Rose vanilla glitter macaron lolipops

If there was a term in the dictionary “macaron obsession” you would find my photo next to it. It has taken me some time to explore different macaron recipes, learning how to make them has sent me to the edge and back a few times but as I continue along my macaron journey they improve and my macaron obsession grows. With my new found macaron confidence I decided to go out on a limb and make some macarons for my daughters birthday.

I wanted to do something different to your usual lolly bags, which are given to kids at the end of a party (that I am never a fa

n of anyway). So I thought I would make macarons for each child instead. So I thought of making macarons that looked like lollipops. As there are 101 flavours and colours you can mix and match, deciding on one was the hardest. In the end I created the rose vanilla glitter macaron. Which I thought was completely appropriate for my little one. Not only do they look gorgeous but they taste equally as impressive.

Ingredients:

For shells -

• 200g ground almonds
• 200g icing sugar
• 75ml water
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 x 80g egg whites
• ½ Vanilla bean

For rose vanilla ganache filling -

• 300g thickened cream
• 300g white chocolate
• 3 tbsp rose water (test and see if you are happy with taste can add more if you like)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

How to:

Shells -

1. Process  ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor into a fine powder. (This is called the tant pour tant) Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, bring the water and caster sugar to the boil. Without stirring, make sure the temperature of the resulting syrup doesn’t go above 115ºC. It is best to use a digital thermometer to monitor temp.
3. Gently beat 80g egg whites to soft peaks then increase the speed of the beater when the temperature of the syrup passes 105ºC. When the syrup reaches 115ºC remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the syrup in a thin stream into the beaten egg whites. Continue to beat the meringue for about 10 minutes so that it cools.
4. Combine the tant pour tant and the remaining unbeaten egg whites, making a smooth almond paste.
5. Scrape the vanilla bean and incorporate the vanilla seeds into the almond paste, then add the colouring. I recommend gel colouring for macarons.

1. Using a flexible spatula, incorporate about a third of the meringue into the almond paste to loosed the mixture a little, then add the rest of the meringue, working the batter carefully. This step is the trickiest. This is called the ‘macaronage’. The batter needs to reach a consistency where the batter is uniform and starts to gently flow off your spatula. Too runny and you have over mixed and your macarons wont turn out but the trick is not to under-mix either. Illusive little suckers!
2. Fill a piping bag fitted with a 8mm nozzle with batter. Attach a sheet of baking paper to each backing tray, (I personally use Slipat baking mats.) place small dots of batter in each corner. Pipe out small regular and well spaced rounds, each about the size of a walnut. Or you could use the fabulous template that I use all the time which I found online – Macaron template – Just print and slide it under your backing paper and pipe. Remove before template before backing.
3. Immediately after piping, sprinkle each macaron with eatable glitter.
4. Lightly tap the bottom of the trays and allow the macarons to form a crust at room temperature for min 30 minutes but it may take longer. Test by trying to touch one. If batter lists onto your finger the crust has not formed yet. Test in more than one side of the macaron too.
5. Preheat oven to 150ºC.
6. Bake in the oven for 14 mins. When you take them out, allow them to cool completely before taking of paper.

Ganache -

1. Put the white chocolate and cream in  a saucepan on very low heat. There is no rush to melt this, so very low heat is the way to go… too hot and you are going to get yourself into trouble. Stir well.
2. Once melted take of the heat and add vanilla extract and rose water. Stir until well blended. Chill in the refrigerator.
3. Once it is at a consistency you can work with you can fill a piping bag and use this to fill your macarons.

It is always advisable to make macarons ahead of time. This allows the flavours to develop and mature which you want in a macaron. I usually make mine and then freeze them. Before they are required I defrost in fridge and serve. Alternatively if you are in a hurry, pop them in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.

I can be a little messy sometimes… hehehe!

Buon Appetito!

This recipe was loosely adapted from ‘Secrets of Macarons’ by Jose Marechal. I have made varied changes through the recipe and process. Vanilla ganache is a Foodie Goddess creation.