Batch #15 - Passionfruit and Milk Chocolate, Lychee and Rose, & Passionfruit Butter Cream Macarons

Blogger tells me that this is my 100th post already!  Woohoo!  I talk a lot.  And pretty quickly (deep breath in) it seems!

Since the last batch, 2 significant things have happened in my world of macaron making.  Firstly is the acquisition of my new kitchen helper, the Thermomix!  This has made the preparation of the TPT an absolute breeze.

Next is the publication of Pierre Herme's book Macarons, in English.  I am so inspired by the wonderful variations and combinations of flavours Monsieur Herme uses in his celebrated macarons.  So for this lot of macarons, we decided to experiement with the flavours, based on passionfruit, and also lychee and rose.

For the lychee and rose macarons, I made neutral colored shells, and for the first time, embellished the shells.  I sprinkled edible ruby rose glitter on the shells before I rested them prior to baking.  I loved the simple and pretty shells this produced! 

The filling itself was a bit more difficult.  I followed the instructions for the lychee and rose filling according to the book, but probably due to the fact that my white chocolate and cream were not as nice as Monsieur Herme's, the filling was too runny.  I made about 10 macarons with this filling, but due to the moisture they were a tad too mushy and had to be eaten within the first 24 hours of assembly.  Hubby then boiled down another lot of lychee puree into a thick syrup and I made another lot of ganache with some Nestle white chocolate buttons (it was late at night, pouring with rain and my local supermarket had nothing else to offer).  This worked better and the macarons looked lovely.  The rose flavour comes from the addition of rose essence to the ganache. 

The taste of the lychee and rose is subtle, much like other fillings made with less acidic fruits and flowers.  It doesn't hit you like the tangy Tahitian Lime, nor does it give you the bite and texture of the Salted Caramel, but is nonetheless a pleasant flavour alternative, ideal with a cup of Earl Grey.  In the book Monsieur Herme actually makes a raspberry jelly which he cubes and puts into the middle of the filling.  I am too lazy to make the jelly just wanted to try the lychee and rose flavour this time so omitted that step.  In compensation I tried sneaking in a tiny piece of lychee in some of the macaron fillings.  I am still undecided whether it adds or takes away from this flavour combination.  I'll have to eat another one..... *cheeky grin*

Lychee and Rose Macaron, shells embellished with edible ruby rose glitter.

In fear of another lot of too-watery filling, we started by boiling down the passionfruit juice to a thick syrup prior to adding it to the milk chocolate for the next ganache.  This produced a really sour syrup and gave the ganache a lovely passionfruit note, and in comparison the milk chocolate is less prominent in the ganache.  Still not as nice as the one I had at Monsieur Truffe in my opinion, but not bad for a first attempt.

Passionfruit + Milk Chocolate Macaron, shells embellished with cocoa powder.

I had some more passionfruit syrup left over and decided to try making a butter cream to see what the flavour would be like.  I liked the texture of this the best, the butter cream giving the macaron that lovely bite after maturation, and the the tart passionfruit giving it the tangy taste.  Those who like the Tahitian Lime macarons would like this one!

Passionfruit Butter Cream Macarons, harlequin shells.

Lessons Learned -

• When using fruit puree, it is sometimes necessary to reduce it to a thicker syrup prior to using it in a ganache or butter cream, so that a less runny mixture can be achieved for piping.
• Now a firm believer that better quality ingredients will give you a better tasting product!

Happy 100th Post, Eat.Play.Shop!