Rose Petal Confit Macarons

Yet another weekend! Yet another party! Yet another macaron presented to you today by yours truly.

I hope you wouldn’t mind me bombarding your parties with macarons so often! If you do, ummmm, hmm…guilty as charged. 😉
I wasn’t planning on making macarons for quite some time now, but I got a request. My ex-boss, an extremely humorous and down to earth fella was visiting and he subtly slipped it into our conversation that I promised him macarons! I so did not! I had a good laugh about it and said I’d think about it.. 😉 He also happened to mention that his favorite were coffee macarons which meant I should definitely experiment with the coffee flavor. So I made some mocha macarons.

Task accomplished, well almost. I have also been meaning to make rose petal jam macarons for months now. I have tried buying different types of petals and make the jam at home but it simply tastes terrible and quite bitter. We do not usually eat jam and I rarely buy it. So when I was looking for plum butter to use for a cake, my eyes fell upon rose petal confit at the supermarket! I was elated! Super elated friends! 😀

Now, I only had to make the macaron shells and use the ready made filling….. 😉 They turned out to be the best macarons macaron shells I have ever baked. They were the right kind of crunchy and chewy! yay! Usually, the almond meal is made at home by me, however I used the store bought almond meal for these ones, perhaps that could have been the reason? I still don’t know! The only feedback I got on this one was that they were a tad too sweet! Accepted! I need to improvise on them. 🙂

 

Makes 24-30 depending on the size

Ingredients

For the pâté à macaron :
93 g icing sugar, sifted
93 g ground almonds
1  egg white

For the Italian meringue :
1  egg whites
1 drop lemon juice or 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
93 g caster sugar
1.5 tbsp water

Instructions :

Heat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Pâté à macaron:
In a large bowl, mix the icing sugar, ground almonds and egg whites to form a paste.

Italian meringue :
Whisk the egg whites and lemon juice in a kitchen mixer on a medium speed.
The original recipe calls for using lemon juice, as i was out of lemons i have instead opted to use cream of tartar which works fine too.

Meanwhile, place the sugar and water in a small pan and cook over a high heat until it has reached 117C/242F or the ‘soft ball’ stage.

Reduce the speed on the mixer to its lowest setting and pour the sugar syrup from the sides of the bowl onto the firmly whipped egg whites.
Increase the speed to high and continue to whisk for 2 minutes. Now add the food colouring and whisk again until the meringue is colored uniformly, about 1 minute.

Fold the Italian meringue mixture into the pâté à macaron until it reaches the ribbon stage – this is when a spoonful of the mixture poured back into the bowl sits like a ribbon on the surface. Do not over-mix or the macaroon will crack when cooked.

Place the mixture in a piping bag fitted with a 8mm/¼in nozzle.

Pipe on 3cm/1in discs on the baking trays, at least 2cm/¾in apart. Tap the tray on a work surface to release any air bubbles. Let the macarons rest for 20-30 minutes before baking.

Bake in the oven for eight minutes.As soon as the macaroons form feet open and shut the oven door to release some steam.
After eight minutes remove from the oven and then leave on a cooling rack until completely cooled.

Assembling the Macarons:

Spoon about one teaspoon of the rose petal confit onto the flat side of a cooled macaroon and top with another macaroon to make a sandwich.
Repeat with the remaining macarons and Store in a single layer in an airtight container in the fridge.

I am taking these over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday party and love to see you there! 😀

 

Bon Apetit!