This macaron was inspired by Sadaharu AOKI's Valencia, orange, nut and chocolate combo. For the orange flavor I added dried orange peel to the macaron shell and then sprinkled more on top for decoration as well. For the filling I used milk chocolate and my homemade praline. My first plan is to add orange marmalade but since orange peel is concentrated I find the flavor strong already. And one more thing, I am not really crazy about hazelnut so I only used a small amount of praline paste, just enough to get the taste but not overpowering. Next time I will make pecan or macadamia praline paste instead of hazelnut and add more food coloring because it wasn't orange enough to my liking ;-). But you can substitute half of the ground almond to ground hazelnut if you are really into hazelnut.
Macaron once you've mastered it the possibilities are endless...colors, flavours and fillings. One basic recipe but once you change the colors and fillings you'll get new macarons.
110g powdered sugar
40g egg whites, aged
110g sugar
35g water
40g egg whites, aged
1 tsp dried orange peel
- Place the ground almonds, powdered sugar, dried orange peel and food coloring in a food processor and give them a good pulse. Sift the mixture in a clean mixing bowl.
- Stir the 40g egg whites. Mix until you get a paste consistency and cover with cling film while you make the Italian meringue.
- Bring the water and sugar to boil at 118C. As soon as the sugar reaches 115C start whisking the 40g of egg whites to soft peaks.
- Pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. Whisk and allow the meringue to cool down to 50C, then fold it into the almond/sugar mixture.Spoon the batter into the piping bag and pipe on baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with finely chopped dried orange peel. Let it dry for at least 20 minutes or until a skin forms on the surface.
- Preheat oven to 165C. Bake for 12 minutes.
- Cool and remove from parchment very carefully once fully cooled.
ganache
100g milk chocolate
80g heavy cream
15g butter, softened
2 tbsp praline paste- Chop the milk chocolate into small pieces. Combine chocolate and praline paste in a bowl.
- Boil the heavy cream and pour over chocolate and praline. Stir until incorporated and the ganache forms.
- Wait a couple of minutes for the ganache to cool a bit and add the softened butter.
- Stir until it emulsifies. Let set a little and fill the macarons. Let the macarons mature at least 24 hours in the fridge.
Almond, orange and chocolate...indeed a nice contrast of flavor.