Christmas Macarons in a Thermomix....the verdict

My husband bought me a Thermomix a couple of months ago as a present. I love using it for making custards, ice creams, sauces and even choux pastry, and I know others have published recipes for Thermomix macarons but I wasn't convinced it would work or would be worth the effort...

I made spiced sticky date and toffee macarons and choc mint macarons.

For the shells

110g ground almonds

200g icing sugar

50g caster sugar

90g egg whites

food colouring - brown or caramel for sticky date, green for mint

Note: you can grind the almonds and icing in the thermomix if you want to - it makes a very fine tant pour tant mixture.

Insert the butterfly attachment.

Place egg whites, food colouring and castor sugar in the thermomix bowl.

Mix on speed 4 for 4 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients and fold in by hand.

Pipe into rounds, allow skin to form then bake at 160 degrees Celsius for 13-16 minutes.

Spiced Sticky Date Toffee Ganache

Place 50g pitted dates into the Thermomix bowl

Chop for 1 minute on speed 7. Scrape down sides of bowl.

Add 50g cream and cook at 90 degrees on speed 2 for 90 seconds.

Add ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.

Add 100g white chocolate and mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes.

In a pan, heat 50g castor sugar until it turns into a deep brown toffee. Add a splash of cream and whisk we'll to loosen the mixture. Fold into sticky date mix and allow to cool.

Mint ganache

In thermomix bowl, heat 100g cream at 90 degrees for 90 seconds.

Add 200g Lindt Dark Mint Intense chocolate and mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes.

Allow to cool.

Verdict:

Did the Thermomix save me time? No

Did the Thermomix make cleaning up easier? No

Did the Thermomix make superior macarons? No

Would I use the Thermomix to make macarons again? Definitely not the shells but I will use it for ganaches and fillings.