Good morning everyone, I hope you are all well.
Last Sunday was Mother’s Day in Norway, and my love gave me chocolate, movie tickets and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
So romantic.
Speaking of romance, do you have special plans for Valentine’s Day?
How about making these heart shaped macarons?
Here is the recipe.
Macarons
- 2 oz. (60 g) egg whites, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (150 g) regular sugar
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
- 1 1/2 cup (170 g) very finely ground almonds
- 1 1/3 cup (170 g) powdered sugar
- 2 oz. (60 g) egg whites, at room temperature
Put 2 oz./60 g egg whites into a mixing bowl and attach the whisk to the mixer. The mixer is now ready for later.
Put the sugar and water into a small saucepan on a medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved.
When the sugar has dissolved, remove the spoon and bring to the boil – no more stirring. Place a sugar thermometer into the saucepan and cook until the syrup reahces 235 F/113 C.
When the syrup has reached a temperature of 235˚F/113˚C – start the mixer with the egg whites, maximum speed.
When the syrup has reached 239˚F/115˚C – take it off the heat and pour slowly into the mixing bowl with the egg whites. Pour down the inside of the bowl to avoid that the syrup touches the whisk. Continue whisking for about 7-8 minutes or until the bowl no longer feels warm to the touch.
Add food coloring paste at the very end, if you like.
Meanwhile, mix together the very finely ground almonds, powdered sugar and the remaining 2 oz./60 g egg whites.
Make sure everything is well blended, there should be no visible dry ingredients.
When the meringue mixture is done mixing, stir a spoonful into the almond paste to loosen the mixture.
Now fold in the remaining meringue mixture. It’s important to fold carefully to avoid losing too much air, use a rubber spatula to fold and “lift” the mixture rather than stirring it.
Fold the mixture until it looks loose enough to be piped, but make sure it does’t get too runny.
Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a wide circular tip and pipe little rounds onto a sheet of baking paper, or pipe heart shaped macarons onto a silicone macaron mat like the one shown here.
Put the macarons in a 275˚F/135˚C oven, I use the fan setting.
Bake for about 15-17 minutes, but check regularly after 12 minutes. Touch a macaon with your finger to see if it’s done, the surface should be dry and it should be quite firm to the touch.
You don’t want macarons to change color or brown while baking, if they do you may need to adjust the temperature on your oven.
Leave to cool while you get on with the filling.
I made two different colors here, I used Dusky Pink from Sugarflair for both, but added a touch of brown as well for the darker shade.
White chocolate ganache:
- 5 1/3 oz. (150 g) white chocolate
- 1/4 cup (50 ml) heavy cream
Put the white chocolate into a bowl. Heat the cream and pour it over the chocolate, leave to rest for a few minutes and then stir until smooth.
Use the filling to sandwich together the macarons.
I decorated with a little edible gold leaf, edible gold dust is very pretty here, too.
I wish you all a lovely Valentine’s Day.
Hugs from me to you.
