Blueberry Macarons by Pauline Tan

Blueberry Macarons

Ingredients:

90g icing sugar

50g ground almonds

1/2 tsp natural blueberry extract (optional)

1/2 tsp blue food colouring paste

20g caster sugar

40g egg whites (ard 1 large egg)

¼ tsp cream of tar tar (optional)

Blueberry & Vanilla Jam Filling

1 tsp vanilla extract

350g blueberries

150g caster sugar

2 tbsp water

For the Macarons:

Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Sieve together the icing sugar and almonds into a large bowl.

Add blue food coloring paste and mix

**(I didn’t mix it evenly so that I can achieve marble like pattern on the shell)

Place the egg whites into the clean bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl and have a hand mixer ready.

Beat the egg whites until foamy, and then gradually add in the sugar and the cream of tar tar

 Continue to beat the egg whites to soft peak, and add blueberry extract (optional)

(if you want to have more blueberry flavour for your macarons l)

Continue to beat until stiff peak (use high speed)

***(But be careful, do not over beat the egg whites)

Once you have achieve stiff peak, add your dry ingredient into your meringue

Fold in your ingredient until you achieve lava like consistency (ard 40 fold depending on your strength)

The batter is ready when it falls from the spatula in a ribbon, this ribbon should disappear back into the batter after about 30 seconds

 Use a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip to pipe rounds onto the prepared baking sheets. Lightly tap the bottom of the tray on the work surface to remove any small air bubbles. Put the tray aside for between 30 minutes and 1 hour to allow the macarons to dry, you should be able to touch the macaron and come away with a clean finger, the macarons will be noticeably firmer.

 Pre-heat oven to 140C

Bake the macaron shells for between 13 - 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately slide the greaseproof paper onto a clean work surface. Leave to cool completely before removing from the sheets.

For the filling:

Combine the vanilla extract with the blueberries, caster sugar and water in the saucepan and place over medium heat for 10 to 15 min until thick and syrupy

Remove from the heat and sieve the mixture into a bowl and set aside to cool for about 1 hr

It will thicken considerably whilst cooling

Pair your macarons shells up and sandwich them together with a teaspoon of blueberry and vanilla jam.