Candy Cane Macarons {Sweets for Santa}

Even Santa can’t deny that Macarons have been the hottest ‘toy’ this year for the baking nuts amongst us.  I’ve not been to the North Pole {lately} but I think I can pretty safely say that Adriano Zumbo or Ladurée don’t have a store around the corner from Santa’s workshop.  So after a year of experimenting with making macarons I figure Santa should benefit from all that I’ve learned from my trials and errors.

basic macaron

Now I’ll just give an overview recipe below, you’ll be able to give it a crack, but honestly I follow Brave Tart’s amazing advice…actually it is more than advice it is a full blown macaron mythbusting extravaganza, a macaron ‘guide to life’.  So, if you want to bake perfect macarons PLEASE read Brave Tart’s site…she is amaze-balls. You can also look at Adriano’s book “Zumbaroons” which is a great little book.

ingredients

• 115 g almond meal
• 230 g icing sugar
• 144 g egg whites
• 72 g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

tools

• large piping bag; I use a loyal size 14
• plain round piping nozzle (approx 8mm diameter/Ateco 805)
• large spatula
• two trays lined with paper; I use an egg cup to trace circles to help make even sizes

method

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.
2. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
3. In a food processor add the icing sugar and almond meal. Wizz on medium/high for 2 minutes until it resembles talcum powder. Sift the mix to get out any lumps.
4. In a mixer combine egg whites, caster sugar and vanilla…then comes the three beatings: 3 minutes on low/medium speed to combine, 3 minutes on medium/high, 3 minutes on high. The egg white will be really firm and will ball on the whisk.
5. Right at the end of the last beating add your macaron color to the egg whites (I’ve used raspberry macaron powder), until combined. To get a really bright color I usually make the mix brighter than I want it…it will dull down a bit once the almond meal is added.
6. {Here is the tricky part} Dump the almond meal/icing sugar powder mix straight on top of the egg whites. ‘Dump’ whilst un-ceremonious is exactly what you do. This isn’t a meringue, so don’t be too gentle, you want to deflate the mix and combine the dry ingredients whilst being careful not to take the mix too far. Stella from Brave Tart explains “the macaron batter needs enough thickness that it will mound up on itself, but enough fluidity that after 20 seconds, it will melt back down. I’ve heard people describe this consistency as lava-like, or molten, and that’s pretty apt”, true words Stella; molten is certainly the word I’d use.
7. Transfer the mix into a large piping bag and pipe your macaron rounds. Hold the bag straight up (90 degree angle from the tray surface), with the nozzle about 6mm off the tray. To avoid leaving peaks on the finished macaron, release the pressure and swirl the top like this using the same as Adriano Zumbo’s piping technique. When you’re done piping give the trays a good firm whack on the bench top…this will pop any unwanted bubbles and help flatten the macaron out.
8. Pop in the preheated oven for 18 minutes (give or take). Whilst they are still reasonably warm gently release the macarons from the tray, if you leave it too long they just get a bit too comfortable there and pieces of macaron can come off when you try and dislodge them.
9. This recipe makes about 40 macarons (depending on how large you make them).

mint white chocolate ganache

This is where you get the delicious candy cane flavour, a rich ganache tempered with mint is heaven.

ingredients

• 160 g white chocolate buttons
• 100 g pure cream
• 3-4 drops mint oil {very, very strong so be careful!}
• 30 g unsalted, room temperature butter

method

1. Place the chocolate buttons in a bowl and set aside. 
2. In a small saucepan combine the cream and mint oil. When adding the mint oil take it one drop at a time. You want that minty flavor but it can become overwhelming pretty quickly so take it easy. Bring the cream up to the boil.
3. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate buttons. Sit without stirring for 2 minutes.
4. After the 2 minutes are up gently stir to combine the melted chocolate and cream with a metal spoon.
5. Allow the mix to cool slightly, then with a stick mixer wizz in the butter. Make sure it is all combined well
6. For ganache I use a disposable piping bag…just makes it easier. Pour the ganache into the piping bag. Roll over the opening and secure with a peg. Sit aside until the ganache has cooled to a good consistency for piping. In this hot weather, I pop it in the fridge for half an hour.

decoration

Arrange the macarons in matching pairs, selecting a ‘top half’ aka ‘the pretty side’. Turn over the ‘bottoms’ and fill with ganache…don’t get too excited, less is more with this one, as you don’t want it spilling over the sides when you gently push the two halves together.

To decorate the macarons for Santa I dipped the assembled macarons in an additional 60g of melted white chocolate, then place some chopped up candy canes on top. Now there is nothing left to do but eat!

Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!

Emmy xx

This post if part of the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop. Thanks to Christina from the Hungry Australian blog for hosting the Sweets for Santa blog hop this month.