Made especially for King’s Day All of Holland Bakt-winner Aruna a tower of macarons, in the colors of the Dutch flag.
Macarons are not the easiest cookies to make. A tip from Aruna is: don’t be discouraged if the cookies fail the first few times. And follow the recipe carefully.
Ingredients, for approximately 30 macarons
- 150 grams of fine almond flour
- 150 grams of powdered sugar
- 2 x 55 grams of protein
- 150 grams of sugar
- 37.5 grams of water
- drop of color gel or powder (not liquid coloring) red, white and blue
Vanilla filling
- 200 grams of white chocolate
- 100 grams of whipped cream
- 0.5 vanilla pod
Preparing macarons
Sift the icing sugar and almond flour twice. Add 55 grams of egg white and mix everything well.
Boil the sugar and water to a syrup to 118 degrees. As soon as the syrup is 114 degrees, start beating the second part of egg white until foamy (frothy, so not stiff).
Once the syrup has reached 118 degrees, add the hot syrup to the foamy egg whites and beat the foam until cold to about 50 degrees. (I do this by feel, until the mixing bowl no longer feels hot).
Divide the mixture into thirds and add a drop of color gel or powder. Make 1 red, 1 white and 1 blue.
Place the mixtures separately in a piping bag with a round nozzle. Take a baking tray and line it with baking paper. Pipe small circles. Let the cookies dry before putting them in the oven. They should develop a leathery skin before they go into the oven. This ensures that the macarons will not crack at the top and get the well-known “foot”.
Then bake them for 14 to 18 minutes at 150 degrees.
Make vanilla filling
It is best to make the filling a day in advance (or a few hours in advance) so that it can set nicely.
Heat the whipped cream in a saucepan together with the vanilla marrow and vanilla pod. As soon as this boils, remove the vanilla pod and pour it over the white chocolate pieces. Keep stirring and let it set.
Building macarons
Place the filling in a piping bag and pipe a small amount of filling onto a macaron.
The best option (if you can wait) is to keep the filled macarons in the refrigerator for a day, so that the filling can absorb into the macaron. Let the macaron come to room temperature before eating!
(Source: Aruna Sitaram. Photo, for illustration: Shutterstock)
