Happy Easter Bunny Macarons!

These have been done by others before me, but I thought I'd make some with my own twist.

To get the bunny shape, I printed some bunny templates that were simple enough to pipe out.

To make them look more like bunnies, I used a skewer and some black food dye and painted on some eyes and a nose (I attempted some whiskers on some but it was a little over the top)

Because I made them grey (this has been questioned by many who have eaten them), I added some sprinkles on the ears to add some colour.

They took the same amount of time to bake as usual (13 mins)

And I sandwiched them with banana marshmallow ganache and packaged them in cellophane bags as an alternative to easter eggs this year...

Butter Popcorn with Salted Caramel Macarons for Timmy...

These were to reward Timmy for doing a week's worth of on-call for me...well worth the effort, I think!

To make the macarons, follow the salted caramel macaron recipe here.

Tiramisu Macarons...

This idea came from a couple of different people, and I finally got around to making these last week.

Essentially the flavours come from the white chocolate ganache, coffee ganache, and the cocoa powder on the top. Perhaps next time I may add a splash of marsala or some other liqueur to the white chocolate ganache to add an extra kick.

Valentine's Day Macarons - Pink Marshmallow Hearts

This year for Valentine's day, I thought I'd re-visit the heart shaped macarons from last year. I had to make these in a hurry (at about 9pm on a Wednesday night) so I used my trusty quick macaron recipe (AKA French meringue method) and whipped these up in a couple of hours. The only downside of the French meringue method is that you don't get many macarons for the ingredients you put in...

These are made with a marshmallow filling (see previous post for recipe).

Supermarket Macarons...

I started making macarons for home consumption about 5 years ago, because if you wanted a macaron in Melbourne, your only choice was a stale, hard and crunchy one from Laurent.

Yesterday, as I wandered through the aisles of my two local supermarkets, I realised how much things have changed.

I found (in the pie section, strangely) a box of macarons - imported from France, with an expiry date of the 12th of Feb (by which time the macarons would be hard enough to crack a tooth, no doubt)

Honeydew Melon Macarons...

Inspired by my new boxes and stickers hand delivered from Shanghai by Karen and a new platter from Singapore from Fiona, I decided to make some honeydew melon macarons using the Zuko juice powder.

My new macaron boxes from Karen (sticker designed by Richard)

300 macarons for Dorothy and Ken's wedding

Sticky date and toffee macarons

Freshly sandwiched

Macaron batter for piping

Macaron batter ready for piping

Piped macarons resting before baking

Baked and waiting to be sandwiched

Ever wondered what 300 macarons on a plate would look like?

At least the bride managed to eat one!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all...thought I'd share my macaron-related Christmas present from my sister with you all. I highly recommend it - it's filled with wonderful recipes not only for macarons but other sweet cakes and pastries too!

And also my wreath of macarons:

Christmas Gifts: Gingerbread boxes with macarons

This year, I wanted to give my team at work a gift to thank them for all their hard work throughout the year.

I enlisted my sister to make some gingerbread boxes (6.5cm x 6.5cm x 6.5cm) and filled them with macarons and packaged them in cellophane with gold wire ties.

What do you think?

Christmas Macarons #3: Chocolate Mint

The second-last of my Christmas Macarons for 2011 (I'm running out of room in my freezer!) are my chocolate & mint macarons.

I used to make these with chocolate ganache flavoured with peppermint oil but have since found that using Lindt Mint Intense works best.

The ganache works well with 1:1 of cream and the chocolate.

For a Christmas touch, I decided to try decorating them with edible gold paint. Not sure if I'm 100% happy with them but they'll taste good regardless!

Christmas Macarons #2: Sticky Date, Ginger and Toffee...

I highly recommend these for Christmas - they're delicious!

Sticky Date Ganache:

For the filling, begin by covering ~100g pitted dates with ~250mL hot water and a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Put in microwave for 30 seconds, drain water and then squash dates with a spoon until a smooth paste forms. Stir in 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.

Pitted dates

Meanwhile, make a white chocolate ganache by heating 80g of cream and adding 200g of good quality white chocolate (I prefer Lindt's white to Callebaut's white). Add the date paste to the ganache and allow to cool in the fridge while you make the macaron shells.

Sticky date ganache

Toffee Sauce:

To make the toffee sauce, heat 100g of castor sugar in a pan until melted and golden. Carefully add 30g of cream and mix until combined. Set aside to cool.

Macaron Shells:

For the shells, follow the recipe here. Once cooled, carefully brush shells with gold shimmer powder

Adding gold shimmer dust

Pipe shells with sticky date ganache and a touch of toffee sauce.

Macarons can last a few weeks in the freezer if frozen immediately after assembly. To defrost, simply remove from freezer a few hours before serving.

Christmas Macarons #1: Jaffa (chocolate & orange) macarons for Cynthia's friend...

To make these two-toned macarons, make a batch of orange shells and a batch of chocolate (you can try doing both at the same time like I did but I ended up cursing the entire time and put myself in a bad mood!). The biggest problem with making two-toned macarons is getting the size of both colours exactly the same (each batch you make will spread to a different degree when piped).

The generic macaron recipe can be found here.

For the ganache, make your choice of a milk or dark chocolate ganache (equal parts cream and chocolate).  Before you allow it to cool, add some orange oil to flavour it. If you have an orange handy, you can add some finely grated orange rind in too.

New title...new layout

No, you haven't gone to the wrong blog - this is the former "Macarons by Erica" with a new name and layout but everything else will remain the same!

Check back next week for this year's Christmas Macarons - Salted Caramel with Festive Spice...

Raspberry Macarons for Hazel

These macarons are for Hazel's first birthday.

The filling is made using only raspberries and white chocolate.

To make the filling, heat 100g of raspberries and use a fork or spoon to squash them until they form a juice-like consistency.

Add 120g of white chocolate and combine until all melted. Allow to cool in the fridge for a few hours.

For the shells, why not try the Italian meringue recipe:

•   110g egg whites

•   150g caster sugar

•   35g water

•   150g almond meal

•   150g icing sugar

Add caster sugar and water to a saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches 119°C (using a candy thermometer). 

Whisk 55g of the egg whites until frothy. Slowly add the hot sugar syrup and beat on until thick and glossy.

Continue to beat the meringue until it has cooled enough to touch the sides of the bowl.

Add a spoon of the meringue to the almond mixture to lighten the mixture, then fold through remaining meringue until combined and at the right consistency.

Pipe onto baking trays and bake at 130°C for 13 minutes (may vary with different ovens).

Allow to cool completely before removing from trays and sandwiching with raspberry filling.

Musk Macarons

Inspired by Cafe Vue's vanilla and musk macaron, made using musk sticks!

For the shells, use the generic macaron recipe, using pink colouring to colour the shells and to add speckled appearance (use a pastry brush and flick the colouring onto macarons before resting).

For the filling, melt 100g of musk sticks with 100g of cream in a saucepan. Add 50g of white chocolate and mix until smooth.

Macaron tips and troubleshooting

I often get asked about problems people encounter when making macarons and I thought I'd share a few here.

1. Macarons crack in the oven
• Don't be tempted to bake your macarons until a firm skin has formed on the surface of the entire macaron. If there is any part of the macaron which is still wet on the surface, cracks will form when you bake them
2. No feet form when I bake them
• Your initial temperature is too low - start baking at a higher heat and drop down once your feet form after a few minutes if you are concerned about the macarons colouring
3. Macarons have a bumpy appearance
• I always grind my own almonds from scratch - store bought almond meal is generally too coarse and thus will result in a bumpy surface on the macaron
• Grinding almonds alone in a food processor will result in a big lump of oily almond paste. To avoid this, grind equal quantities of almonds and icing sugar together - this prevents the paste from forming, and saves you sifting the icing sugar! This mixture is called a tant-pour-tant
4. Always follow the recipe you are using - there are two main methods (some say three, but we won't complicate things here):
• French Method: this involves raw egg whites being beaten to a stiff meringue with a small amount of castor sugar. A tant-pour-tant isn't used in this method as there is generally double the amount of icing sugar to almond meal used in this method. This method is faster and less of a hassle than the Italian method below, but is not suitable for making large batches and is pore prone to failure. Most of the amateur cook books and cooking magazines use this method (eg. Women's Weekly, Donna Hay etc.)
• Italian Method: this involves making an Italian meringue using a hot sugar syrup and half of the egg whites, and mixing in the other half of the egg whites with the tant-pour-tant. This method is favored by the likes of Pierre Herme and Adriano Zumbo and is great for making large batches (up to 100 macarons). The failure rate for this method is low.

Hopefully this helps with your next macaron attempt - feel free to email me with any questions I haven't addressed above!

Caramel centered chocolate macarons...

To start these, make your caramel first:

Melt 100g castor sugar until golden

Add 66g cream (carefully)

Then add 100g butter

Combine until glossy, then put in fridge until ready to use

When ready to pipe, whisk with electric beaters until pale and creamy (see images below)

Caramel before whipping

Caramel after whipping

 Next, make a chocolate ganache (100g chocolate, 100g cream), and allow to cool in the fridge.

For the chocolate macaron shells, use the generic macaron recipe but replace 30g of icing sugar with 30g of cocoa powder.

Once cooled, pipe the whipped caramel in the centre of each macaron.

Then pipe around the caramel with the chocolate ganache (be careful not to use too much or it will spill over the edges)

And the finished product:

Donate Your Lunch Money

As part of World Food Day, Foodbank Victoria have this great initiative where you can donate your lunch money here to help the 400,000 Victorians that at some stage in the year miss a meal because of hardship or crisis.

You know those macarons or that slice of cake you were thinking of devouring at lunchtime? why not use the money you were going to spend on lunch and donate it to a worthy cause?

Please make a little sacrifice and support this worthy charity by clicking on the image below.

White Lychee Macarons...

Although I always groan about making them (they really are a pain), white macarons do have a uniqueness to them.

These are lychee flavoured - using a generous splash of Soho Lychee Liqueur in a white chocolate ganache. I have tried using lychee juice and/or chunks of lychee but the flavour is never intense enough without the Soho.

For the macaron shell recipe, see my old post here.

The trick to keeping them white is to bake at 100 degrees celsius rather than 150, and bake for an extra 5 minutes (I kept mine in for 18 mins instead of the usual 13).

Crème brûlée & Raspberry Macarons

Macaron shell recipe as per usual, coloured with pink colouring.

For the filling:

White chocolate ganache (2:1 white chocolate:cream)

Toffee (castor sugar, heated until melted and golden brown) - spread thinly with a spatula onto some baking paper (be very careful). Once set, break into small pieces and stir through ganache.

Raspberry 'jelly' (3:1 raspberries:castor sugar, heated until boiling then cooled)