping tip (I use a 2A tip for these macarons)
electric mixer
kitchen scale


Macaron Shell Ingredients:

140g egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
70g granulated sugar
230g powdered sugar
120g almond flour, sifted
8g freeze dried strawberries (crushed into a powder and sifted)
2 g salt
Gel or powdered food coloring (optional)

1 cup Buttercream (click here for my favorite recipe)
2 tsp rose water

For step-by-step tutorial with pictures, see my first macaron post: Macaron Madness


Instructions:
  1. Trace heart shapes onto parchment paper making sure they are at least 1.5 inches apart.  
  2. Preheat oven to 150C or 300F. 
  3. Whip 140g egg whites with cream of tartar using an electric mixer on low for 2 minutes, then add granulated sugar and mix on medium for 4 minutes. Finally mix on high for an additional 2-4 minutes until stiff peaks form. 
  4. If you would like to make colorful macarons, add food color gel to the egg white mixture and mix on high for an additional 30 seconds until combined, or add powdered food coloring to your dry mixture.
  5. Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar, and strawberry powder. 
  6. Add the sugar/flour mixture to the egg whites 1/3 at a time. Fold in gently, scraping the edge of the bowl often. Continue folding until mixture runs like lava.    
  7. Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe into the tracings you drew earlier. 
  8. Tap your baking sheet on a hard surface 3 times, then turn 90 degrees and tap another 3 times. This helps get rid of air bubbles and will therefore prevent hollow shells and cracking. Using a toothpick you can pop the other bubbles you see on the surface of the shells. 
  9. Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes until macarons peel off parchment paper easily. If they are sticking to the parchment paper, bake for an additional 1-2 minutes until they come off clean. 
  10. Match up your macarons by size, one side up, and one side down so they are ready to be filled
  11. Mix 2 tsp rose water with 1 cup of butter cream. Fill piping bag (again using a 2A round tip makes this step easier since you can control the buttercream and batter better than with a 1A tip). Fill your macaron shells.
  12. This was my first attempt making macarons that are not round. I haven't quite perfected piping shapes yet.... hence some of the broken hearts. 
  13. Sandwich macaron shells.
  14. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours and let thaw for 20 minutes before serving. 



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