Peanut Butter & Jelly Macarons

At their simplest, macarons are made using three ingredients; egg whites, ground almonds and sugar so they should be really easy to make? You might think so, but in all honesty, I tried a number of recipes and had some complete disasters before I found one that worked for me on a consistent basis and here it is!

As with a lot of baking, you don’t absolutely have to use specialist equipment in order to guarantee success, but I do think that a piping bag fitted with a ½cm plain nozzle is a necessity as using one ensures that all your macarons are of a uniform size. I also use a silicon mat which has the macaron circles pre-printed on it. Again, this helps ensure uniformity, but you can use baking parchment and draw little circles on the reverse side.

Once you have piped out the macarons, it is crucial that you leave them aside for at least 30 minutes to form a ‘skin’, which means that the macaron mixture should not stick to your finger when gently touched. Allowing this ‘skin’ to form encourages the development of the thin wavy ‘foot’ which is a characteristic of properly made macarons.

I have been experimenting with peanut butter recently and trying out loads of different sweet and savoury recipes which include it. It was therefore inevitable that I would try making Peanut Butter & Jelly Macarons and believe me if you are a fan of peanut butter you will love these.
 

Ingredients:

125g ground almonds
150g icing sugar

100g caster sugar

3 large egg whites (110g in total)

A drop of brown gel/paste colouring

25g salted peanuts, chopped

To finish:

50g smooth peanut butter

30g raspberry jam, sieved to remove seeds
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Cut a sheet of baking parchment to size, to fit a large (approximately 30cm x 40cm) baking tray. Draw 50 x 3cm circles, spaced about a centimetre apart on the sheet of baking parchment and flip over so that the side you drew the circles on is against the surface of the baking tray. (Alternatively use a silicon macaron mat). Set aside.

2. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and then place in a metal sieve. Use the back of a metal spoon to work the mixture through the sieve into a large mixing bowl. Discard any solids that you can’t work through – there should only be a small amount. Set the mixture aside.

3. Place the egg whites in a separate large mixing bowl and then, using a hand-held electric mixer, whisk them until they form stiff peaks. Gradually whisk in the sugar to create a smooth and glossy meringue. Add a drop of brown gel/paste food colouring and mix again to fully incorporate the colour.

4. Fold the meringue into the ground almonds mixture. Don’t worry if you knock some of the air out of the meringue as you don’t want the mixture to be too stiff. The consistency you are aiming for is one where the macaron mixture just holds it shape but any peaks settle and merge smoothly into the rest of the mixture.

5. Spoon the macaron mixture into a piping bag fitted with a ½cm plain nozzle. Using the circles you drew on the parchment paper as a guideline, pipe out equal sized discs. The easiest way to pipe the macarons is to place the tip of the nozzle in the centre of each circle and keep squeezing the piping bag until you reach the edge of the circle and then move on to the next one.

6. Once you have piped all the macarons, lift up the baking tray and with one sharp tap bang the tray against your table/work surface. This gets rid of any large air bubbles in the macarons and helps prevent them cracking as they bake. Sprinkle a few chopped salted peanuts over the top of each macaron.

7. Set the macarons aside for at least 30 minutes at room temperature. During this time the unbaked macarons will form a skin. You will know they are ready as when you touch them lightly no mixture will stick to your finger.

8. Place the macarons in the preheated oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 1. Bake for 13-15 minutes but do not allow them to brown. You will know they are ready if you gently try to wiggle one and it doesn’t come apart from its ‘foot’. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before attempting to move them from the baking parchment.

To finish:

9. Place the smooth peanut butter in a disposable piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle. Pipe a circle of peanut butter on the underside of half the macarons. Spoon a tiny blob of jam inside each of these circles and then top with an unfilled macaron shell to create a ‘sandwich’.

 

The macarons can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Makes 25-30 sandwiched pairs.

Clementine Macarons

Macarons or Macaroons to give them their English name are little meringues made with ground nuts, most usually ground almonds, although one of my favourite versions includes ground pistachios.

Macarons are usually presented sandwiched together in pairs and can be filled with chocolate ganache, buttercream or jam. They can be made in a range of flavours but the traditional flavours are vanilla, raspberry, pistachio and chocolate.

I really love macarons… I mean I really I REALLY LOVE MACARONS! I love their appearance; I love their adaptability and how easy it is to incorporate different flavours but most of all I love the feeling you have when you eat one…a feeling of doing something slightly naughty and of giving in to a self-indulgence that cannot be resisted.

Although very few ingredients are used in the making of macarons, they are notoriously difficult to make and to perfect. I love a culinary challenge and about a year ago I became more than a little obsessive about making macarons. I think I have cracked it and after many failed attempts, I am now able to churn out batch after batch of consistently good macarons. Once you get used to making them and are able to achieve consistent results, you can then really start experimenting with flavours.

The recipe that I give here is for Clementine Macarons. I recently purchased a large crate of clementines and I know quite a few of my recent posts have included recipes using clementines, but let me reassure you, these are delicious. You can of course, use other citrus fruits… but given that it is Christmas, I think that these are very apt.

There is nothing more delightful than seeing the look on someone’s face when you present them with a selection of home-made macarons in a range of beautiful flavours and colours. There is something so decadent and luxurious about them and in case you hadn’t already guessed… I LOVE MACARONS!

Ingredients:

Macaron shells:
90g egg whites
30g caster sugar
200g icing sugar
110g ground almonds

Finely grated zest of 1 clementine

Few drops of orange food colouring (gel colouring)

Clementine buttercream:

100g butter, softened

250g icing sugar

1-2 tsp lemon juice

3-4 tsp clementine juice

3 tsp clementine zest
 

Method:

1. Prepare your baking sheets. Draw about 40 round circles (about 4cms in diameter) on two sheets of non-stick baking parchment and place on two baking trays, ensuring that the side that you drew the circles on is on the side against the baking tray – you should still be able to see the circles through the baking parchment.
2. Put the icing sugar and ground almonds into a food processor and pulse to grind the nuts to a fine powder. Pass this mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl and set aside. Discard any large lumps of nut that are retained in the sieve.
3. Using a hand held electric mix, whisk the egg whites until they have reached the soft peak stage.
4. Add the caster sugar and whisk until the mixture is standing in firm peaks. Stop once you have reached this stage, because over beating will result in macaron shells that are too dry. Add a couple of drops of orange gel colouring and whisk the mixture briefly to incorporate the colouring.
5. Add the nuts and sugar mixture to the meringue along with the clementine zest and fold into the meringue with a spatula, using firm folding strokes. Make sure everything is well incorporated. The meringue will slacken as the nuts are folded in. It will take about 40-50 strokes to achieve the correct consistency. It should be a softly flowing consistence that does not retain any peaks, but will still hold its shape without spreading everywhere.

6. Place the macaron mixture into a disposable piping bag fitted with a ½ cm plain round nozzle and pipe out rounds of the mixture using the pre-drawn circles as guides. Let the piped macarons sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to dry out their shells a little.

7. Pre-heat the oven to 140C/Fan Oven 120C/Gas Mark 1. Place the macarons in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cool. Remove the baked macarons from the baking parchment. If you are not filling the macarons immediately they can be stored in an air tight tin until they are required.

8. To fill the macarons, pipe or spoon a teaspoon of buttercream onto the underside of one macaron and sandwich together with another macaron.

To make the clementine buttercream:

9. Using a hand-held electric mixer cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the clementine and lemon juices along with the clementine zest and beta again to fully incorporate. Use to sandwich the macarons together in pairs.
 

Makes 20-24 macarons (sandwiched together).