Blackberry and Chocolate Macarons
An autumnal treat! Perfectly light macaron shells filled with a blackberry and chocolate ganache
Equipment
- Thermometer
- Electric Whisk or Free Standing Mixer
Ingredients
For the Macarons
- 250 g Icing Sugar
- 250 g Ground Almonds
- 100 g Egg White
- 225 g Caster Sugar
- 60 ml Water
- 80 g Egg White
- 5 g Purple food colouring paste
For the Ganache
- 150 g Blackberry Puree
- 200 g Dark Chocolate
- 15 g Glucose
- 10 g Butter
Instructions
- Firstly make the ganache. In a pan, place the blackberry puree and glucose and bring to the boil.
- Melt the dark chocolate. Slowly add 2/3 of the hot blackberry puree to the chocolate. Mix together slowly so that the chocolate and the puree combine and starts to form a ganache. Continue to mix until it is smooth and shiny.
- Add the butter and stir until melted and mixed through.
- Place in a bowl and put in the fridge to set.
- Now for the macarons. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Sieve together the ground almonds and icing sugar and put into a bowl making sure they are completely mixed together.
- In a small jug, measure the 100g egg white with the colour. Whisk until the egg whites are completely purple
- Add this mixture into the almond mix. Using a spatula or scraper, mix until a stiff paste is formed and the colour is completely mixed through. At this point the colour should be very bright as it loses its colour whilst cooking, add more colour if necessary. Now leave this mixture until required later.
- In a free standing mixer or using an electric whisk, place the 80g egg whites in a bowl. Now place the water and sugar into a pan, and start to bring to the boil. Using a thermometer, cook until it reaches 121 degrees celsius. Whilst cooking the sugar, whisk the egg whites to a medium to stiff peak, then once the sugar is at temperature, slowly pour the sugar into the egg whites on a low speed. Increase the speed once the sugar is completely added. Whisk until cool.
- Now come back to the almond mixture. add the meringue to the mix, taking 1/3 at a time, fold slowly, making sure to mix thoroughly. Once all mixed together it should look smooth and shiny, and if you make a mark with a spoon through, it should disappear within 5 seconds.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a 10mm round nozzle with the mixture. Then pipe the macarons onto baking trays lined with greaseproof paper. Pipe to a 3cm diameter. Tap the tray onto a hard surface to remove any bubbles and to flatten them slightly.
- Leave the macarons outside for about 15-20 mins to ensure they have dried. You should be able to touch them without getting anything stuck on your fingers. Put into the oven for about 10-12 mins. They will be done when you can lift them off the paper easily.
- Pair the shells to others which are the same size and shape.
- Filling the shells is quite simple, place the ganache in a piping bag and pipe onto one of the pair and then placing the other on top of that. If the ganache is too hard, place the ganache into the microwave or over a bain marie to soften slightly.
- Leave them in the fridge to soften and for the flavours and texture to fuse together, ideally overnight but can be for 30 mins or so.