Macarons have been around for quite some time, but have evolved over the centuries.
They started as single macarons, that Catherine de Médicis brought back from Italy to France when she integrated the french royal family.
Nowadays, macarons are very popular and seem to be the speciality of many french towns. They are the assembly of two shells with a ganache or other garnish in the middle. Made from almond powder, egg white and icing sugar, these delicacies are a derivative of meringue.
I will present you the Lemon and Poppyseed Macaron. This was my first try, so they do not look great, but they had an awesome taste. Need to pratice on the presentation.
Ingredients:
For the base
110g almond powder
225g icing sugar
35g sugar
3 egg whites
yellow food dye
poppyseeds
For the ganache
2 organic lemons
2 egg yolks
1tbsp corn-starch
1tbsp poppyseeds
120g sugar
30g butter
4cl water
Base preparation
Mix almond powder and icing sugar. Sift the mixture. (As I am lazy, I don't always sift, that is why my macarons look a bit funny).
Beat the egg whites until stiff. When nice and frothy, add the sugar still beating. When ready, add the dye (you can choose how much you want to add depending on how intense the color must be).
Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the egg whites. Mix gently with a spatula and add rest of egg whites, gently, until the mixture is soft and smooth.
Make small lots on the baking tray with a pastry bag and sprinkle with poppyseeds. Leave 1hour to dry the shell and 15 minutes at 155°C in an ajar oven.
Ganache preparation
In a pot mix lemon juice, zest, water, eggs, cornstarch and sugar. Warm it. When warm, add butter and poppyseeds and beat until the mixture thickens.
Let cool.
Put the ganache on shells and close 2 shells together to make the macaron. Keep refrigirated but take them out 30 minutes before tasting.
Enjoy!
By the way, they should look like that:
HAHA!
