Macarons for grown ups- Cosmopolitan and Mojito macarons

OK! I'm super duper excited about these macaron flavours and even more about the photographs, that turned out exactly the way i imagined. It was a crazy week of baking for us at Bobo Macarons. More than 1000 macarons baked, printed, filled and packed for a wedding and I was beyond exhausted. I did not want to do any baking for a really long time, or so I thought, until this fabulous idea for flavours developed in my head. I HAD to make it immediately. And so I did.

I decided to go with two of my favourite cocktails- Mojito and Cosmopolitan. I make these at home quite often and I'm soooo in love with the flavours, it HAD to work in a macaron. I must admit though, it wasn't easy. I wasn't sure how to make the flavours pop and if adding liquid to the filling was a good idea, but I had to give it a go to see if it was feasible...and well, here they are...spot on with the cocktail flavours. Next on the list is margarita and sangria and maybe even a pink champagne one ;)

I have a basic macaron recipe that I fall back on and it fetches me perfect results. I halved the batter and added hot pink to one set and kiwi green to the other. I got 12 macarons in each colour. For the mojito macarons, I grated some lime zest and sprinkled over the shells about 10 minutes after I piped them out. This totally made a difference.

Mojito Macarons

The mojito ones- lime, mint and rum being the main ingredients, were easy to put together. I mean I decided to do a white chocolate ganache filling and incorporate these flavours into it, keeping the base simple. I would however increase the alcohol a bit more the next time, as the lime was overpowering (in a good way, of course) with this batch. I'm so kicked about how the styling for this came through and its one of my favourite shoots till date.

Double cream- 45ml + 1/4 to 1/3rd cup to whip

White chocolate- 2 oz, roughly chopped

White rum- 1 tbsp

Lime juice- 3 tbsp

Lime zest- of one lime

Mint leaves- 2 to 3, finely chopped

Gently heat the double cream, either in a sauce pan, or in the microwave and pour over the chopped up white chocolate. Keep aside for a couple of minutes.

Gently stir, without incorporating air into it, till you get a smooth mix. Keep aside to cool.

Add the rum, lime juice, lime zest and chopped up mint leaves and mix it in well.

Keep refrigerated till ready to use.

When ready to pipe, whip the ganache with 1/4 to 1/3rd cup of double cream with a hand held blender or in a free standing mixes with whisk attachment, till stiff peaks form. Make sure you don't over do this, or you'll end up with split cream.

Transfer into piping bags and pipe on to macarons and sandwich them.

Keep refrigerated in an air tight container till ready to use.

Cosmopolitan Macarons

These - taste wise- were spot on but I did have a bit of trouble getting the right consistency. I used a butter cream filling for the macs and the amount of liquid that went into it, made it a lot difficult. I know that vodka is an important component in a cosmo, but i shied away from it because of the Cointreau and cran juice that was already making it quite fluid. I had to keep adding icing sugar to reach the desired consistency, which meant, the filling was a bit too sweet for my liking. I will find a way to work around that, but for now here's the recipe. 

Unsalted butter- 55 gms, at room temperature

Icing sugar- 6 tbsp

Cointreau- 1 tbsp

Cranberry juice- 1 tbsp

Orange zest- 1/4 tsp (optional)

Beat together the butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy.

Add all the liquid ingredients plus zest and continue beating till they all come together.

If the mix looks like its curdled, add some more icing sugar to bring it back to desired consistency.

Read more »

Macarons {3 ways}

Last week, a couple of us food bloggers went to the Royal Albert Afternoon Tea Tour in association with Breast Cancer Care. It was an afternoon of fun, eating and oohing and aahing the gorgeous, gorgeous vintage style tea sets that were used to serve the cupcakes and tea in. Just a few days before, we were oohing and aahing their collection at one of the department stores and Id seen this one particular cup and saucer set with tiny flowers inside, and I even remember exclaiming to a fellow foodie that some pretty and dainty macarons would just look gorgeous in them.

Little did I know that two days later I'd actually get the exact same cup and saucer from Royal Albert in my goody bag at the tea party. I HAD to make macarons and I even had a clear idea what colour and how Id style and photograph it. I am very pleased with how they have turned out and even had a small afternoon tea party at my place. The tea tour will be heading to different locations around London, so please do drop by, enjoy some tea and cakes and support the great cause.

Thursday 12th and Friday 13th- Bloomsbury Square

Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th- Parsons Green

I always follow the basic macaron recipe from Ottolenghi (Recipe here) which fetches me around 22 to 24 medium sizes macarons. For a full, detailed post on macaron making, follow this link. The fillings are for 12 macarons. I always halve the batter and add two colours. I get around 12 macarons in each colour.

Pineapple cheesecake filling

The filling for the purple one was Pineapple cheesecake a really pleasant one made with the Castello Pineapple Halo, a soft cheese coated in pineapple and almonds. Castello has this fabulous range of cheese which go great with white wine. My favourite however is the pineapple flavoured one which works great as cheesecake (trust me on this, I tasted it at the Castello event and loved it). So inspired by that I made the cheesecake filling for the macarons. It was a hit. (I added some yellow colour to emphasise the pineapple bit)

Castello pineapple halo cheese- 1/3 rd cup, at room temperature
Double cream- 1/4 cup
Honey- 2 tbsp

Whisk the double cream till soft peaks form.
Fold in the soft cheese slowly, till well mixed and no traces are seen.
Add the honey (or icing sugar) and mix well.
Refrigerate till ready to use.

Raspberry jam buttercream filling 

 

The pink macarons made specially for Breast Cancer Care were filled with raspberry jam filling. This is a really easy one and quite versatile because you can use any jam and make it into a filling.

Butter- 4 tbsp, at room temperature
Raspberry jam- 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract- a drop (optional)
Icing sugar- 2 tbsp (add more if you like it sweeter)

Whisk the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl, till light and fluffy
Add the jam and vanilla and continue whisking till they all come together.
Refrigerate till ready to use.

Cardamom cream cheese filling

 

I love cream/ soft cheese fillings and frosting and my macaron fillings are almost always cream cheese based. I used the Lactofree soft white cheese for this and was pleasantly surprised at how nice it tasted. Lactofree products are perfect for those who are lactose intolerant and doesn't have to give up dairy altogether. I had the privilege of tasting some of their products and you wouldn't even be able to make out the difference. Check out the website for more details.

A couple of us were invited to Preeti's place for an Indian themed lunch and while breaking my head on what to take for her, Suchi came up with the idea of the tricoloured Indian flag theme. The party was just two days after Indian Independence Day and it was the perfect theme. It looked gorgeous when put together and I filled it with cardamom to give it an Indian touch. Personally, I find cardamom to be an over powering spice, and I prefer it in the mildest possible dose, so this was not really my favourite. I did get good reviews about it though.

Cream cheese- 1/2 cup
Icing sugar- 3 tbsp
Vanilla extract- a generous splash
Cardamom powder- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp (powder the cardamom seeds to make enough)

Whisk the cream cheese and sugar gently using a wire whisk. Make sure it doesnt become too loose.
Fold in the vanilla extract and cardamom and continue mixing till they all come together.
Do a taste test and add more cardamom if required.

With thanks to all the brands for inviting me to the events and for the samples.

Read more »