Nikita Fairchild’s Festive Macaron Trio

• 10 servings
• 45 minutes for each recipe to prepare

Instructions

Our colleague Nikita from our Milnthorpe store has created this very special trio of festive flavoured macarons. Once you’ve mastered the basic macaron method, creating the different flavours is easy.

Ginger & Salted Caramel Buttercream Macarons

1. Preheat the oven to 150°c / 300°f / gas mark 2.
2. Sieve the icing sugar, ground almonds and ginger twice to make sure all large bits are out. Leave to one side.
3. Whisk the egg whites until they become start foamy and then add cream of tartare.
4. Continue whisking the eggs until soft peaks form, then add the sugar spoon by spoon until it’s all incorporated in the mix and stiff peaks form.
5. Add the brown food colouring and re whisk until stiff peaks form.
6. Add this mixture to the almond mix and combine until the mixture is glossy and the thickness of cake batter. Fill a piping bag with the mixture.
7. Line two baking sheets with baking paper, pipe a blob of mix on the reverse in each corner to make it stick to the trays. If you wish, draw 4cm circles 2cm apart on the reverse of the baking paper to form templates to pipe the mixture onto.
8. Pipe the mixture onto the prepared baking trays and lift and drop the tray several times to pop any bubbles in the mix. Using a tooth pick pop any more bubbles by hand.
9. Do not rest the mixture, bake immediately for 20 minutes.
10. To make the buttercream, start by making a caramel sauce. Melt the sugar in a pan with a little water (don’t stir!) boil until golden brown and then add the salt. Allow to cool.
11. Whip the butter until soft, and combine with the icing sugar. Once the caramel sauce is fully cooled, add it to the buttercream. Use it to sandwich together the macarons.

Cassis & Champagne and White Chocolate Ganache Macarons

1. Preheat the oven to 150°c / 300°f / gas mark 2.
2. Sieve the icing sugar, ground almonds and ginger twice to make sure all large bits are out. Leave to one side.
3. Whisk the egg whites until they become start foamy and then add cream of tartare.
4. Continue whisking the eggs until soft peaks form, then add the sugar spoon by spoon until it’s all incorporated in the mix and stiff peaks form.
5. Add the red food colouring and Cassis and re whisk until stiff peaks form.
6. Add this mixture to the almond mix and combine until the mixture is glossy and the thickness of cake batter. Fill a piping bag with the mixture.
7. Line two baking sheets with baking paper, pipe a blob of mix on the reverse in each corner to make it stick to the trays. If you wish, draw 4cm circles 2cm apart on the reverse of the baking paper to form templates to pipe the mixture onto.
8. Pipe the mixture onto the prepared baking trays and lift and drop the tray several times to pop any bubbles in the mix. Using a tooth pick pop any more bubbles by hand.
9. Do not rest the mixture, bake immediately for 20 minutes.
10. To make the white chocolate ganache, start by boiling the cream. Add the Champagne and the white chocolate and stir until the white chocolate has melted. Leave to cool slightly, but not completely cold so that it is spreadable. Use it to sandwich the macarons together.

Peppermint & Chocolate Macarons

1. Preheat the oven to 150°c / 300°f / gas mark 2.
2. Sieve the icing sugar, ground almonds and ginger twice to make sure all large bits are out. Leave to one side.
3. Whisk the egg whites until they become start foamy and then add cream of tartare.
4. Continue whisking the eggs until soft peaks form, then add the sugar spoon by spoon until it’s all incorporated in the mix and stiff peaks form.
5. Separate the mix into two. Add the green colouring to one bowl and the red food colouring to the other. Add peppermint flavouring to both and re whisk until stiff peaks form.
6. Add this mixture to the almond mix and combine until the mixture is glossy and the thickness of cake batter. Fill a piping bag with the mixture.
7. Line two baking sheets with baking paper, pipe a blob of mix on the reverse in each corner to make it stick to the trays. If you wish, draw 4cm circles 2cm apart on the reverse of the baking paper to form templates to pipe the mixture onto.
8. Pipe the mixture onto the prepared baking trays and lift and drop the tray several times to pop any bubbles in the mix. Using a tooth pick pop any more bubbles by hand.
9. Do not rest the mixture, bake immediately for 20 minutes.
10. To make the chocolate buttercream, whip the butter until soft and add the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Use to sandwich the macarons together.