Hi! Coming at you with a wee spring inspired macaron this month! Ever since I discovered that the supermarket near me sells passionfruit pulp in a pouch, it’s been going into everything (I made passionfruit cream puffs today, coming at you soon!). I had some passionfruit curd leftover from testing this passionfruit layer cake a while back, so we repurposed it in these macs. Jase also just reminded me that this is our Twelfth macaron recipe that we have done - the very first macs we made together were actually passionfruit too, so this is a nice wee full circle situation!
The passionfruit curd is perfect for a mac filling - it is thick and silky, and the passionfruit cuts through the yolks and butter in the curd, giving it a much ‘lighter’ taste than something like lemon curd, which I find can get a little bogged down by the egg yolks and butter if it isn’t done right. We kept the pairing simple and filled the mac with a white chocolate swiss meringue buttercream - creamy and smooth, and the perfect compliment to the tangy curd filling. The shells were finished with a quick drizzle of white and passionfruit chocolate - which is a totally optional but super cute detail to add to tie everything together.
You could absolutely customise these if you wanted - you could do a lemon curd in the middle, or ditch the white chocolate in the buttercream and just have it as a vanilla base. The cool thing about macarons is that you can really mix and match the filling - we have found it easiest to keep the base shell the same recipe, coloured to compliment the flavour, and then drive the flavour through the fillings. So, please feel free to mix and match these as you feel fit! It’s all part of the fun.
A few wee tips:
- All my Macaron tips are here!
- Ideally, the passionfruit curd needs overnight to chill to come to the right consistency.
- The White chocolate buttercream can be a little soft when you first add the chocolate. Popping it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes will help to firm it up, or you can pipe the macarons then rest in the fridge for an hour or so to help firm it up.
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Passionfruit and White Chocolate Macarons
- Yield: Makes about 24 Macarons 1x
Description
Passionfruit and White Chocolate Macarons
Ingredients
Passionfruit Curd
- 225g passionfruit pulp
- 140g sugar
- 125g unsalted butter, cut into cubes (can be straight from the fridge)
- 5 egg yolks (around 100g worth)
- ¼ tsp salt
Macaron Shells
- 170g ground almonds
- 300g powdered sugar
- 180g egg whites, at room temperature
- 160g sugar
- A few drops of yellow gel food colouring
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- Melted white chocolate and melted passionfruit chocolate to finish (optional - we used Valrhona passionfruit)
White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 125g egg whites
- 200g granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 455g (16oz, or four sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 250g white chocolate, melted and cooled.
Instructions
PASSIONFRUIT CURD
- Place the Passionfruit pulp in a blender or food processor. Pulse a few times to separate the seeds from the pulp. Strain through a sieve into a medium saucepan. Reserve the seeds.
- Add the remainder of the ingredients to the saucepan, and place over medium heat. Whisk well to combine. Place over medium low heat, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the curd has thickened significantly - enough that it coats the back of a spoon well, and when you run a finger through, it leaves a very clear track.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve into an airtight container, and stir in 1-2 Tbsp of the reserved passionfruit seeds. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the curd. Refrigerate until completely cool, ideally overnight.
MACARON SHELLS
- Preheat oven to 300˚f / 150˚c, and position the oven rack in the centre of the oven. Using a round cookie cutter or the base of a large piping tip (something about 1.5 inches in diameter), draw a "template" for your macarons on a piece of parchment paper, leaving about ¾" between each circle.
- Combine the almond meal and powdered sugar together in a large bowl. Sift the mixture twice, to ensure there are no large lumps and that the mixture is properly aerated. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, increase the mixer speed, and whip on high until the meringue starts to firm up. Add yellow gel food colour a few drops at a time, until the desired colour is reached. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. Continue to whip until the meringue forms stiff peaks (there is a good example here).
- Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add half of the ground almond and powdered sugar mixture, and fold into the meringue. You want to deflate the meringue just a little at this stage, to combine the meringue and ground almond mixture.
- Add the remaining ground almond mixture, and stir lightly to combine. Now comes the important part - mixing the batter to the correct consistency. Again, this video does a good job of explaining it. Fold the mixture in a series of 'turns', deflating the batter by spreading it against the side of the bowl. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat the movement - scooping the batter from the bottom of the bowl, and spreading it against the side. Continuously check the consistency of the batter - you want it to flow like lava when you lift the spatula from the bowl, and you should be able to 'draw' a figure 8 with it, without the batter breaking (again, watch lots of videos to get an idea! They help so much). This step can take some practice until you know what it should feel and look like. If in doubt you are better to under mix them than over mix them - the process of putting the batter into the bag and piping out will help mix a little too.
- Fit a large pastry bag with a medium sized round tip, such as an ateco #805. Place the macaron template on a sheet pan, and place a second piece of parchment over it. Holding the piping bag at a 90˚ angle to the surface, pipe out the batter into blobs the size of the circles drawn on the template. Finish off each piped circle with a little "flick" of your wrist to minimise the batter forming a point (it will still form a small one, but we can get rid of this with banging). Remove the template from under the macarons.
- Hold the baking sheet in two hands, and carefully but firmly, evenly bang it against the bench. Repeat this a few more times - this will get rid of any air bubbles, remove points on the top, and help them to spread out slightly.
- Repeat the piping and banging process until you have used up all of the batter - I usually make three sheet pans worth.
- Allow the macarons to dry at room temperature for approximately 30 minutes, or until they form a skin that you can touch without your finger sticking to them. This time will drastically vary depending on the humidity.
- About fifteen minutes before you are going to bake the macarons, place a spare sheet pan in the oven to preheat - this is going to be used to place under the pan with the macarons on it, to double up, which should help with even baking. Bake the macarons one sheet at a time - place the sheet with the macarons on the preheated sheet, and place in the oven.
- Bake for approximately 18 minutes, rotating the pan once during the cooking process, and checking for doneness after 15 minutes. The macarons should develop a foot (the ruffled part on the bottom of the macaron), and bake without browning. To see if they are done - press down lightly on a shell. If the foot gives way, it needs a little longer, if it is stable, then it is close to being done. Test a macaron shell - if you can peel it away cleanly from the paper, they are done. If they are stable but cannot yet peel away cleanly, give them another minute or so. Again, this part takes a little trial and error depending on your oven. If they seem done but do not peel away cleanly, do not worry - there is a little trick for that!
- Remove from the oven, and allow to cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes before peeling off the parchment paper and allowing to cool completely on a wire rack. Repeat the baking with the remaining trays, using the same spare sheet pan to double up.
- If your macs do not peel away cleanly, place them, on the parchment paper, into the freezer for 5-10 minutes, then peel away from the paper.
- Store cooled macarons in an airtight container until ready to use.
WHITE CHOCOLATE SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
- Place the egg whites, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a heat proof bowl. Place over a pot of simmering water, ensuring that the water does not touch the bowl. Heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture registers 160˚f / 70˚c on a thermometer and the sugar has dissolved. Carefully transfer the bowl to the mixer, and fit with the whisk attachment. Whip the egg whites on high until they are white and fluffy, and the mixture has cooled, 8-10 minutes. Add the butter one chunk at a time. The mixture may look curdled - but just keep mixing! Once all the butter is incorporated, mix on high for a further 10 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- While the buttercream is mixing, melt the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl in 30 second increments in the microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Once the buttercream has finished mixing, and is smooth and silky, add in the cooled chocolate. Mix for a further 2-3 minutes, then switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for one minute to remove any air. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip.
ASSEMBLY
- Place the shells on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, Melt white chocolate and passionfruit chocolate, and place into small piping bags. Snip a small hole in the end of each bag, and drizzle the shells with chocolate. Place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to set the chocolate. Place the passionfruit curd into a small piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pair up each macaron shell with another of an equal size. Pipe a ring of buttercream on one half of the shell, then a blob of the curd in the middle. Place the second shell carefully on top. Repeat with the rest of the macarons. Macarons are best chilled overnight to allow the flavours to meld, but can also be eaten immediately.