Bauble Macarons

The French biscuit gets a Christmas makeover. Glittery, delicate and festive, these baubles are almost too pretty to eat! Almost!

How darling! Please note, I used glue to make this happen. Those fondant gold loops won't hold your macarons in the tree.

You know what my favourite time of the year is? If this is your first time to the blog, you may not guess that it's Christmas. You probably would guess though because this is quite obviously a Christmas post. What other time of year can you use glitter so liberally and unabashedly! None. No time. Christmas is all about glitter and sparkle and fairy lights and tinsel. Don't use tinsel though. Tinsel is passé.

So few ingredients for so much MAGIC! Hey Santa. (salt and pepper shakers...)

Anyway. Glitter. Originally, I had planned on making candy cane macarons. And that would have been cool. Maybe next Christmas, they'll make an appearance. But when I did a quick google search, there were already so many! My candy cane macarons would get lost in the massive pile of already gorgeous cookie sandwiches. And to be honest, candy canes? Mint buttercream? How would that even work...

The scales is your friend. This goes to..



...these!

But my heart was set on macarons...how could I make them original? Given my predilection for all things loud and flashy, this was the natural choice. Bauble macarons! Covered in glitter with snowflakes, sugar pearls and gold bauble tops, these scream fun!


Start these at least 24 hours before you need them. I could not be bothered making 48 of these. Power to you, if you do! I stopped at 20.

I used my macaron recipe from the Chocolate Cheesecake Macarons and I was a little nervous, as I have read that sometime the first time a person makes macarons, they can fluke it. Then the second time - fail. But nope! They turned out great! I followed the same tips as in the previous post. There are lots of details on the Chocolate Cheesecake Macaron post, but in brief the tips are...

Make a little paste and paint the macarons to make them FABULOUS!

1. Room temp eggs
2. Sifted almond meal
3. Precisely mixed batter
4. Bang the tray with the piped macarons to get air bubbles out.
5. Let the piped macarons sit on the bench for 30 minutes to develop a "skin" and help create the "foot" of the macaron.

 

 

So start with room temperature eggs. Bring cold eggs to room temp quickly by sitting them in warm water if need be. Once the egg whites are beaten and foamy, then it's time for the second tip...

Thanks Mr Cakes for taking this photo! Legend.

Sift the almond meal and icing sugar. Even if the almond meal is store bought, it can have larger bits of almond in it so sift to ensure a smooth cookie. Then add it to the egg whites and add colouring. Since I was making four different coloured macarons, I weighed the egg whites, and then weighed out the sifted icing sugar, to get four equal parts.

Pretty.

They make me think of Mardi Gras. Why is that? It's the Alyssa Edwards in me.

The ambiguous and crucial tip -  do not over mix or under mix the batter. Not the best for the most important step to be cryptic, but fold the batter deliberately and precisely. Assess the batter after each fold. The batter should be thick and flow like molten lava. I found that because some of the bowls of batter had to sit un-piped in bowls, it would need a few more folds before I piped it. So don't be too concerned if the batter thickens up while it's waiting.

SO CUTE!

Once the batter is mixed, pipe out the shells on to the trays, using the template under baking paper then bang the trays firmly 3 or 4 times on the bench to bring the air bubbles to the surface then let the macarons sit to develop a skin, which helps give the biscuits a nice foot.

How amazing is food glitter.

After all the trays are baked and the macarons have cooled, it's time to get glittering! Oh my goodness, it was so much fun to watch the macarons go from drab to fab! Using a bit of vodka, make a thick liquid with edible food glitter. Think nail polish thickness. Then get a painting!

And they taste good too!

Don't worry about alcohol on the macarons, it will evaporate. Which could be a bad thing, depending on who you ask.



Christmas achievement UNLOCKED!



Merry Christmas everyone! Two weeks to go!

Visit Four Weeks of Christmas Baking past!:
2015
Week 1 of Four Weeks of Christmas Baking: Chocolate Dipped Vanilla Shortbread

2014Week 1 of Four Weeks of Christmas Baking: Christmas Star Cherry Tart with Cinnamon Honey Roasted Macadamia Ice Cream
Week 2 of Four Weeks of Christmas Baking: Raspberry Jam Drops
Week 3 of Four Weeks of Christmas Baking: Rum Ball Trifle
Week 4 of Four Weeks of Christmas Baking: Eggnog Cake

Bauble Macarons
Use this template  to ensure your macarons are even and consistently sized. Lie the template under baking paper and pipe the batter on. Make sure the template is removed before baking.

Prep time: 60 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins

Total time:  75 mins

 

Servings: 48 sandwiched macarons

Fondant Bauble Tops
White fondant - 30g will be plenty
Food colouring - yellow
Food lustre powder - gold

Macarons
6 large egg whites, free range, room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
100g caster sugar
400g icing sugar
2 cup/240g almond meal
Food colouring -  pink, blue, green
Edidble food glitter
Vodka

Vanilla Buttercream
250g butter, softewned
4 cups icing sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
White food colouring
Bauble Tops - start at least 24 hours before use

1. Colour white fondant yellow and take pea sized amount, form into a rounded pyramid shape.
2. Flatten the top of the pyramid shape and create a hole on top with a skewer. Add details to the sides. Allow to dry slightly.
3. Roll a small amount of fondant into a long, thin cylindrical shape, then create a loop.
4. Use a small amount of water to affix the loop in the hole of the pyramid shape and allow to dry overnight.
5. Brush with gold dust, if desired.

Macarons

1. Preheat oven to 150°C
2. Using a template to ensure the macarons are evenly sized, line a two trays with baking paper.
3. Beat egg whites in the bowl of a mixer until egg whites are foamy.
4. Add pinch of salt and cream of tartar and continue to beat egg whites,
5. Slowly sprinkle in caster sugar and continue beating for around 8 minutes, until egg whites are stiff, peaks hold and do not collapse.
6. Separate egg whites in to quarters, using scales to ensure each is the same size.
7. Add food colouring to each of the four bowls - pink, blue, green and leave one bowl uncoloured.
8. Sift almond meal and icing sugar in to a large bowl, then seprate in to quarters using scales. 
9. Gently add one bowl of sifted almond meal and icing sugar into one bowl of egg white mix.
10. With a flat spatula, gently and precisely fold the almond meal . Batter should be thick and flow off the spatula - think 'molten lava'.
11. Repeat with each egg white mix.
12. Pipe macarons using a large piping bag and open round tip.
13. Allow piped macarons to sit uncovered on the bench for 30 minutes. A skin will form that feels tacky to the touch and does not leave a fingerprint.
14. Bake for 15 minutes. Bake one tray at a time, on the same shelf to ensure they are baked evenly.
15. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
16. Add edible food glitter to small bowl, then add vodka using a teaspoon or dropper to add very small amounts at a time. Create a thick liquid and paint on to macaron tops. Allow to dry.
17. Melt small amount of white chocolate and pipe snowflake pattern on to desired number of macarons and decorate with sugar pearls. Allow to dry.
18. Use a small amount of buttercream to attach bauble tops.

Vanilla Buttercream

1. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and icing sugar until creamy.
2. Add vanilla and white food colouring and beat until combined and mix is smooth and creamy.

To assemble

1. Match each macaron half with another of the same size.
2. Using a round tip fitted on a piping bag, pipe a generous circle of buttercream on one biscuit then sandwich corresponding biscuit, pushing buttercream to edges.
3. Store in an airtight container.