It seems that I may have become a bit lazy in my macaron making. I started taking short cuts. Like not regrinding the almonds with the icing sugar. I feel so ashamed. My macarons came out fine and beautiful for the most part, except, sadly, for one of my favourites: vanilla. I don't why, but it saddens me, so I shall do away with my slothful ways and make some legit macarons from scratch with all the bells and whistles. Mostly because I have an order that needs to be completed, but also to redeem myself.
I only needed 15 vanilla macs for the order, but I made extra to buffer against the realistic possibility of cracking and sticking. If you've ever made macarons, then you know what I mean. I've used white chocolate mousse for the filling, simply because I happened to be making white chocolate mousse on the same day, so I kept some back for the macs.
Rasperry, Vanilla and White Chocolate Macarons
Violet and Vanilla Macarons
Macaron Shells:
200g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
200g sugar
67g water
150g egg white
Vanilla paste
Combine the almonds and icing sugar and regrind the lot sifting the powder into another bowl in batches. Add half of the unbeaten egg white to the almond powder and the vanilla paste.
Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over a medium-high heat. Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved, then don't stir again. Using a sugar thermometer, heat the sugar water until it reaches 115 degrees Celsius.
Immediately begin beating the rest of the egg white on the highest setting until fluffy. By this stage the sugar should have reached 118 degrees Celsius. Lower the mixer speed, but carry on beating and slowly adding the molten sugar in a thin stream. This will take some time. Once all the sugar has been added, set the mixer to the highest setting and continue to beat until the mixture reaches room temperature.
Take one large spoonful of the Italian meringue and mix it briskly into the almond powder. Add another spoonful until and mix in the same way until the mixture is loose and not so dry. Add the rest of the meringue and fold until the desired texture is reached. When you drop a spoonful of the mixture, it should collapse and smoothen, but not run everywhere. Put the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and pipe round discs about 2cm in diameter.
Allow the discs to rest for a minimum of 20 min and set your oven (convection) to 160 degrees Celsius. After the macs have rested nicely, lower the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Bake the macs, one tray at a time, for about 9 minutes depending on the oven. I sandwiched my macs together with white chocolate mousse and alternated with raspberry and chopped, candied violets.
White Chocolate Mousse
4 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
250ml milk
vanilla paste to taste
2 tsp gelatin
400g white chocolate
250ml cream
1 eggwhite
Put the chocolate in a bowl placed over a saucepan of boiling water until the chocolate melts. Bring the milk to the boil with the vanilla paste in a saucepan. While that's going down, beat the egg yolks and the caster sugar in a bowl set over the saucepan of boiling water. When the milk starts to boil, switch off the heat, but carry on whisking the yolks until pale and thick. Gradually add the milk to the yolks, mixing constantly. Continue mixing and put the bowl over the saucepan of boiling water once again. Stir until the mixture starts to thicken like a custard. Take it off the heat.
Dissolve the powdered gelatine in about a tablespoon of water. Add the dissolved gelatine to the custard. Now make a white chocolate custard. Mix the custard into the white chocolate, one to two spoonfuls at a time. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.
Add the egg white to the cream and beat until it is thick, but floppy. Fold the cream into the cooled white chocolate custard, one spoonful at a time. Pour the mixture into the little containers. Set in the fridge for as long as it takes your fridge to set it.
White Chocolate Mousse Jars
Epic!
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