New Leaf Kombucha
These look good and easy, she laughs behind her hand. Well, I have never made macarons so we will see. I had 4 egg whites left over from my last bake so I needed a recipe to use them up. It was going to be Mary’s Neopolitan Baked Alaska which looked scary and daunting so luckily I found these instead. They are made with ground pecans giving them a “wonderful flavour that becomes more intense as the macarons age” Well we may never find that one out the rate my daughter is eating them! I went to the opening of a Kombucha bar on Saturday. “NewLeaf” very chic, selling only kombucha, very original. And it’s so good for you. Very interesting tea flavours of macha, gunpowder green tea and Sri Lankan Black tea to name a few, all on tap. Go try it at their taproom http://www.newleafkombucha.nz That was new and interesting, as was this bake. I didn’t know how to make macarons, but I had the impression that they are hard to get right. My daughter made them once or twice, (should I say attempted to make them) and they resulted in hard things stuck to paper. 🙁 I was shocked that macarons are just meringue with added ground nuts, who knew!!! They were simple and pleasant to whip up. The most time consuming bit was probably drawing the circles on the baking paper, Haha. I would recommend to anyone to give it a go. So I put the pecans and icing sugar in the food processor and ground to a fine sandy powder. I whipped the egg whites and salt until the whites stood in soft peaks that slightly flopped at the tip
(all this baking lingo is so precise isn’t it!!!) then whisked in the caster sugar until the mixture stood in stiff peaks (not flopping!). 
I sifted the cocoa powder into the bowl and added the pecan mix, 
then gently folded it through. It seemed to lose air, but it didn’t affect the result. 
I then piped this mixture into small mounds into the previously 
drawn circles on the baking paper. 
And after dipping my finger in water and flattening the peaks (more peaks!) I banged the sheet to knock out the air bubbles and left to stand for 30 minutes to allow a skin to form. 
Then baked in the oven for 15-20minutes.
Easy peazy.
After leaving to cool, I made the ganache to stick them together. 
I nearly boiled some milk and added it evenly to the white chocolate buttons and dark chocolate then mixed and put it in the fridge until the ganache was a good consistency for piping. I piped the white chocolate around the edges and placed the thicker dark chocolate ganache in the middle. 
Fun, fun, fun…those bowls were well worth licking. 
I sandwiched the macarons together and voila. My first attempt at macarons complete and successful to boot. I will definitely make these again, maybe with ground almonds next time. They are fun, delicious and easy. Who knew. 🙂
Try me
Choco late mac ar ons
you delight me
tease me with your crunch and your c r a c k s
entice me with your chew your sweet hit of goo
oozing between pin wheels glued
together
for my pleasure
