Raspberry Rose Vegan Macarons made with Aquafaba

Ingredients:

MACARON SHELLS:

• 250 grams / 8.8oz Aquafaba
• ⅛ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
• Pinch of Salt
• 150 grams / 5.3oz Ground Almonds
• 130 gram / 4.5oz Pure Icing Sugar*
• 110 grams / 3.9oz Superfine/Caster Sugar
• A drop of Vegan Red Food Coloring
• A few drops of Organic Rose Extract

RASPBERRY ROSE BUTTERCREAM:

• 125 grams / 4.4oz Vegan Butter Substitute
• 55 grams / 1.9oz Icing Sugar
• A few drops of Organic Rose Extract
• A few drops of Vegan Red Food Coloring
• 25 Raspberries

EXTRAS:

• Piping Bags with a Round Tip attached
• Silpat Mats or Silicone Baking Paper
• Baking Trays
• Spray Bottle filled with Water

Method:

1. The night before you want to make your Macarons, prepare your Aquafaba. In a small saucepan, bring 250 grams of Aquafaba to a simmer.
2. Let this simmer away until it has reduced to 110 grams of Aquafaba. (I pour it out and weigh it on a kitchen scale a few times in-between to check).
3. Once it has reached 110 grams, pour it into a bowl to cool and then refrigerate overnight.

MACARON SHELLS:

1. Process Ground Almonds and Icing Sugar in a food processor and then sieve into a bowl, making sure there are no lumps in your mixture. Set aside.
2. With a stand mixer fitted with a clean bowl and with clean beaters, whisk Aquafaba, cream of tartar and salt on high till it turns foamy and resembles frothed up egg whites. Make sure there is no more liquid left at the bottom of the bowl before moving on to the next step.
3. Gradually add caster sugar in, bit by bit, whilst your mixer is turned on. Add your food coloring and Rose Extract in and then continue whisking on high for another minute. You should end up with a thick, glossy meringue.
4. Tip in half of your almond/icing sugar mixture into the meringue, and fold gently with spatula until it has incorporated with the meringue.
5. Add the second half of your almond/icing sugar mixture, and continue to fold it into the batter. You don’t have to be too gentle with this, but you don’t want to go crazy either.
6. Once your mixture has been incorporated, continue folding until you end up with a mixture that resembles thick lava. Do not over-mix or your batter will be too runny and you will end up with macaron UFOs. You will know that you have reached the right consistency when you dollop a tablespoon of batter onto a flat surface and it gradually smoothens out into a nice round shape, without any “nipples” forming on top.
7. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle with macaron mixture and pipe into 2 inch rounds on a Silpat or Silicone Baking Paper lined mat. This recipe makes enough to make 50 individual macaron shells, so you may need to have 3 or 4 trays ready.
8. Once piped, slam the tray down on your kitchen counter to eliminate any air bubbles in your piped macaron mixture. Leave your trays to rest in a cool area for 2-3 hours. They are ready to bake when they have turned matt and you are able to gently touch the surface of the shells without anything sticking to your finger.
9. Preheat oven to 120 degrees Celsius* (250F). Bake each tray of macarons individually for 28-30 minutes, without opening the oven door inbetween. Smaller macarons or ovens may take slightly more or less than 30 minutes. It’s all about trial and error.
10. Once 30 minutes is up, leave your macarons in the oven for another 15 minutes without opening the door. After 15 minutes, open the oven door slightly and leave macarons in the oven with the door ajar for a further 15 minutes.
11. Remove tray from oven and leave to cool thoroughly before peeling macaron shells off from Silpat/Silicone paper.
12. Repeat baking process with remaining trays of macarons.

FILLING:

1. In a stand mixer, whisk Vegan Butter with Icing Sugar, Rose Extract and food coloring.
2. Whisk till fluffy and then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. Wash and dry your raspberries and keep them aside.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Once you have gently peeled off all your macarons from your Silpat/Silicone Paper, place them on a kitchen counter with the bottom side up (rounded side down).
2. Using your spray bottle, lightly mist the bottoms of the macarons with water and leave for 5 minutes before filling.
3. To fill, pipe a ring of buttercream around the base of a macaron and place a whole raspberry in the empty circle inside your buttercream. Sandwich with another macaron shell and repeat the process till all your shells have been sandwiched.
4. Place macarons into a box and leave in the fridge overnight, or ideally for 2 nights so that they have time to mature and form the right texture.

Macarons are best served at room temperature or 10 minutes out of the refrigerator, not straight out from the fridge.

Notes:

*All ingredients are weighed in grams for consistency – use an electronic kitchen scale to weigh out ingredients.
*Make sure you use pure icing sugar that has no cornstarch in it.
*Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is at the right temperature.