I was browsing through some ideas for Valentine’s Day gifts and saw these hand painted macarons and I couldn’t resisting trying to make them. They’re really elegant and the edible gold flakes give them macarons a wow factor. Love the way they turned out. Knowing how temperamental macarons are, I am quite nervous each time I make them, and the first few minutes in the oven will reveal if the macarons are successful. If they have feet, they are successful and this bake was a success, woohoo!! I literally planted my face in front of the oven and did a little victory dance when I spotted macarons feet!
I used a macaron recipe I documented earlier and for the tutorial on how to hand paint the macarons, please refer to link for the tutorial.
(Makes about 20 Macarons)
For the macaron shells
130g ground almond
130g icing sugar
120g caster sugar
100g egg whites
0.5 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp pink colouring
For the rose scented cream cheese buttercream
300g cream cheese (I used 128g laughing cow cheese and 172g Philadelphia cheese)
250g icing sugar
150g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1tsp rosewater
1. Sift ground almond and icing sugar together.
2. Beat egg whites are low speed till foamy.
3. Add the cream of tartar and beat at medium speed till soft peak.
4. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all the sugar is added, beat at high speed till stiff peak. The meringue is ready when it appears stiff and glossy.
5. Add colour and about a quarter of the meringue to the almond mixture and fold in. You don’t have to be too careful with the folding. The purpose is to make the mixture easier to work with.
6. Add in the rest of the meringue and fold into the almond mixture. Once incorporated, ‘rub’ the mixture against the side of the mixing bowl with the spatula about 10-12 times until the consistency of the mixture forms a thick ribbon when it flows from the spatula. This called macaronage.
7. Pipe the mixture onto prepared baking trays. To achieve consistent size, you can use macaron templates placed under baking paper which can be found on the Internet.
8. Dry the piped shells in air conditioned room of 18 degrees. This will take about 20-30 minutes.
9. Once the shells are dry and you can run your finger across the top of the shell without sticking, they are ready to be baked.
10. Bake the dried shells in a preheated oven at 150 degrees for about 13 minutes.
11. Leave the baked shells to cool down completely before assembling.
For the cheese buttercream
12. Cream the cheese til you get a smooth consistency.
13. Add the butter and cream till smooth.
14. Add the sugar, rosewater and the vanilla extract and cream till smooth. You should get a spreadable consistency.
15. Using a star nozzle, pipe the cheese buttercream to fill the Macarons.
