Blackberry & Violet Macarons

After creating my macs I discovered the Mactweets challenge for January - check out this link http://mactweets.blogspot.com/ - and decided to enter my lovely blackberry and violet macarons below.

Macaron shells ready to be filled 

BLACKBERRY & VIOLET MACARON SHELLS
INGREDIENTS FOR THE TANT POUR TANT (TPT)
300g sifted TPT (150g almond meal with 150g icing sugar)
55g egg whites
 (fresh)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE (IM)
150g caster sugar

37g water
powdered purple food colouring or Wilton gel paste
55g egg whites (old egg whites aged 12-24 hours in a bowl on the kitchen bench)

STEP 1. MAKE THE TPT
Mix the Tant Pour Tant (equal quantities of icing sugar and almond meal) with the fresh egg white until it forms a thick paste, cover with cling wrap and set aside.

Note: Before sifting the TPT, I wizzed the almond meal in a food processor - this creates lovely smooth attire... I mean shells 

STEP 2. MAKE THE IM
Pour your aged egg whites into a Kitchen Aid mixer and insert the whisk attachment.
Bring the caster sugar, water and food colouring to the boil in a small saucepan.

When the sugar syrup reaches 115°C start whisking your aged egg whites into soft peaks. 

As soon as the syrup reaches 118°C slowly pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin stream. Continue whisking the IM in the Kitchen Aid until it reaches a temperature between 50-55°C. 

When you finish whisking your IM the beater should look like a bird's beak 

STEP 3. COMBINE THE TPT & IM
With a spatula, fold one-third of the IM into the TPT and egg white paste and knock out some of the air in the batter. At this stage of the process you can be quite rough when handling.

Gently fold in the rest of the IM into the TPT and combine until you have the right texture (should be glossy and look like cake mixture). Be careful not to over-mix the batter here or it will get too runny and your shells may crack in the oven.

STEP 4. PIPE YOUR MACARON SHELLS
Fill a piping bag with the macaron batter and place some parchment paper over a baking sheet.

Put four small dabs of macaron mix underneath the parchment paper in each corner to secure the paper. Pipe 3.5 - 4cm diameter circles onto the parchment paper, tap the tray on the work surface to remove air bubbles and leave to dry for about 15-20 minutes to form a crust and are dry to touch.

Instead of putting 4 dabs of mix underneath the parchment I use magnets to secure the paper whilst piping.

I use a mineral powder brush from the Body Shop to apply eye shadow to my little ladies... oops, I mean edible glitter dust. If applying glitter do this before the shells have had time to "crouter" i.e. form a crust.

Yeah - bling!!!!!! 

Lip gloss with plenty of shine - looking good! 

STEP 5. COOK YOUR MACARON SHELLS
Cook the macaron for 17 mins at 150°C (fan forced oven). To release steam, leave the oven door open slightly. If this doesn't work for you, keep experimenting until you find the right temperature as every oven is different. Once cooked, remove from the baking sheet and leave to cool on the parchment paper over a wire rack. I have a new commercial style oven which is very powerful so I have to reduce the temperature by another 20°C and cook my shells for 19 minutes.

Shells should easily peel off the parchment paper - no need to use water or steam to remove 

STEP 6. ASSEMBLE YOUR MACARON
Remove the shells from the parchment paper and pair like sizes together. Pipe a decent blob of ganache onto the shell, then place the lid on top and twist slightly so that the ganache flows out towards the edge of the macaron. When piping the ganache onto the shell always leave a small rim.

STEP 7. STORE YOUR MACARON
Store your macaron in the fridge for 24 hours prior to eating so that the humidity helps the ganache to soak into the shell and allow the flavours to develop. Try not to eat your macaron the day they are made as they are too dry. Allow the macaron to return to room temperature prior to serving. The recipe for the blackberry and violet ganache appears in my previous post.

I've chosen to turn my macs into a dessert as I was inspired by the colour, flavour and texture of blackberries and sweet violets - very random:)

P.S. I ran out of time to submit another entry but created a dessert called "Chateau de Chenonceau" if you'd like to take a look.