Murdoch books – 365 Challenge: Macaron with Berries

It will not be a surprise to my regular blog readers or macaron lovers why I chose this dish for this month’s 365 challenge. I love Macarons and have been trying to perfect them for quite some time. Actually last year when I chose this recipe I was not even confident I could pull it off. Since then I have been on a quest to improve my macarons. I have had lots of iterations during this time and loved completing this month’s challenge. It’s interesting that with every macaron recipe the ingredients are mainly the same but the quantities, oven temperature and cooking times often change. If you have been attempting to perfect macarons you would have tried, like me, many variations. I was keen to see the result of Reynaud’s recipe.

They were great, crunchy on the outside with a soft chewy centre. My only problem was the oven temp which was obviously a little hot because they started to brown on the outside so I now know for my oven the temperature and cooking time needs adjustment. It’s like any recipe, you can’t just assume it’s going to work perfectly in your oven for example, you still need to check on things and see if any tweaking is required. Making macarons for me is my constant reminder to be a humble cook!

This macaron desert is not your usual two cookies with filling, it is one giant macaron cookie on a bed of crème pâtissière, sorbet, berries and 2 berry coulis. Is your mouth watering yet? This decedent desert is not for the faint hearted, it is perfect for those who love sweet deserts with fresh flavours and a light crunchy texture.

So here is the recipe for this beautifully impressive desert, Macarons with berries.

Ingredients – Makes 6

For macarons:

220g icing sugar

155g ground almonds

4 egg whites

50g caster sugar

200g crème pâtissière (recipe can be found in recipe May 20, page 200 or Reynaud’s book)

Berry sorbet

200g raspberries

200g strawberries, hulled and sliced

3 tbsp raspberry coulis

3 tbsp bilberry or blueberry coulis

Note: I couldn’t find either a raspberry or blueberry coulis but never fear, I made my own! And so can you! If you’d like the recipe just leave a comment and I will update this post to include it :)

How to:

Preheat the oven to 160C. Combine the icing sugar and the ground almonds and pass through a sieve (I also put mine through a food processor, old habits die hard). Beat the egg whites with the caster sugar to very stiff peaks. Delicately fold the sugar-almond mix into the egg whites (do this in batches). The mixture should be shiny. Make six macarons on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leave for 30 minutes for crust to form (check before putting in oven as they may require a little more times).

In the meantime make your crème pâtissière (refer to recipe on page 200 of Reynaud’s book)

Cook macarons for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Make a circle of crème pâtissière (use a piping bag) on a plate, place a scoop of berry sorbet on top, then some berries, top with a macaron and some coulis.

Buon Appetito and Enjoy!