Friday 1 June 2012

Reflecting on Raspberry Macarons.....



This batch of raspberry macarons surprised me. They didn't behave the way I thought they would...

I've read so many times in various books that fruit juice can only be incorporated into macaron shells if in powdered form. I once decided to try making the syrup with apple juice rather than water. My batch was a flop ... cakey type shells that were very very cracked and distorted. I only ever had that one go to incorporate fruit juice and then gave up.

More recently, I actually found fruit juice powder (freeze dried raspberry, mango and pomegranate) and thought I'd have a go incorporating it into macaron shells.

Well..... I used a 1/4 cup / 60ml dry measure of the raspberry powder and incorporated this into my macaronage. The mixture had a lovely pale pink hue. I guessed if I baked it at a lower temperature than normal, I should be able to preserve the beautiful pale pink colour without the need for food colouring.

I GUESSED WRONG.

On opening the oven door, all I could do was STARE. The shiny smooth shells in front of me were not at all as I had imaged .... They'd turned out a caramel / toffee colour !!! 


Had I baked chocolate macarons or toffee .... or coffee - I'd have been as happy as a pig in mud BUT raspberry macarons just don't look right that colour !

Don't get me wrong, they smelled like raspberry and tasted like raspberry, they just didn't look raspberry. My attempts at salvation were in decoration. A (new) artists brush dipped in a little gel paste colouring with a couple of drops of alcohol allowed me to brush a pretty pattern on the tops and I filled the centres with some buttercream with added powdered raspberry juice. I don't know. They tasted good - but the macaron purist in me says they still aren't raspberry. I'll let you decide. The recipe is below.


200g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
2 x 90g egg whites
60g raspberry juice powder 

200g caster sugar
80g water

Blitz the ground almonds and icing sugar together until a very fine power. 

Put the ground almonds, icing sugar, raspberry powder and one lot of egg whites in a bowl. Mix to combine.

Boil the caster sugar and water until a temperature of 110deg C is reached. At this point, start whipping the whites to stiff peak. At 118deg C, remove the syrup from the heat. Slowly add it to the second batch of egg whites whilst beating at high speed.

When cooled, add to the sugar / almond / raspberry juice paste mix and fold in.

Pipe on to a Revolutionary Double Sided Macaron Mat. This volume did 50 of the large shells (25 large 2" / 50mm ) macarons and about 20 or so on the small side. Bake at 160deg C with the door open for 5 minutes, then a further 20mins with the door closed.

Wait until fully cooled before removing from mat. Fill with normal buttercream, with raspberry juice powder added to taste.

For full instructions on making macarons, see my YOUTUBE TUTORIAL

These photos were simply taken on a mirror in the garden, so the blue background is the sky.

Sarah-Jane Nash., June 2010 - www.siliconemoulds.com 

14 comments:

  1. Such pretty looking macaroons......cudn't take my eyes off the pretty in Pink macaroons.......raspberry or not -I cud finish off a bucketfull just by looking at them

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  2. Hi Sarah-Jane,
    I recently bought your mat and I've made 3 batches now using your recipe and each time I've ended up with a with a top that's full of holes like a sponge and no feet. The last batch was just a hollow lid.
    I know I probably have too much air in the mixture but I'm not sure what I'm doing differently.
    Have you any idea what I might be doing wrong?
    The funny thing is, I've made them using french meringue and they've worked out sort of OK except for the size.

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  3. Alpana - thank you. :-)

    Wayne - no idea ! I dont tend to have an issue with either French or Italian meringue method - though I prefer Italian. Have you checked your oven temperature ? I tend to occassionally get hollow bases if I really lower the temp - say to 140deg C fan when making shells that are very pale coloured...

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  4. Hi dear Sarah, I saw the macaroons and I thought "So Lovely with the pattern brushed on the top!". looks so artsy. if it tastes as good as it looks mm sure thats not a problem at all! I have yet to try my hand at macaroons :).

    xoxo
    zurin

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  5. They look really great and I like the patterns you brushed on top. And raspberry is good, so I'd love to try this soon.

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  6. Had you not mentioned that your macaroons batch was a flop, I would never thought that there was something wrong with them! They look really great to me and the way you decorate them, it's just creative!

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  7. Zurin - thanks - it spruced them up a little if nothing else ! You should have a go at macarons.... they really aren't THat hard.

    Pam - the raspberry powder really gave them a strong fruity kick. TBH - I preferred the blueberry and lemon ones though. They were super yummy.

    Christine - it was a sort of flop. They looked exactly like the should apart from being the wrong colour. Pretty much like eating a blue apple I expect ! Something about it is not quite right, however good it tastes. lol

    Thank you all for your comments :-)

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  8. Those are gorgeous!! Love the colour brushed on top!!

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  9. can i ask where you purchase your powdered flavouring from as i am having trouble when making them with really jucie/fruit purees. Reagrds Jacqui

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  10. Hello Jacqui

    I bought the powdered fruit juice on Ebay. As you can see though, it did really funny things to the colour when baked !

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  11. Thanks for that I am currently using liquid flavor and don't think I am getting a true flavor that I want thanks I'll search and find regards jacqui

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  12. I couldnt find anything on ebay but is this similar to what you have - http://www.nutrifruit.com/

    Regards Jacqui

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  13. The decoration is lovely.

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