Stop your OCD medication for the day but keep the ADD pills flowing! I have another Pierre Hermé recipe to present and you’re gonna need all the help you can get. Macarons have the reputation to be the tough cookies of the pastry arts ( by tough i’m mean technically, not..err.. texturically?) but that’s a bunch of bollocks, they’re really not that hard to make. Of course, there’s the ongoing ‘war’ on who makes the best macaron in Paris which keeps us French entertained although we all perfectly know it’s PH (duh!). It’s just another excuse to keep tasting them over and over again.

This macaron was a big hit around here with its white chocolate ganache flavored with vanilla from Madagascar, Mexico and Tahiti. A bit of a luxury but totally worth it. You will need a touch of insanity and patience to master Hermé’s technique, but the reward is totally worth the efforts. Not only it opens the door to endless creations but they keep well, they freeze well, they are crowd pleasers, they’re pretty to look at, they don’t talk back when you yell at them and most importantly… they bounce back when you throw them at the wall! How can you not LOVE them?

This might be the first ‘englishified’ recipe of this fabulous macaron.. sorry Pierre but someone’s gotta do your dirty work since you didn’t bother writing an english version of the macaron cookbook. This is also the first recipe i attempted in the book and I wasn’t 100% happy with my performance not because of how they taste, they’re truly incredible,  but because i didn’t sift the almond flour twice which resulted in a slightly granular top. For the record, you’re aiming at a baby’s butt smoothness. I learned my lesson since and my more recent attempts were more like it. Now I’m secretly developing the ultimate ‘butt macaron’ recipe that i will uncover this summer but i’ll keep the secret to justify that i’m secretly working on it. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a secret. Get it?

Another important trick is to fill your macarons with the ganache at least 24 hours before enjoying them. The moisture of the ganache soften the inside of the cookie to create a perfect osmosis when you bite into them. That’s when some people go … ohhhh.. while others go … ahhhhh. Whatever you like. Doesn’t bother me.

• Macaron Infiniment Vanille

• • Vanilles du Mexique, de Madagascar et de Tahiti
  • Recipe adapted from Pierre Herme’s Macaron
  • Makes about 36 macarons
• 

• • For the meringue:

  • 150 grams almond flour, sifted twice
  • 150 grams powdered sugar
  • 55 grams egg whites, aged 7 days
  • 1 1/2 vanilla bean
  • 150 grams sugar
  • 37 grams bottled spring water
  • 55 grams egg whites, aged 7 days

  • For the vanilla ganache:

  • 200 grams heavy cream
  • 1 vanilla bean from Mexico
  • 1 vanilla bean from Madagascar
  • 1 vanilla bean from Tahiti
  • 220 grams white chocolate, preferably valrhona

  • For the meringues:

• Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Split the vanilla beans and scrap the seeds. Add them to the almond flour & powdered sugar mixture. Add the first batch of egg whites (55 gr) to the almond/sugar/vanilla mixture, without mixing them.
• In a small saucepan, combine the water and 150 grams of sugar and bring to a boil until it reaches 118’C. Meanwhile, place the second batch of egg whites in the bowl of a mixer equipped with the whisk attachment. When the sugar syrup is at 115’C start beating the whites on medium speed until they reach soft peaks.
• Pour the sugar at 118’C over the egg whites. Beat until the temperature of the mixture drops to 50’C. Fold the meringue into the almond-sugar-egg white mixture until it’s homogeneous. Place in a large pastry bag with a plain #11 tip.
• Place parchment paper on two baking trays and use a pencil to draw 1 1/2 inches circles to cover the surface with 1/2 inch in between. You should have 36 circles on each parchment papers. Turn over the paper so the pencil marks won’t transfer to the meringues.
• Pipe rounds of the meringue dough onto the prepared parchment paper. Let the meringues out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. This is a very important step as the piped meringue rounds develop a thin ‘crust’ over their surface during the rest.
• Preheat the oven to 350’F. Bake the meringues for exactly 12 minutes. Open the oven door quickly-twice during cooking. When the cookies are cooked slide the parchment paper onto a work surface and leave them to cool.

• For the vanilla ganache:

• Preheat the oven to 325’F.
• Split the vanilla beans in half and scrap the seeds with the tip of a knife. Add them to the heavy cream along with beans. Bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Cover and let infuse 30 minutes.
• Place the chopped white chocolate in a bowl of a bain-marie and melt. Remove the vanilla beans from the cream and pour the mixture over the melted chocolate in three addition. Mix until smooth and scrap the mixture in a pyrex dish. Cover with plastic wrap and let it cool in the refrigerator.

• Assemble the macarons:

• Place the vanilla ganache in a pastry bag equipped with a plain tip. Garnish half the vanilla meringues with the ganache and cover with the other half to make a sandwich. Refrigerate in an hermetic box for 24 hours. Let them come to room temperature before enjoying them.
• 

Tags: Dessert, Macaron