Monday 6 August 2012

Margarita Macarons


What better flavour to compliment my friends fabulous Mexican-themed dinner than Margarita Macarons! Personally, I don't actually like margaritas (I think it's the saltiness that really doesn't do it for me) but I LOVE lime, so I thought I'd see what happens when I try making a lime curd with tequila and piping it into lovely green macaron shells.


To be honest, I didn't love these macarons. There was something about the line curd that I just didn't like. I used Stephanie Alexander's lemon curd recipe but replaced the lemon juice with a 3:2 ratio of lime juice and tequila. I love lemon curd, but the line flavour was a lot more different to lemon than I was expecting. Having said that, everyone else who tried them seemed to really enjoy the taste so I guess it depends on how much you like lime.


The macaron shell is my same, tried and tested recipe using green food colouring. The lime curd is made using 4 egg yolks (finally a way to use up the yolks that usually get thrown out!!!), 2/3 cup castor sugar, 60g butter, 2 tsp grated lime zest, 60mL lime juice and 40mL tequila. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until well combined but not frothy. Tip into a heavy-based saucepan and add butter, zest and juice. Stirring constantly, bring to simmering point over a medium-high heat (about 5 minutes). If you want to, add a little green food colouring. Allow to cool. Refrigerate until thickened and pipe onto macaron shells.

Since I didn't really like the lime curd, I decided to only make a half batch of margarita flavour and fill the rest if the shells with a basic ganache. Chocolate is a great, fool-proof, timeless classic. Everyone loves chocolate, so it's a great choice to serve up for dessert. My freezer has been getting rather cluttered with unfilled macaron shells (leftovers from making large batches and running out of filling) so I used some of the ganache to fill these too. I love having ready-to-go macarons in the freezer!!


For the chocolate ganache, heat up 150mL of whipping cream in a saucepan over low heat until just before boiling. You know the cream is ready by smelling it. (I'm serious! As soon as the cream's smell becomes rich and sweet, it's ready.). Pour the hot cream directly over 200g chocolate chips/buttons and stir until chocolate has melted. Refrigerate until thickened and pipe onto macaron shells.