Earl Gray Macarons with Passion Fruit Buttercream

It was my sister's birthday a couple weeks back and we only managed to meet up recently to have a dinner together. Since we are all busy with our own life, it's always nice to be able to just come out, and have some quality time and catch up a little. And since our last gathering, we had this really delicious dark chocolate macaron tower compliments from my sister as a Christmas gift which she bought from a well known bakery here. We enjoyed it so much and at some point, I told my sisters that I will make some for them as well. And so I did. (^_^)

Since I wanted to try a new recipe as from what I did earlier. I went ahead to try out the recipe from Swee San plus a different filling. Passion fruit buttercream to be specific, since my sisters love passion fruit flavor very much.

I have to say this time round the shells did turn out better then the previous time. I guess whenever you try out recipes this delicate, its best you follow to the DOT. It's pretty devastating if it turns out cracking or no "feet"...been there, done that. And you bet if I did preparation work, aging the egg whites in the fridge, reading up the recipes, making the filling ahead...just to be sure I don't mess up. :P

Super thrilled when I see this going on the oven...happiness! I guess no matter how many times you had baked macarons, you will still have that anxious feeling whether it will turn out well.

I will post up the recipe here for easier reference in future. Thanks so much to Swee San for the great recipe. :)

Ingredients for Earl Gray Macarons (makes about 25 cookies)

100g Almond meal (I ground mine from whole blanched almonds)
100g icing sugar
2 sachets earl grey tea
38g fresh egg whites (about 2 egg whites)
pinch of salt

100g caster sugar
24ml water

38g aged egg whites (about 2 egg whites)

• In a blender, finely ground the almond powder and confectioner's sugar together till powdery like. Then pour it into a bowl and add in the Earl Gray tea leaves. Then mix in the egg white and salt. Stir and mix well. Mixture will be thick.

• In a saucepan placed over medium fire, heat up the sugar and water. Once the sugar has all melted, place your candy thermometer in and monitor it till it reaches ~108C. Once it reaches 108C, beat the egg white at high speed till it reaches soft peaks, which by then the temperature should be close to 118C.

• Slowly drizzle the sugar syrup into the egg white while the mixer is still at medium speed. Once all the syrup is in, continue to beat till the meringue is glossy.

• Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the almond meal mixture. Since the almond mixture is thick, you'll need to stir harder to incorporate it well. Repeat the other 2 portions and fold in gently.

• Scoop the batter into a piping bag with an 10mm nozzle. Pipe out on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper. Let rest for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 150C with fan off.

• After 10 minutes, bake the cookies in the oven for 14mins.

• After baking, remove from oven and let cool completely before peeling off. 

Passion Fruit Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

Juice from 2 passion fruits, about 1/3 to 1/2 cup

100g Swiss Meringue Buttercream

 

Simply mix both ingredients together till smooth and creamy. Chill in fridge until needed.

The only down side for me is the cookies are a little sweeter then the chocolate version. I guess the cocoa powder does tone down the sweetness. I went ahead to pair it with passion fruit buttercream and it was still a little sweet to me, lol! Anyway, it's suppose to be sweet isn't it?! Live a little and enjoy that sweetness. ;)

Overall a satisfactory result. I am already looking forward to attempting my next macaron venture! Perhaps a hazelnut flavor instead of almond? We'll see. ;)

I'm happy to submit this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #17: March Macaron Madness! (Mar 2012) hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies. Thanks for hosting this month Alan!

Thanks for staying on with me. Hope you have a nice and wonderful day!