Last week I was asked to make some macarons of my choice for Sara and Jen’s kitchen-warming to showcase their beautiful new kitchen. I decided to try making my favorite from Pierre Hermé: Eden macarons. Their party theme colors were orange and brown, so I knew these would be perfect.

Here is the recipe I used. It is adapted from Pierre Hermé’s recipe, but I did make some adjustments that seem to produce better results with my ingredients and equipment.

Eden Macarons
Peach, apricot, and saffron

Macaron shells

300 grams ground almonds
300 grams powdered sugar
130 grams aged egg whites
yellow food coloring
red food coloring
+
300 grams caster sugar
75 grams water
130 grams aged egg whites

Sift together powdered sugar and ground almonds. Stir food coloring into the first portion of aged egg whites. Pour the egg whites over mixture of powdered sugar and ground almonds but do not stir.

Bring water and sugar to boil at 118 degrees Celsius. When the syrup reaches 115 degrees Celsius, simultaneously start whisking the second portion of aged egg whites to soft peaks. When the sugar reaches 118 degrees, pour it over the egg whites. Whisk and allow the meringue to cool down to 50 degrees, and then fold it into the almond-sugar mixture. Spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.

Pipe rounds of batter about 3.5 cm in diameter, spacing them 2 cm apart on baking trays lined with Silpat mats. Slam the baking trays on the work surface to eliminate air bubbles. Leave the shells to stand for at least 30 minutes until they form a skin.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius then put the trays in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes quickly opening and shutting the oven door twice during cooking time. Out of the oven, slide the shells on to the work surface.

Optional: to give the shells some iridescence, brush some edible gold luster dust on the shells with a paint brush.

Peach and saffron ganache with apricot

A dozen saffron threads
20 grams heavy cream
370 grams white chocolate
425 grams ripe white peaches
20 grams lemon juice
10 grams freeze dried apricots

Bring cream to boil, then take it off the heat and add saffron threads. Cover with a lid and allow to infuse for 10 minutes. Chop up the chocolate and melt it in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering
water.

Peel the peaches, halve them and remove the pits. Blend the peach flesh into a puree with the lemon juice. Strain it finely. Heat the peach puree to a temperature of no more than 40 degrees Celsius and add the freeze-dried apricots.

Pour the heated peach puree and cream infused with saffron over the melted chocolate and whisk.

Transfer the mixture to a gratin dish. Press cling film over the surface of the ganache, and then set aside in the fridge for the ganache to thicken.

Spoon the ganache into the piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe a generous amount of ganache on to half the shells and top with the remaining shells.

Let the macarons sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving.

This is the finished macaron on Jen and Sara’s fancy custom party coasters.

The party was fun and the macarons were a hit. I felt honored to be a part of the event. Hope this is the beginning of more events!