White chocolate and rose macarons

Serves: 15
Course: Dessert
Cooking Time: 0 hr 20 mins

Ingredients

  • For the ganache
  • 110g cream
  • 55g white chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1¼tsp rosewater (or to taste)
  • For the macarons
  • 65g icing sugar
  • 65g almond flour or ground almonds, blitzed to a fine powder
  • 2 egg whites, separated into two bowls
  • 95g caster sugar
  • A few drops of red food colour (optional)

For the ganache

1 Make the ganache by bringing the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and leave to sit for a minute or two, before stirring well to ensure all of the chocolate has melted.

2 Leave the ganache to cool completely before placing it in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight.

3 Once cold, whisk the ganache until light and creamy, but firm enough to hold once piped. Fold in the rosewater and add more to taste if desired. Keep the ganache chilled until ready to assemble.

For the macarons

1 Preheat the oven to 150 degrees or 130 fan. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

2 Mix the icing sugar, almond powder and one of the egg whites together in a large bowl. Add a few drops of food colour and mix well. You should have a thick paste. Set aside.

3 Put the caster sugar and 30ml of water in a small saucepan and place over a medium heat.

4 Once the sugar reaches 112 degrees Celsius on the thermometer, start to whisk the remaining egg white in a medium bowl until frothy. Keep an eye on the sugar, and when it reaches 121 degrees, remove it from the heat and start to whisk slowly into the egg white. Continue whisking until the whites are cold and have reached stiff peak.

5 Beat a third of this mix into the almond paste and mix until smooth. Gently fold in the next third until combined, and repeat with the remaining whites. The mix should be a dropping consistency.

6 Spoon into a piping bag and pipe a teaspoon of mix into the four corners of each baking tray. Press the parchment on top, this helps keeps the parchment in place. Pipe small circles onto the baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 13 minutes.

7 Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Sandwich the macarons together with a teaspoon of ganache.

Aoife Noonan

Aoife Noonan

Aoife Noonan is a pastry chef and culinary consultant. She writes a weekly baking column for the Irish Times Magazine