Chocolate & Nutella Macarons

I think it's fair to say that 95% of the world's population likes nutella, so how could nutella filled chocolate  macarons not be delicious?! If you feel the way that I do about nutella, you will understand my reluctance to keep it in the pantry cupboard. Why? Because it simply doesn't last. Nutella on warm bread, nutella on crepes, nutella on a teaspoon, nutella on a dessert spoon, nutella on a finger and then, suddenly, it's all gone!

The idea behind these macarons came from meeting a lovely French girl named Sandra. Sandra is a friend of a friend and has since moved overseas with her partner. However, in the relatively little time that she and I spent together, she opened my mind about French cuisine and became somewhat of a reference point for all things French. An avid baker and home cook as well, Sandra would tell me fantastic stories about food and wine in France, and wonderful recipe ideas. She taught me how to say 'macaron' properly. She informed me that no one in France really buys Moët Chandon because it is considered to be a rather inferior product in France. Most importantly, however, she told me of the Nutella Cookbook. A cookbook filled with hundreds of recipes using the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread - sweet and savoury. Nutella spaghetti.. Nutella Cake... The list goes on. I was speechless. I was in nutella dreamland. It was time for Nutella to feature once again in my pantry.

Alas the cookbook she referred to is in French, and with my Francophone friend now living on the other side of the world, my quest to source a version in English continues.. Until then, I will have to be a bit creative. Not that sandwiching macarons with nutella is outlandishly creative, but it is wickedly decadent :)

Chocolate Macarons
Adapted recipe from The AWW Macaroons & Biscuits

3 aged egg whites (I left mine out overnight in a bowl covered with clingwrap)
1/4 c (55g) caster sugar
1 c (160g) icing sugar
1/4 c (25g) cocoa powder
1 c (120g) ground almonds
2 tsp cocoa powder, extra
Nutella, for the filling

1. Grease heavy oven trays and line with baking paper.
2. In a food processor combine the almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa powder and pulse briefly in a few 2 second bursts. Then sift the mixture twice and set aside.
2. Beat eggwhites in a small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form, starting slow then gradually building to full speed. Add caster sugar a little at a time, beat until sugar dissolves.
4. Fold in the almond meal, sugar and cocoa mixture in two batches.
5. Spoon mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a 1 cm plain tip. Pipe 4cm rounds about 2cm apart onto the trays.
6. Tap trays once on bench firmly to remove bubbles and so the macarons spread slightly.
7. Dust macarons with extra cocoa powder through a sieve; stand 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150 degree celsius.
8. Bake macarons between 15-17 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely on trays.
9. Sandwich the macarons with the nutella, and be transported to nutella heaven!

Tell me readers, what is your favourite way to eat nutella?

Ladybird x

Pistachio and Orange Blossom Macarons

For me, orange blossom water and pistachios evoke the exotic colours, scents and flavours of Middle Eastern cuisine. But what is orange blossom water? It is the distilled water that contains the essential oils of the orange blossom. It is used in savoury and sweet dishes alike, and a little goes a long way. You can pick orange blossom water at middle eastern grocery stores, as well as gourmet food stores. I picked mine up at a health food store here in Sydney.

Here is a simple, beautiful recipe to make these macarons with a slight middle eastern twist :) I have adapted this recipe from The AWW: Macaroons & Biscuits book.

Ingredients
1/3 c unsalted roasted pistachios
3 aged eggwhites (I left mine out in a bowl covered with clingfilm overnight)
1/4 c (55g) caster sugar
green food colouring
1 1/4 (200g) icing sugar
3/4 c (90g) ground almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar, extra
1/4 c pouring (pure) cream
150g white chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp orange blossom water*

* The original recipe calls for 4 tsp, however I used 2 tsp and felt the flavour was still slightly too floral. Next time I will half it to 1 tsp for a more subtle flavour. You could always add a little more if you wanted the orange blossom flavour to be stronger.

Method
1. Lightly grease heavy oven trays and line with baking paper. Combine the ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly, then sieve twice and set aside in a bowl.
2. Process pistachios until finely ground. Sift and discard any remaining course bits, then set aside.
3. Beat eggwhites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar a teaspoon at a time along with a few drops of the colouring. Beat until the sugar dissolves and the eggwhites are thick and glossy.
4. Fold in 1/4 c of the ground pistachios and then the icing sugar and ground almonds in 2 batches. The mixture should 'flow like magma', which means it should slide slowly down the side of the bowl when you tip it.
5. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm plain nozzle. Pipe 4cm rounds about 2cm apart onto trays. Tap trays on bench so macarons spread lightly.
6. Dust macarons with extra sifted icing sugar and sprinkle with a little of the remaining grounds pistachios (as much or as little as you like). Stand 30 minutes, or until you can touch them lightly without any batter sticking to your finger. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius.

7. Bake around 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on the macarons and remove them before they start developing any golden colour on the edges. Cool on trays.
8. To make the filling heat the cream in a small saucepan, removing it from the heat just before it reaches boiling point. Pour the cream over the white chocolate in a small, heatproof bowl. Sit for about a minute and then stir until smooth. Sit until the ganache thickens to spreadble butter-like consistency then stir in the orange blossom water.
9. Sandwich the macarons with the filling, and enjoy!

So there you have it - a little bit of luxury mid-week! :)


Ladybird x

Little Macs (Cheeseburger Macarons)

My pursuit and growing obsession over macarons continues, and this was my third attempt to try and perfect this little french sweet. Upon the advice of my fellow blogger and friend from My Button Cake, I tried the Gourmet Traveller macaron recipe. Seeing as though there are so many macaron recipes, tips and tricks out there, I felt it would be wise to take advice from Amber as she is such a deft hand at macarons.


However, I didn't want to make plain macarons.. I wanted to do something a bit more creative. Watching Masterchef contestants try and recreate Heston Bluemnthal's amazing dishes, I was inspired to create something sweet that looked like a savoury item. I thought a fast food item would be fun to do, so here is a sweet (and very small) take on the Big Mac.

Introducing The Little Mac... (as in 'macaron'!)

The bun
To start making these little macs I made the macarons. I coloured the batter with a little bown and yellow food colour to achieve the bun tone, and then I topped some of them with a sprinkle of sesame seeds before baking. I was reasonably happy with the macarons after baking .. The feet were not quite as high as they could be, so I may have overmixed a little. However, the shell was nice and delicate, and the inside was lovely and squidgy :) Voila - a toasted sesame seed bun!

Burger filling
The patties were made by cutting out circles from readymade chocolate biscuits. For the lettuce and cheese slices, I coloured white fondant with green and yellow food colouring and rolled it out thinly. For the cheese I cut out a neat square, and for the lettuce I cut up a rough circle and frilled the edges roughly with my fingertips for a realistic effect.

The secret sauce
Well, it's not secret anymore ;) I used a white chocolate ganache made by using 1/4 cup pure cream and 150g white chocolate combined in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

To put the Little Mac together I layered the lettuce, cheese, patty and macaroon shells with a little ganache in between.

These macarons were so much fun to make, and I must say, the likeness to the real thing is humorous :D And if you're more of a cheeseburger than a Big Mac fan.. you could skip the extra layer :)

Have a great weekend, readers!

Ladybird x

Lemon Liqueur Macarons

These are the second batch of macarons I've made, and (it must be said) a vast improvement on my first attempt, but still a long way off from being right. Learning how to make macarons is a frustrating process! In my paranoia about overmixing the batter, I ended up undermixing and so the batter was quite lumpy and difficult to pipe. Edible and tasty, but not very aesthetically appealing... But also one step further towards a perfect macaron :)
As a result of my mistakes in the first batch, I learnt a lot about how to make macarons and now a bit more confident in setting about making these little french delicacies again in future. I have also learnt a lot from reading online. The wealth of knowledge and experience available via the Internet never ceases to amaze me - it's incredible!

I love anything lemony, so I enjoyed these little lemon liqueur macarons. I made mine a little too fat, but made smaller this recipe makes 16 complete macarons.

From The Australian Women's Weekly: Macaroons & Biscuits.
Ingredients
3 eggwhites
1/4 c (55g) caster sugar
yellow food colouring
1 1/4 c (200g) icing sugar
1c (120g) ground almonds
2 tsp finely grated lemon ring
1 tbsp icing sugar, extra
1/4 c pouring cream
150g white chocolate, chopped coarsely
4 tsp limoncello liqueur

Method
Macarons

1. Grease oven trays and line with baking paper.
2. Combine the ground almonds and icing sugar and sieve twice. Set aside.
3. Beat eggwhites slowly and then gradually increase speed until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar a spoonful at a time and a few drops of the food colouring, beat until the sugar dissolves. Fold in sifted icing sugar, ground almonds and rind in two batches.
4. Spoon mixture into piping bag fitted with 2cm plain tube. Pipe 4 cm rounds about 2 cm apart onto trays. Tap trays on bench so macarons spread slightly. Dust macaroons with extra sifted icing sugar. Stand 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
6. Bake macarons about 20 minutes until crisp, but not coloured. Cool on trays.

Ganache
1. Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan, remove from heat, add chocolate, stir until smooth. Stir in liqueur, stand at room temperature until spreadable.
2. Sandwich macarons with filing.

Tips
- Age the eggwhites overnight. I let mine sit out of the fridge in a small container (winter here at the moment, so no problem).
- Beating the eggwhites slowly and then increasing the speed strengthens the eggwhites.
- Don't be afraid of being too rough with the batter. It is important to fold the mixture, but it is more important to achieve a nice smooth batter. When recipes say "it should flow like magma" (which, I feel, is an obscure and frustrating comparison!), they mean it should ooze in slow motion when you tip the bowl to the side.
- To remove any piping peaks (or 'nipples' as I have heard them referred to as in my reading!), dip a finger in water and gently pat the top of the macaron. I forgot to do this step, so otherwise I think the tops would have been smooth. 
- Sandwich macarons just before serving to avoid sogginess.


Until next time readers :) Happy baking

Ladybird x