Apple Jelly White Chocolate and Walnut Macaron

Hey guys,

 

I AM BACK!!! First of all let me apologise for being absent the whole summer, I just realised that my last post was back in July, almost 3 months back. So it means I been missing the whole summer!!

This summer was kinda eventful for me. Shortly after the post in July, one of my elder bunny Nestor had fell critically ill and we almost lost him. Luckily with good vet and medication, he is still alive and kicking. He wanted to live and he is my little fighter and had never once given up even he was in lot of pain. I was exhausted after 4 days of providing him intensive care day and night.

During summer I have been getting myself more active in sports and had been going to swim with a friend. I feel so much better physically and mentally. August just flew by without even I realise it, my sister in law was visiting so we spent a lot of times in family and at the same time being so busy preparing for our trip to Asia. I just came back last week and the jetlag has finally gone away and life is back to routine.

I am glad that Mac Attack is back for autumn, theme : Fruit of the season... Autumn and winter are not really exciting for me in term of fruits and vege. I started to see oranges, apples, pears... (like them but just do not love them) All my favourite berries are coming to an end and I have to wait until next year. Oh well this is the nature.... I found some walnuts and some organic apples in the market yesterday, and was thinking using apple with Manzana liquor to give it a kick in my macarons. So for this entry, let me present you Apple Jelly White Chocolate and Walnut Macaron.

So let's start baking

For the shell (about 24 shells of 3 cm)
- 1 egg whites (40g) - Room temperature
- 30g castor sugar

- 50g icing sugar
- 25g almond meal
- 1/4 teaspoon of green powder /gel food colouring
- 1 - 2 walnut, skin removed and crushed

1. Mix almond meal food colouring (if use powder form) and icing sugar together and blend it up in the blender. Sift then set aside.

2. Using electric beater, beat egg white until foamy, then add in half of the castor sugar, continue until the egg white reaches soft peak then add in the rest and beat until stiff peak. if you use gel or paste food colouring, you can add it when the egg white reaches soft peak and continue to beat until stiff peak.

3. Add the dry ingredient to the meringue. Start folding each batter in each bowl until a smooth shiny batter is obtain. The batter should flow down smoothly and formed a ribbon when it's ready.

4. For details and FAQ on folding please refer to this post http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.fr/2010/02/basic-macaron-recipe.html

5. Prepare your piping bag and block the tip. Fill it up. Start piping the batter. Sprinkle some walnut over the shells.

6. Preheat oven to 150 C while the macaron is resting. Bake for 12-14 minutes and let the macaron shells cool down before removing them.

7. Match up the shells by size and get ready to prepare the filling.

For the filling

For the jelly
- 1/2 apple (skinned and juiced)
- 1/2 tsp Manzana Apple Liquor
- 1/2 tsp agar agar powder

For the ganache
- 50g good quality white chocolate (valrhona)- chopped
- 20g fresh cream / soya cream
- 1/2 tsp Manzana liquor

1. In a pot, put apple juice, Manzana liquor and agar agar powder together. Stir and bring it to boil for 2 minutes. Pour it over a flat bowl / plat and let cool before placing it to set in the fridge.

2. Heat up the cream and Manzana liquor in another pot so that it is warm.

3. Pour warm cream over chopped chocolate stir to mix well and until a smooth consistence ganache is obtained.

5. When the jelly is set, cut it into small cubes. Fill one of the macaron shell with chocolate ganache, place the jelly cube on top, place a tiny drop of chocolate on another shell before placing it over.

6. It is best eating the same evening or next day as the moisture from the jelly might soften the shells.