lonely hearts macarons
I thought of this a couple of weeks ago, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up here and I have red and pink baked goods on the mind. I think I was watching chopped when I thought of this: one of the basket ingredients was black garlic, and I did a little reading on that.
It sounds really weird when in junction with a sweet baked good like cookies, but it’s basically garlic that’s been fermented in a warm, humid place for anywhere from two weeks to three months. The fermentation breaks down the enzymes that make garlic pungent and turns it sweet: everything I’ve read says the taste is kind of caramel or licorice in flavor. (You know how when you cook an onion in a skillet and once it turns brown, it sort of “caramelizes”, especially when you put a little sugar in there, too? It’s kind of along those lines.) Because of the flavor profile, black garlic can be used in dishes with red wine, red meat, any kind of hearty fish like salmon or swordfish, hearty soups or veggie dishes, and of course, dark chocolate.
And so figure, my thought process just went from there 😅
I’ve looked up recipes for macarons and i’ve often wondered what it would be like to make some with really hearty flavors like apple pie or banana split or strawberry shortcake or with booze incorporated.
***I should say that if you are going to incorporate alcohol into, say, the frosting of a baked good of any kind, be sure to boil it for about 5 to 7 minutes before hand to rid of the alcohol so you have the taste of the liquor without any worry of feeling sozzled later on 😉
100g egg whites (usually between 3–4 large egg whites)
1/4 teaspoon (1g) cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
80g superfine/caster sugar
1–2 drops red gel food coloring
125g almond flour
125g confectioners’ sugar
For the frosting:
1 cup/2 sticks of butter, softened
3 1/2 cups (420 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 cup (41 grams) cocoa powder, sifted
1 clove of black garlic, mashed
3 tablespoons (45 milliliters) heavy cream or milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of red wine (optional, just knowing how expensive wine is)
Wipe down a large glass or metal mixing bowl with lemon juice or vinegar. Add egg whites. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, then bring to room temperature.
Line 3 large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper with circles drawn on the back—because of the occasion, it can also be hearts! Set aside.
Add cream of tartar and extract to egg whites. Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together on medium speed until very soft peaks form: the egg whites and cream of tartar will be foamy, but the bubbles will tighten and the beaters will leave “tracks”. Once this happens, you have soft peaks.
Add about 1/3 of the superfine sugar. Beat on medium-high speed for 5 seconds, then with the mixer continuing to run, add another 1/3 of the sugar.
(*superfine sugar by the way is granulated sugar that’s been blitzed in the food processor)
Beat for 5 seconds, then add the remaining sugar with the mixer still going. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff glossy peaks form, i.e., the whites are stiff and pointy and you can turn the bowl upside down and they’ll stay put.
Using a rubber spatula, slowly and gently fold the food coloring into the egg whites.
Sift the almond flour and confectioners’ sugar together in a large glass mixing bowl. *make sure you get it all sifted in so you have exact measurements (baking IS chemistry, after all 😉)
Slowly fold the beaten egg whites into the almond flour mixture: folding the batter will stop air bubbles from forming and will keep the actual cookies nice and smooth; the batter itself should resemble honey in consistency.
Spoon the macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a medium round piping tip. Holding the bag at a 90 degree angle over the baking sheet, and pipe batter in 1.5 – 2 inch rounds about 1-2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Now, the piped batter will flatten out on its own, but bang the pan a couple times on the counter to pop any air bubbles.
Let the macarons sit out until they are dry: depending on the humidity of your kitchen, it could be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Drying will give the macarons a “skin”, which will then give them their “feet”. However, you don’t want to let them sit for too long because they can deflate.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325°F (or 163°C, for our international friends). Bake for 13 minutes. The macarons should form “feet” as they bake.
Touch the top of one with a spoon (be careful not to burn yourself if you use your finger). If the macaron is wobbly, give them another 1-2 minutes. If it’s set, it’s done (just like with anything else baked in the oven, if it’s set, it’s probably done).
Let the shells cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to continue cooling. After cooling, the shells are ready to fill and sandwich together.
As for the frosting:
Whip the butter in the mixer with the paddle attachment, and very carefully pour in the sugar a little at a time until it’s all creamy and smooth. Very carefully pour in the cocoa powder, the salt, the vanilla extract, the milk, and lastly, the black garlic. Beat for 1 minute at the least, 2 minutes at most—you apparently don’t want to overwork black garlic because it can not only turn to mush, but its caramel-y, tamarind-y flavor will give way to something akin to burnt toast.
(If there’s wine in the frosting, very carefully boil for 5 minutes to rid of the alcohol beforehand; keep an eye on it that it doesn’t scorch ).
Use the offset spatula to spread the frosting on. Cover any leftover macarons and refrigerate for up to 5 days, and enjoy!
***while I was editing this, I also thought of a vegan version, using aquafaba (the liquid from chickpeas) in lieu of egg whites, margarine in lieu of butter, and soy milk in lieu of milk
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