Mermaid Macarons

Finally, I have cracked the recipe for macarons (not macaroons, which are those English coconut cherry biscuits). I've had more than my fair share of macaron failures, when all seemed lost and those beautifully arranged pyramids of symmetrical macarons that you see in patisseries felt like some unattainable feat of perfection. 

But I'm glad to say after a good deal of trial and error, I have achieved what I think, is as close to a perfect macaron as I can get. 

I've played around with making macarons with the Swiss meringue. This is the one that is made by placing the egg whites and sugar over a bain marie, which warms them up and makes them easier to aerate. However, sometimes this seemed to work and other times, it failed miserably. So I resorted to the Italian meringue and this worked like a dream. 

Gradually adding the sugar syrup to the meringue, gave a far more glossy, stable meringue that made the most wonderful macarons. As well as this, I sieved my ground almonds. This makes your macarons have that signature smooth, glossy finish that is impossible to achieve if your mixture is, by any means, grainy. 

What I have here is just the basic recipe, but you can add food colouring paste (like I did to achieve these pale teal macarons), rose water, orange blossom essence, vanilla, mint extract etc to make macarons that suit your taste. As well as this, you can fill them with so many different fillings, ganache is a rich and creamy contrast to the light sweetness of the macaron, but buttercream or a fruit curd is good too. A little bird told me they are amazing between a scoop of ice cream! 

What gives these macarons their characteristic rim (technical term is 'feet') is when you leave to macarons to develop a skin, which when you touch the mixture before baking, it shouldn't be sticky. I found about fifteen minutes sufficed, but you may find that yours take longer, depending on the size. Here's the recipe for these wonderful macarons: 

Macarons

(Makes 22, petit four size). 

Fill them close to the time you need them, to prevent them going soggy, makes a stunning gift for someone special! 

Macaron base: 
100g/4oz ground almonds
100g/4oz icing sugar 
40g egg white
Food colouring and/or flavoring of your choice 

For the Italian meringue: 
100g caster sugar
25ml water
40g egg white
A pinch of cream of tartar 

For the dark chocolate ganache filling (optional): 
150ml double cream
125g dark chocolate, finely chopped (or chips)
15g softened butter

1) Sieve the ground almonds and icing sugar well together and combine. Mix into this the egg white and food colouring/flavouring until a smooth paste is achieved. 

2) Put the caster sugar, water and cream of tartar into a small saucepan and allow to boil. Meanwhile, whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Allow the syrup to reach hard ball stage, to about 115C (the correct temperature should be 121C, but the syrup continue to cook after you take it off, so it is best to remove it from the heat before it reaches this temperature. 

3) Whilst vigorously beating the egg whites, begin to incorporate the syrup into the egg whites, whisking thoroughly before adding more syrup. Keep whisking until all the syrup has been incorporated and you are left with a thick, glossy, voluminous meringue. 

4) Add a third of the meringue into the base and fold until no streaks are present. Fold in the rest, and your mixture is ready to be piped onto baking trays! 

5) Pipe carefully onto baking trays, I did circles of about 4cm. A template really helps here if you find it hard to do them all the same size, as it ruins their appearance if they don't quite match up when you join the two together! Allow to 'skin' for about 15-30 minutes. 

6) Bake at 150C for 15-20 minutes, until dry to the touch. Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before carefully lifting with a palette knife to a cooling rack. 

7) To make the ganache, heat the cream until just under the boil. Combine this with the chocolate, and stir until melted and smooth. If it's not quite melted, then put on the heat briefly. Do not over heat. Add the butter and stir until mixed. Put in the fridge until of a soft set consistency and pipe between the macaron shells.