Eggnog Macarons
These are my Christmas themed macarons.
Yep - it is that time of the year already - this is one of the first of many Christmas bakes that I have planned and I am so excited to share all my bakes over the next few weeks. Using my Eggnog that I posted about a couple of days back I thought: 'Why not use this to flavour something interesting?'
To make sure the macarons worked I decided not to add eggnog directly to the mixture for fear of loosening it too much. I opted to add a little cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter. When it came to prepping the Swiss meringue buttercream filling I added a few spoonfuls of eggnog to give it a light but not overpowering flavour. What do you know - it works... really well in fact!
INGREDIENTS
For the Macarons
- 210g Icing sugar
- 195g Ground almonds
- 1/2tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1/2tsp Ground nutmeg
- 150G Egg Whites (divided into two lots of 75g)
- 190g Caster sugar
- 65ml Water
For the Eggnog Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 150g Egg whites
- 250g Sugar
- 350g Unsalted butter (softened and cubed)
- 3 tbsp Eggnog (for my recipe click here)
METHOD
- To make the macarons, place the icing sugar, almonds, cinnamon and nutmeg in a food processor and pulse about 10 times or so before sifting into a bowl.
- To the icing sugar mixture add 75g of the egg whites and stir together to form a smooth paste.
- Place the remaining egg whites in a freestanding electric mixer (with whisk attachment) and set aside until later.
- Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and stir together. Heat on a medium to high heat and, using a sugar thermometer, heat until the temperature reaches 110 degrees (C).
- At 110 degrees continue heating but start to whisk your egg whites until foamy.
- When the sugar syrup reaches 118 degrees take off the heat and pour in a steady stream into the whisking egg whites.
- Once all the syrup has been added, increase the whisking speed and keep whisking for 5-10 minutes until the mixture has cooled down to nearly room temperature.
- Take the egg white (meringue) mixture and fold gently into the almond paste until the mixture comes together. (Be careful when folding as being too vigorous can lead to the meringue deflating).
- Using a circular 1cm piping nozzle pipe equally sized circles of mixture (about 4cm in diameter onto a baking tray with a sheet of baking parchment on-top of it.
- Once you have piped all the mixture out, pick up your baking tray and drop it from a small height onto a hard surface a couple of times (this removes all the bubbles in macarons and gives you a smooth shiny surface on your macarons).
- Leave at room temperature for 45 minutes (which forms a skin on your macarons that allows the signature 'foot' to form when baking). Before baking at 170 degrees (fan) for 13/14 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing the macaron biscuits from the tray and setting them aside while you prepare the filling.
- To make the filling place the egg whites and sugar in a bowl above a pan of gently simmering water and whisk constantly until the temperature of the egg whites reaches 65 degrees.
- Take off the heat and slowly whisk in the butter and eggnog until smooth.
- Pipe buttercream onto half of the macaron biscuits and sandwich with another macaron of a similar size.
- Dust with a little bit of ground cinnamon and serve.
- These will last for about 3 days if stored in the fridge
