Collaborative Post: Pink Macarons with Chocolate Ganache Filling

UPDATE: To further encourage those of you who want to try baking macarons but are still hesitating, I've decided to give away my good-as-new copy of i <3 macarons by Hisato Ogita to one lucky reader. This giveaway is open to anyone with a US or Canadian shipping address. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post including a way to contact you should you win. For additional entries, follow 6 Bittersweets or Heaven in a Wild Flower via email, reader, and/or Twitter (@6bittersweets or @heavenwildfleur). You must leave a separate comment for each entry for them to count. This giveaway closes at midnight on September 18 -- good luck! THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED!

I mentioned in my Singapore post that I was lucky enough to catch up with 2 groups of lovely bloggers during my trip. I say "lucky" not only because we managed to match up schedules on such short notice, but also because 4 of them had just returned from being overseas and also planned to stay in Singapore only briefly. Eunice of Heaven in a Wild Flower, having moved to London some years ago, was one of these globetrotters ^_^.

I'd discovered Eunice's blog through her gorgeous macaron posts, so it wasn't long after we met that we began gabbing about which patisserie made them best and the secrets to making good macs at home. At this point, hearing that I was already missing baking in Singapore, Eunice was sweet enough to invite me into her chocolatier friend's professional kitchen where she'd be making macarons for a wedding! She led the baking, while I put myself in charge of visually documenting the process. We really hope you enjoy the following step-by-step photo tutorial of macaron-making that is the fruit of our collaboration. Now please turn your full attention to our resident macaron master =).

Wedding Photography by Eunice; Tutorial Photography by me.

I had the lovely fortune of meeting up with Xiaolu from 6 Bittersweets when she went to Singapore recently for a holiday. I too, was back in Singapore for a holiday as I'm usually based in London. The precise reason was for a good friend's wedding and I had promised her I'd make her a dessert table, as well as arrange some of her wedding flowers. Little did I know what a big undertaking that would be!

So when a few of us met up over dinner and I mentioned this, Xiaolu gamely said she'd love to come and help out as I attempt to make 75 macarons, 12 meringues and 2 trays of rice krispies treats! Luckily for me, I also had the use of a proper commercial kitchen, courtesy of my friend E who owns the lovely chocolate shop Truffs, in return for showing his staff how macarons are made. This was the first time I had conducted a class of some sort, or made macarons in such a big batch, so I was fairly worried about everything working properly. I'm happy to report that all went well, and I was very lucky to have Xiaolu helping out as well as taking pictures.

For the wedding, the bride wanted a whimsical fun garden theme. The colour palette she had picked was raspberry pink and lime green. I made green bouquets for the bridesmaids, and a pink one for her bridal bouquet, as well as the table flowers. We also placed apples all around as decor. I set up a dessert table using some vintage china I've been collecting, and decorated it with some of the leftover flowers. The macarons and other treats were laid out together with some luscious cupcakes baked by another friend. I must say that they looked really enticing and lovely. By the end of the lunch, all the desserts were gone!

I hope the visual recipe tutorial below helps you to recreate these little beauties!

Pink Macarons with Chocolate Ganache Filling [Printable Recipe]
Makes about 50 to 54 shells (about 25 macarons)

EUNICE'S NOTES: This basic recipe can be scaled up or down, I always use the egg whites as the base for proportioning the rest of the ingredients. So for every 1 part egg whites, use 1.3 parts almond flour, 1.6 parts icing sugar and 0.55 parts castor sugar.

XIAOLU'S NOTE: For additional tips on making French macarons at home as well as several very helpful videos of the mixing process, please check out my first macaron post!

100 g egg whites, aged for a day (equivalent to about 3 egg whites)
3 g egg white powder
130g almond flour (blitz in food processor together with icing sugar to get a finer texture)
160 g powdered sugar
55 g castor sugar
Pink gel food coloring (or other color)

Sift processed powdered sugar and almond flour together in a bowl. Set aside.

Mix egg whites with egg white powder and whisk in electric mixer until soft peaks on medium high speed.

Lower speed on electric mixer and add in castor sugar slowly while still whisking until fully incorporated. Continue whisking on medium high speed until your egg white meringue mixture reaches stiff peak stage. Add in your food colouring when whisking.

Fold in 1/3 of dry ingredients (icing sugar + almond flour) into meringue with a spatula gently. Add in 1/3 more and fold again before mixing in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

Make sure all dry ingredients are incorporated into the meringue and start folding mixture more vigorously to form a shiny batter with the consistency of flowing magma or drips down like ribbons.

When you lift the batter up and let it drip down, it should slowly disappear into itself without leaving a peak. Be careful not to over mix as batter will spread too much when piped.

Line 2 baking trays with non-stick parchment paper (or silpat). You can stick it down with bits of batter in the four corners.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1-cm (about 2/5-inch) round tip with the batter, and pipe even rounds of batter, about 3.5 cm (about 1 1/3 inches) across, onto the tray. If you've mixed the batter properly, it should not spread flatly out too much (overmixed) or leave a peak (undermixed).

Let the batter dry for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C/335 degrees F (for convection ovens) OR 180 degrees C/350 degrees F (for regular ovens).

When batter is dry to touch (it forms a slight crust), turn the oven down to 140 deg C (or 150 deg C for conventional oven) and bake shells for 14-15 minutes, turning the trays halfway through baking.

After baking, lift parchment onto wire rack to let shells cool and gently lift up from paper when cool.

Chocolate Ganache Filling
125 g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
125 ml single [light] cream

Heat cream in saucepan until it comes to a boil.

Pour the cream over the chocolate and use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir in a circular motion from the centre of the bowl and slowly incorporate more and more of the cream until the chocolate and cream comes together into a smooth emulsion.

Let it cool at room temperature until it thickens, about 4 hours, or in a fridge for 2 hours.

Assembly

Match pairs of shells of even size.

Fit piping bag with plain round 1 to 1.5 cm tip [about 1/2 to 2/3 inch]. Fill piping bag with chocolate ganache. Pipe a small mound of chocolate ganache filling onto one half of each pair of shells. Top with the other shell.