Saffron & Almond Cream Macaron (saffron semla macaron)

The ultimate winter Macaron is here! and its here to stay! 😉 If anyone of you readers out there have tastes a Swedish dessert called a Semla (cardamom bun with almond paste and whipped cream) then your in luck! ‘Coz here is a Saffron version of it as a macaron! (minus the cardamom) Trust me this is a new thing, and every one will LOVE it!

Here’s how you make it!

INGREDIENTS –

The Macaron Shell –

150g Almond Flour
150g Icing Sugar
2x55g Egg White (can be the egg white of 2 or 3 eggs depending on how small or large they are)
50g Water
150g Granulated Sugar
0,5g Saffron
A couple drops of yellow food colouring

The Filling –

50g Almond Paste
150g Whipped Cream
0,5g Saffron
1 Batch of buttercream (recipe you can find here)
A couple drops of yellow food colouring

METHOD –

Sieve the almond flour and icing sugar twice until only the fine flour remains without any lumps. Mix together in a bowl.
Add 55g of egg white and saffron to the flour mix. Mix until the dry ingredients become a paste like texture.
On medium to low heat boil the granulated sugar with water together. Do not stir, just let it bubble until it reaches 118 °C .
In a separate bowl whip the remaining 55g egg white until frothy and once the water/sugar mixture reaches the correct temperature pour into the frothy egg white slowly and from an edge of the bowl. This is to make sure that the water/sugar does not splash around or outside of the bowl. Mix while pouring at a high speed. Once the mixture starts becoming a thick merengue add the drops of yellow food coloring. And mix at low speed until the color is evenly distributed.
Pour in all the merengue mixture into the almond/saffron paste and mix with a spatula. This is a vital point in the baking – as you Must mix around the bowl and then cut through the dough making sure that there is air coming into the merengue and almond paste mixture. Don’t be too rough with the mixing. And mix only until the mixture falls off the spatula in a ribbon like manor.
At this point heat up your oven to 100 °C .
Pour the mixture into a piping bag and using a round plain nib make small disks about a 1/2 inch diameter on your baking sheet. You can always buy silicon sheets which are reusable and have the circle marking for you to pipe onto for ease. The silicone mats work just as well as regular baking paper. You should end up with around 30 macaron disks on one baking tray and this batch should make two trays.
Once all your Macarons are piped, tap your pan twice to release any air bubbles you may see. Sometimes it takes more taps – just make sure no bubbles appear and the disks look smooth. Leave for 20 min outside to rest. This period of resting helps the macaron create its ‘shell’ so once it starts baking that’s when the shell rises and you see the ‘foot’ which is a skirt like formation being created on the bottom of the macaron.
Once the 20 min are done turn your heat up to 150 °C and pop in one tray. (From my experience one tray at a time works best) leave to bake for 8 min, then open the oven for 10 sec exactly, close and bake for another 8 min.
Take out your Macaron shells and let cool on a cooling wrack. And now they are ready to be filled! YAY!
For the filling, mash or grate your almond paste and place in a bowl with the cream. Whip upthe cream until its thick. Then set aside in the fridge until ready to pipe.
Grab another bowl and blend in your saffron with the batch of buttercream (recipe for the buttercream/aka frosting, can be found here ) as well as a couple of drops of yellow food colouring, just to give it a bit more of a pop!
Once the macaron shells are cooled, then take one shell and fill the center with the cream/almond filling and pipe around that the saffron buttercream/frosting filling. Then close the macaron with anotehr shell. E Voila! your saffron, almond cream macarons are ready!!! YUM!