Christmas Tree Macarons & Merry Christmas!

For the past week, my daughter has been very excited about the arrival of Christmas Day. She had even written a letter to Santa, requesting for a nice Christmas present (a giant bubble blower...whatever that means) and said she has been a good girl for the longest time. Among all these excitement, she has not forgotten to play good hostess. She said it is a must that we prepare cookies and milk for Santa when he comes deliver the presents on Christmas night. If we did not prep any cookies, she claim that Santa will be very angry and will not give her the presents. Gosh! The books and programs she's been watching! Well I did played along with her of course, since it is fun for the kids to have a little hope and fantasy. Believe me, we even made my kids believe there is tooth fairy! Lol!

Anyway, I was gonna keep things simple by baking a batch of butter or oatmeal cookies. But when I asked my girl what is her most favorite cookie in the whole world...she said macarons. (I had to ask...);P I played with the idea and then finally decided to make it anyways. And to participate in the AB this month, I piped it into Christmas tree shape!

Tah-dah! Nice? Although the green can be slightly darker, but I am still quite happy with the end result. :) I was a little worried at first as it has been ages since I last baked macarons. ;P But luckily it didn't fail me. *~phew~* And you know who is more excited then me of course....my daughter said "Santa will be very happy".....(*_*")

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I have used back the same trusty recipe, the Italian meringue method to bake this batch of macarons. :) I used chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream as the filling this time, since it's the all time favorite for my family. ;))

Ingredients for Earl Gray Macarons (makes about 25 cookies)

100g Almond meal (I ground mine from whole blanched almonds)
100g icing sugar
38g fresh egg whites (about 2 egg whites)

green food coloring / 1/4 tsp green tea powder
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 green food coloring or green tea powder. 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 into seven 20cents coin size circles which forms a Christmas tree. 

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•  Let rest the batter till it doesn't stick to your finger's touch. 

• Preheat the oven to 150C with fan off.

• Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 14mins.

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

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

75g chopped dark chocolate

300g Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Melt the chocolate in the microwave and let cool for a minute before mixing into the room temperature buttercream. 

Assemble:

• Melt about 40g of dark chocolate and dip the ends of the macaron cookie into it. Then let it cool to set.
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• Once the chocolate has set, fill macarons with the chocolate SMB and sandwich with one more cookie.
• Decorate the cookie at will or just enjoy them as is. :)

I really enjoyed myself when I made these macarons, so fun! So perhaps you can try it out and get into the festive mood! Go, there's still time, hahaha!

One word....yummy good! 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my friends and readers out there a Merry and Blessed Christmas! 

I would like to submit this post to this month's Aspiring Bakers #26 - Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies.

Thanks for staying with me folks!