Blackberry Macarons

Instagram: @bakedbyammna | Youtube: Baked By Ammna

One of the berries that I love the most is a blackberry. Its tart but also juicy and when paired with a little sugar, bursts of flavour! I love macarons, one of my favourite tiny treats to have, and because I had just picked a whole bunch of Blackberrys recently I decided to use them and make a blackberry buttercream filling. I gave them to some friends, and immediately they could feel the flavour oozing though intensely. Its delicious, and yes macarons may make you feel like its a tough cookie, but trust me, once you follow my recipe it will be smooth as butter! Also I have a video tutorial on how to bake the perfect macaron in my YouTube channel so check that out , Link is here –> how to bake the perfect macaron video

Here’s how you bake them!

INGREDIENTS :

For the Macaron Shell –

150 g sugar
150 g egg whites (keep in fridge until use, they are better when cold)
187 g almond flour
225 g icing sugar
A few drops of purple gel colour

For the Blackberry Buttercream –

200 g blackberries, frozen or fresh both work
3 tbsp sugar
226g (1 cup) butter, room temp.
1/4 tsp sea salt (coarse salt)
350-450g icing sugar (this depends on how sweet you like it, so start with up to 300 and then taste and add more if desired)
2 tbsp milk or heavy cream

METHOD :

For the Macaron Shell – Full Video tutorial on how to make macarons is here –> Click!

In a stand mixer – I use Kenwood Chef XL (or using a hand held electric mixer) – whisk the egg white, while slowly adding in the sugar bit by bit. Let it whip until a medium merengue. Add your purple gel food colouring, and whip until properly incorporated.
In a separate bowl, sieve the almond flour and icing sugar together. Once the merengue is ready, then pour half of the dry ingredients into the merengue and using a spatula, fold gently until fully incorporated. Then add the remaining half, and fold until shiny and smooth. The best way to know its ready when you lift you spatula with some batter on, and it falls down creating a layered ribbon effect.
Then pour the batter into a piping bag, and pipe onto a tray (lined with baking paper or silpat) small circles, roughly 4 cm diameter.
Leave them to rest for 30 min. Turn the oven on to 140C (300F).
Bake in the oven, each tray separately, for 18 min. Do not open the oven door, just leave them in there to do their thing. Once ready take them out and leave to cool COMPLETELY before trying to remove them off the paper. Keep on the side until time to fill.

For the Blackberry Buttercream –

In a small saucepan add in the blackberries and sugar, and heat up on medium temp. Break the blackberries as it heats up. once all the blackberries have softened and are easily broken, then strain the mixture into a clean bowl, and pour back into the saucepan. Bring up to boiling point, and then reduce and let it simmer for 10 min or until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Put it into the fridge to cool completely.
Then take your butter and beat it in your stand mixer or with a hand held mixer. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Then slowly add in the icing sugar (at this point add in only 300g, we will do a taste test soon and then you an add in more if you like) and beat on medium speed for 1-2 min and then increase the speed to high for 1 minute.
Pour in the cooled blackberry sauce, and start mixing at low speed, and once the sauce has distributed fairly evenly, increase to high for 1-2 minutes until throughly combined. Give it a taste att his point and if you want it to be a bit more sweeter, then add in a little more icing sugar (I would suggest 50g at a time until you reach the desired taste).
then add in the milk or cream and give it a good whip to incorporate, this keep the buttercream light and fluffy. Put it into a piping bag and set aside until ready for assembly.

Assembly –

Count how many macaron shells you have, then divide it in half. Take one half, and pipe on a small dollop of the blackberry buttercream, and then place one macaron disc on top, close with a macarons shell from the other half. Repeat until all are filled.

And there you have it! Your Blackberry macarons are done!

Enjoy!

Instagram: @bakedbyammna | Youtube: Baked By Ammna