I Love St Patrick's Day. This love affair is somewhat strange seeing that I don't have a drop of Irish blood running through my veins and can really live without drinking copious amount of Guinness from noon till night. I think my love affair harks back to my obsession with the colour green and the one day a year that it is acceptable (in some people eye's) to turn food stuffs glorious shades of emerald.
My finest greenification of food was a St Patrick's Day brunch back in my Kansas City days. Egged on by my best friend's love of being Irish, Jen and I hosted a day long fete of all things Irish. I was in charge of the food. We served green bagels topped with salmon and capers, green tortilla chips to dip in crab and spinach dip, green scrambled eggs and ham, cakes with green icing, shamrock cookies and the list went on and on. We washed them all down with cocktails dyed in various shades of green, whiskey and of course Guinness.
It's been ages since I've gone to those extreme measures in the greenification of food, but my fascination is still there. After beating my rather personal 'Curse of the Macarons' I thought I'd attempt a greenification of the macaron. Let me first proclaim that I'm not a master of the macaron and that this is not the definitive guide to making a macaron. There are loads of other sites out there that go into great detail on the art of making macarons.
The only flavour that conjures up the synesthesiatic link to green is that of the lime, at least any flavour that I'd care to eat in a macaron. I've gone over the top by dusting the shells with edible disco lime glitter, by all means forgo if you don't have it on hand but it does add a bit of O.T.T. fun.
Lime Macarons
For the macaroon shells
250g Ground almonds
350g Icing sugar
150g Caster sugar
215g Egg whites
Green food colouring (I use Wilton Leaf Green Paste)
1/2 tsp extract of lime (I use Green Mountain Pure Lime Extract)
Edible Glitter (optional)
Lime Buttercreme
2 Limes
125g Icing Sugar
250g Unsalted butter, room temperature.
Green food colouring (I use Wilton Leaf Green Paste)
For the Macaron Shells
Preheat the oven to fan assisted 160°C . Pulse the ground almonds and the icing sugar together in the bowl of a food processor. Then sift into a bowl and reserve.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk the egg whites until thick. Add the caster sugar to the the egg whites and continue whisking until you have stiff glossy peaks of meringue that fold after a few seconds. Add the food colouring and whisk only until the colouring is incorporated.
Fold the ground almonds and icing sugar into the meringue mixture in small batches. This ensures that the weight of the almond mixture does not deflate the egg whites. After all of the almond mix is added, add the lime extract. Using a lift, cut and fold motion with your spatula, work the the mixture until it is smooth, shiny and ribbon like. It should take no more that 15 strokes.
Use a piping bag to pipe this mixture on to a baking mat or lined baking tray. Once pipped, firmly tap the tray against the counter to alleviate any air bubbles and to help the macs spread. Sprinkle half of the piped shells with the edible glitter (if using). The glittered shells will be the top of the macarons.
Rest the macaroons at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. You know when they are ready to be baked when you can touch them with a finger and your finger comes back clean.
Bake them in the oven for about 10 minutes. You should be able to lift the shell off the paper without it sticking. If it sticks, return to the oven and cook for 2-3 more minutes.
Remove from the oven and slide the macarons on the baking paper onto a cooling rack.
For the Lime Buttercream
Zest the 2 limes using a fine microplane grater and reserve.
Cream the butter with a hand mixer until pale and fluffy, Add the icing sugar and beat on low to avoid a nuclear fall out of icing sugar. Add the lime zest and food colouring mix thoroughly. Taste the buttercream, If it needs more lime kick, add some juice from the zested limes. Once you are happy with the flavour, transfer to a piping bag.
To assemble
Once the macaroons are cool. Once cool, pipe half of the macaroon shells with the lime cream and then top with a second shell. I find that they taste better after some time in the fridge. Anywhere from 2 hours to overnight. This allows the bottom of the shell to 'melt' into the filling and develop that seamless mouth feel.
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