Snickers (peanut, chocolate, caramel) Macarons...

Inspired by a dessert I enjoyed at Golden Fields last week, here are Snickers macarons.

For the shells, a reminder of the quick macaron recipe (French meringue)


110g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
50g caster sugar
90g egg whites
colouring of your choice - I used Parisian Browning Essence for these, but you could substitute 2 tbsp of icing sugar for cocoa powder.

Whisk egg white to stiff peaks, gradually adding the caster sugar. Add colouring to achieve intensity you desire. Fold almonds and icing sugar into the eggwhites, "macaroning" until you achieve the correct consistency. Pipe rounds onto baking trays and leave until a skin forms (usually at least 30 mins, much longer if humidity is high). Bake at 150 deg C for 12-13 mins, cool and remove from trays.


For the fillings (there are 3):


Peanut Caramel:
Make a caramel (see salted caramel macaron recipe), but do not whisk - fold through chopped peanuts and set aside to cool

Peanut marshmallow:
Melt 1 cup of white marshmallows with 3 tbsp cream
Fold through 1tbsp smooth peanut butter and set aside to cool


Milk chocolate ganache
Heat 60g cream to almost boiling and add 60g milk chocolate. Stir well until a ganache forms. Set aside to cool.


To assemble, spread one macaron with milk chocolate ganache then top with peanut caramel. Spread the other macaron with peanut marshmallow, then sandwich together,

Popping Candy Macarons

This idea was originally thought up by my sister. I wasn't sure if the candy would stay "unpopped" in the ganache for long enough, but so far so good!

For the shells:
150g ground almonds
150g icing sugar
150g castor sugar
38g water
110g egg whites

Method:
Sift almonds and icing sugar into a bowl. Add 55g of egg whites and set aside.
Place 150g castor sugar with 38g water into a saucepan - heat until it reaches 118 degrees on a sugar thermometer. When this mixture reaches ~110 degrees, start whisking the remaining 55g of egg whites until soft peaks form.

Carefully pour the sugar syrup into the egg white mixture whilst beating (to make an Italian meringue)
Fold the meringue mixture into the almond mixture, put into piping bags and pipe into rounds.
Rest until a skin forms, then bake at 150 degrees for 12-13 mins.


For the filling, make a white chocolate ganache with strawberry oil and 3 packets of Pop Rock!

You can feel the candy popping in your mouth as you eat the macarons. I tried a few without the strawberry oil but I think it needs the extra flavour.

And a reminder that you can follow this blog on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/MacaronsbyErica

New macaron trays from Karen

Had to share my new macaron trays with you all - hand delivered from Shanghai by my friend Karen. They're great :-)

Salted Caramel and Praline Macarons for Sarah

These are for new mum, Sarah.

For the shells:
150g ground almonds
150g icing sugar
150g castor sugar
38g water
110g egg whites

Method:
Sift almonds and icing sugar into a bowl. Add 55g of egg whites and set aside.
Place 150g castor sugar with 38g water into a saucepan - heat until it reaches 118 degrees on a sugar thermometer. When this mixture reaches ~110 degrees, start whisking the remaining 55g of egg whites until soft peaks form.
Carefully pour the sugar syrup into the egg white mixture whilst beating (to make an Italian meringue)
Fold the meringue mixture into the almond mixture, put into piping bags and pipe into rounds.
Rest until a skin forms, then bake at 150 degrees for 12-13 mins.

Filling:
200g castor sugar
200g good quality unsalted butter
150g fresh cream
7g good quality salt flakes

Method:
Make a toffee with the sugar (heat until melted and golden)
Carefully add the cream in slowly (continue to whisk but beware of steam burns!)
Add the butter in gradually in chunks until melted and combined
Cool in fridge over night (or for a few hours)
Whisk until it becomes pale and fluffy (I used my electric mixer for ~5 mins) then add in salt flakes

Food Safari - Pierre Herme

Not a new recipe but for those of you who are interested, Food Safari met Pierre Herme on last night's episode and they made macarons...

You can view the episode here