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Macarons adapted from How To Cook That Macaron Shells: 220g (7.76 ounces) or 1 3/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) Passionfruit Buttercream adapted from Cupcake Jemma 100g unsalted butter, soft |
To make Macaron Shells Preheat oven to 320F (160 deg Celsius). Use a thermometer to be exactly precise. (I usually preheat the oven while I wait for macarons to dry later on). Sift together the icing sugar and almond meal using a coarse sieve (if you use a fine sieve the almond meal will not go through). Discard any gritty bits of almond meal that do not go through. Beat together the egg whites and caster sugar on high speed until they are stiff enough that you can turn the bowl upside down without them falling out. Beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add the almond icing sugar mixture and fold in using a rubber spatula. Keep gently folding until the mixture looks like lava, it should have some movement but not be runny. While you are folding periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the spatula to make sure everything is mixed uniformly. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe small circles of mixture onto non-stick baking paper. Slide onto a baking tray and bang on the bench firmly several times on each side. Allow to dry until a shell has formed around the macarons, and then place in the oven. Bake at 160 deg C until a foot has formed and the shells are crisp. This takes roughly 10-12 minutes. Try not to open the oven during the cooking process as this will cause a drop in oven temp and may make your macarons hollow. Cool and then gently peel off the baking paper (if you can’t do this easily the shells are not done yet) and pair similar-sized shells. Sometimes I like to flip the macarons over to prevent hollows as it cools (not sure how effective it actually is but no harm). To make Passionfruit Buttercream Beat unsalted butter for 5 minutes. Sieve in 1/2 of icing sugar and beat until incorporated. Add second half to the icing sugar and beat until buttercream is smooth, pale and light (takes around 3-5 minutes). Mix another 5 minutes to incorporate more air. Mix 2-3 tbsp of whole milk to the desired consistency. Add freeze-dried passionfruit, around 1-2 tbsp or to taste. Continue beating for around 3-4 minutes until happy with consistency. To Assemble Cool macaron shells to room temperature. Pipe buttercream onto each macaron, and sandwich two similar-sized macarons shells together. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours for macarons to mature before serving (very important!). Enjoy! |
My Dose of Sugar 