Macs are back!
It’s been far too long since my last macaron post. I’ve been having withdrawals and after spending Thanksgiving, Christmas and National Pie Day surrounded by nothing but copious amounts of pie at work, I need macarons back in my life.
My boss is Australian and we’ve been gearing up to celebrate Australia Day on Tuesday (Jan. 26th). We’ll have lots of traditional Australian items on our menu all day long, including lamingtons.
Lamingtons are vanilla sponge cake squares, sandwiched together with strawberry or raspberry jam, covered in chocolate buttercream and rolled in coconut.
Instead of making my own lamingtons, I decided to satisfy my macaron craving by incorporating the flavours of a lamington into a macaron. We’ve got a chocolate shell sprinkled with coconut, a vanilla buttercream and some delicious strawberry jam.
They’re so good, you guys. Perfect for celebrating Australia Day or just anytime you want a really fun macaron 🙂
Lamington Macarons
Ingredients
- Macaron Shells:
- 180g almond flour
- 200g powdered sugar
- 30g dark cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 fl. oz. water
- 200g sugar
- 160g egg whites, separated (80g)
- Shredded coconut, for sprinkling
- Filling:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 2 tbsp. heavy cream
- Strawberry or raspberry jam
Directions
- Step 1 Shells:
- Step 2 Place almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor and process until fine. Sift and set aside.
- Step 3 In a saucepan, bring water a sugar to a boil (do not stir). Make sure the syrup doesn’t go about 240°F.
- Step 4 336 In a mixer, gently beat 80g egg whites to soft peaks. When the syrup passes 220°F, increase the beater speed. When syrup reaches 240°F remove from heat and pour in a thing stream into beaten egg whites. Beat for a further 10 minutes to cool down the meringue.
- Step 5 While beating, combine the sifted ingredients and the remaining 80g egg whites, making a smooth paste.
- Step 6 With a flexible spatula, incorporate 1/3 of the meringue into the almond paste. Then add the remaining meringue, carefully working the batter.
- Step 7 Fit a piping bag with a tip and fill with batter. Pipe onto silicone or parchment-lined baking sheets. Lightly tap the bottoms, sprinkle on coconut and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Step 8 Preheat oven to 300°F. Bake for 14 minutes.
- Step 9 Filling:
- Step 10 Beat butter until creamy, add powdered sugar, vanilla bean and heavy cream and beat until combined
- Step 11 Assembly:
- Step 12 To assemble macarons, pair up same-size shells.
- Step 13 Pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream around base of one pair of each shell and add jam in the middle of the ring. Sandwich together.
- Step 14 Store in refrigerator.
