Great Gatsby inspired Pink Champagne Macarons - "Extravagance"

The Glitz and Glamour is yet to come.

My latest creation 'Extravagance' pink champagne macarons are inspired by the glitz, glamour and luxury in Baz Luhrmann's film 'The Great Gatsby'.  I haven't seen the movie yet but can't wait to see it on the big screen in 3D.

Jewel Tone Sugar Syrup

Look at the colour of the gorgeous head scarf and pink pearls.
Source: http://feliciafbaby.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/121365-review-great-gatsby.html

Gold Dust & Spun Sugar

Extravagance just got more decadent!

Source: www.aceshowbiz.com Warner Bros. Pictures The Great Gatsby

Pink Champagne Macarons -  'Extravagance'
To make these macarons follow my basic macaron recipe but divide the quantities in half and colour them pink.  To make the champagne ganache use 250g white couverture chocolate to 110g cream and 15g pink champagne in addition to a pinch of pink powdered food colouring.

Ice Cream -  'Decadence'
If you're up for a challenge and want to be a bit more creative, make the ice cream below and freeze it in a fancy mould.  When ready unmould it and decorate it with the pink champagne macarons and spun sugar.

Orange Blossom, Vanilla & Violet Ice Cream - 'Decadence'
600ml pouring cream
1 litre milk 
300g caster
7 egg yolks
3 tablespoons orange flower water
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 tablespoon violet syrup 

Place a third of the cream, orange flower water, vanilla and violet syrup in a large bowl over ice and set aside.  This is the reserved cream.  Combine remaining cream with milk and a third of the sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir to dissolve sugar and bring just to the boil.  Whisk yolks and remaining sugar in a heat proof bowl for 4-5 minutes until pale.  Pour the cream mixture over the yolks and whisk to combine.  Return to the saucepan and cook stirring continuously until mixture thickly coats a spoon (6-7 minutes).  Strain into the reserved cream, stir to combine and set aside to cool completely. Pour into a fancy silicone mould and freeze for a minimum of 12 hours.
Adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Spun Sugar Icicles
1 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons glucose/ corn syrup
Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and boil until the syrup turns a light golden colour. Line the kitchen sink with parchment paper and use either a whisk or 2 forks to spin the sugar onto the parchment paper. Use for decorating macarons and/or cakes.

Musk Macarons

When I was little, we didn't have computers.  We had to make our own fun. Sometimes we'd help our nanna out in her fruit and vegetable shop. My sisters and I would pop our aprons on and we'd have competitions on who could make the most money.  Sometimes, we'd go into our nanna's cool room when she wasn't watching and eat the strawberries off the top of the punnets and surreptitiously drink little bottle's of soft drink with swirly paper straws covered in wax.  We'd sit in the cool room giggling at the mischief we got up to but also sat there in fear of getting into trouble from our mum and dad.  I was always getting into to trouble!

In those days, life seemed simple and we'd take great delight in taking our pocket money and spending it at the local corner shop.  Nearly every block had a corner shop as we didn't have huge supermarket chains.  Our favourite past time was running to the shop flat to the boards with 20c and buying the biggest bag of lollies ever.  It was filled with cobbers, bananas, teeth, milk bottles, Musk Sticks, frogs, jelly beans, raspberries, love hearts, mint leaves, freckles, Fantales, Metro gum and other yummy stuff.  We'd walk back home very, very slowly with our cheeks bursting at the seams.

Reminiscing about all those lovely Australian lollies I've devoted my latest macaron to the iconic Musk Stick which is totally yumdelish.  And, if you still think you're 16, I dare you to go out and buy some Musk Sticks and try to shape the end of one into a sharp point with your tongue - just don't stab your friends with it!

To make this macaron follow my basic recipe using cochineal to colour the macaron pink.  Make a ganache with a 2:1 ratio of white chocolate to cream and add a couple of drops of musk oil. You can also colour the ganache with the cochineal.   After you pipe the ganache onto the macaron shells, sprinkle some crushed Musk Sticks on top then place its lid on top.

Fashion Designer, Louise Gray inspired Macarons - Lavender Ganache with Passionfruit Caviar

Unfilled shells 

Colour clash and crazy patterns

To make these macarons follow my basic recipe and colour half the batch rose pink and the other half egg yolk yellow.  Make a 2:1 ratio of white chocolate ganache to cream and infuse with lavender.  Pipe the ganache on half the macaron shells then sprinkle with  passionfruit caviar.  Finish off by placing the remaining shells on top.  Store in fridge for 12-24 hours before serving.

Neon Chartreuse Macarons with Violet Bubblegum Ganache

 I love the gorgeous florals and neon fashion hitting the stores at the moment and decided to inject some into my latest macarons. WANT - a long sleeve chartreuse shirt!  NEED - pastel floral jeans.  Violets are blue - what about you?

To make these macarons follow the basic recipe and colour them lime green. To make the violet bubblegum ganache follow Zumbo's bubblegum ganache recipe but replace the strawberry puree with pouring cream (minimum 35% fat), use 6 pieces of Hubba Bubba instead of four or use some bubblegum tape; and add a couple of drops of violet essence.  All other ingredients remain the same.  No need to make the pop rock insert for this one. 

3 Macaron Flavours in One Day - Violet, Salted Caramel & Hubba Bubba Bubblegum

Tomorrow I'm driving down the coast with my 2 gorgeous girls to stay with my mum & dad  and visit our cousins for a week.  My mum often sees pictures of macarons on my blog but doesn't always get to taste them so I've been busy all day mixing, piping and baking 3 of our favourites and now have a huge container to give her.  

After my very cheeky entry in Mactweets whereby I made a Donna Hay packet mix, I also felt extremely guilty that I didn't go to a lot of effort so here we go guys I hope this makes up for it!  I still think macarons made from scratch rule compared to a packet mix and there's something satisfying about making everything yourself even though it takes forever!

I'll keep this post short as I should be in bed getting my beauty sleep but I ended up making Salted Caramel (again), Violet and Hubba Bubba Bubblegum.  Salted Caramel and Violet to go with some bubbly for the adults and bubblegum and soft drinks for the kids.  Looking forward to some Brown Brothers Cienna Rosso and Zibibbo Rosa!

unfilled shells

a bit of gold bling on the salted caramel

I think my ruffles need a bit of practice

Hubba Bubba Bubblegum

UPDATE: To make these macarons follow my basic recipe and colour them pink, purple or caramel depending on what flavour you decide to make.  

You can find the recipe for Salted Caramel Filling here and for the Violet Ganache here. To make the bubblegum ganache follow Zumbo's bubblegum ganache recipe but replace the strawberry puree with pouring cream (minimum 35% fat) and use 6 pieces of Hubba Bubba instead of four.  All other ingredients remain the same.  No need to make the pop rock insert for this one.  

BTW, thanks to everyone that left comments and apologies for my belated response.  

Donna Hay Almond Macaron with Chocolate Filling

I was walking through the aisles in the supermarket the other day and something that I hadn't noticed before in the baking section caught my eye - Donna Hay's Macaron Mix. Now, I'm not normally one for packet mixes but since it was the last one left on the shelf I thought that it  must be pretty good so into my trolley it went.  I know that some bakeries also use powdered macaron mixes so a bit like Alice I was somewhat curious and curiouser to see what all the fuss was about. Could I make magnificent macarons or would they be a total disaster?  Not content with following the instructions I took the chance to add my own little twist and I was prepared for failure. I followed most of Donna's instructions on the box but added 1 tablespoon of freeze dried raspberries to the almond mix and a squirt of rose pink food colouring to the egg mix.  I also added a bit of pink bling to the shells before placing them in the oven.  To the ganache, I added 1 teaspoon of Demerara sugar and squirted in a couple of drops of rose essence.  This could go really pear shaped I thought but here's what happened.

Donna's magic mixes

Preparing the egg mix

All whipped up 

Waving my magic wand 

I just can't resist and have to pipe these little darlings - I can't plop them on with a teaspoon despite the box telling me so

Pretty little feet dancing in the oven

Preparing the ganache

Pink Raspberry & Rose Macarons - can you believe these are from a packet mix?

You've been a very bad, bad girl ladymacaron!  Instead of going to all the trouble to make macarons from scratch you've cheated for this Mactweets entry and made a packet mix!  And, if that wasn't bad enough it took you half the time to make up a normal batch - shame on you!  Well, girls I've decided that if you've got friends coming over at the last minute and you desperately want macarons then you need one of these little boxes hidden inside your cupboard.  You can whip up some gorgeous macarons at a whim and still look like the beauty queen that you are.  Next time however,  I'd cook the macarons at a lower temperature 135 to 140 degrees Celsius (fan-forced) for approx. 17 - 19 minutes and use a white chocolate ganache as I find the dark chocolate in macarons a bit too rich.  This packet mix has the thumbs up from me...  sorry for cheating, I promise I'll make macarons from scratch next time!

Salted Vanilla Caramel Macarons

Unfilled Shells

SALTED VANILLA CARAMEL MACARONS 
Ingredients
125g Fresh Pouring Cream (min 35% fat)
175g caster sugar
5g Fleur de Sel (or substitute Maldon sea salt)
175g unsalted butter (chopped into small cubes)
1 vanilla bean (seeds removed)

Step 1. MAKE THE CARAMEL: Melt the sugar over low heat until it caramelises. Heat the cream and vanilla seeds in a separate saucepan until it reaches boiling point then slowly pour it into the melted sugar.  Blend with a whisk and allow the caramel to cool.  When it reaches 45 degrees celsius add the butter and whisk until well combined. Pour into a shallow stainless steel tray, place cling wrap on the top, to prevent a skin from forming, then cool in the fridge. When set, remove from the fridge, bring back to room temperature, sprinkle the salt on top and hand whisk again until the colour changes and it becomes glossy.

Step 2. MAKE THE MACARONS: Follow the basic recipe and make 1 quantity of macarons coloured caramel.

Step 3. FILL YOUR MACARONS

This is also my entry for Mactweets.  Salted Caramel Macarons are a favourite in our household and I think I would have been in lots of trouble had I not made them during the holidays so here they are with a vanilla twist.  The colour reminds me of autumn but the saltiness reminds me of an Australian summer at the beach! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all at Mactweets.

Orange Flower Water Macarons

To make these macarons follow the basic recipe and colour the shells orange.  Make a white chocolate ganache with a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to cream and add a tablespoon of orange flower water. 

Merry Jelly Christmas

Wishing everyone a very merry jelly christmas!

Zumbo's Salt and Vinegar Macaron

Zumbo's Salt & Vinegar Macarons

To make Zumbo's Salt & Vinegar Macarons, make two batches of my basic macaron recipe, one coloured purple and the other brown.  

To make an adapted version of the ganache set aside 50g Modena Aged Balsamic Vinegar, 2g Maldon Sea Salt flakes, 240g White Chocolate & 140g Pouring Cream (minimum 35% fat).

Bring the cream to the boil then blend with the white chocolate

In a slow stream add the balsamic vinegar and combine, fold in the salt then allow to set

Pipe your macarons and assemble. Store in the fridge for at least 12 hours but preferably 24 hours before eating - try to resist the temptation.

I'm not exactly a fan of salt and vinegar crisps so I'm doubtful that these we will be my favourite but we'll see. They're currently in the Perfect Fresh zone in my new Miele fridge soaking up all that lovely humidity!

I just checked the macarons after 12 hours and they still don't have that lovely fudgy chewiness inside yet.  This is because Zumbo's recipes don't make as much filling compared to Pierre Herme.  Had I made Pierre Herme's recipe with oodles of ganache these would have been ready to consume by now but because the filling is sparse they need another 12 hours to mature. I'm rather fussy as I like my macarons to have the perfect texture both inside and out - nothing worse than crisp flavourless shells. 

After 24 hours these macarons were just PERFECT and gave salted caramel a run for their money!