More macarons

Earlier in the week I made some macarons in three different colours and flavours. I made some blue, green and yellow ones filled with homemade lemon curd, dark chocolate ganache and a white chocolate - raspberry ganache. The majority of them went off to a friend, but I put some aside for today's celebrations -> my son Tiger's 7th birthday! The recipe is the same as for the pink macarons.

This time I was a little absent minded, so I forgot to take pictures of the blue and the yellow macarons, but I did manage to remember to take a few snaps of the green batch!:)

Pale green macarons with a white chocolate center

Macaron shells drying

Fillings:

Lemon curd 

100ml lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons (unwaxed)
3 egg yolks
80grams granulated sugar
80grams gelling sugar

+50grams butter (cubed and at room temperature)

Place all ingredients apart from the butter in a non stick saucepan, bring to boil while stirring constantly (I used a plastic whisk). Once the mixture is boiling, let it simmer on a low heat until thickened approx. 5 mins. Pour the hot liquid into a bowl and place the bowl in cold water. Using an electric whisk, whisk until fluffy. Continue mixing on a low speed while adding the butter pieces little at a time until butter is fully incorporated and the curd looks pale and shiny. Store in a clean jar in the refrigerator up to two weeks.

Dark chocolate ganache 

100grams good quality dark chocolate
80ml double cream (full fat 35%)

White chocolate - raspberry ganache

80grams raspberry - white chocolate (organic and fairtrade by Pirkka)
70grams white chocolate
100ml double cream (full fat 35%)


   
For the ganaches you need to bring the cream to the boil and pour it on top of the finely chopped chocolate, carefully mixing with a spatula until smooth and silky. If the mixtures seem runny, place to cool in the fridge until suitable consistency is reached. I speeded things up by mixing the dark chocolate ganache with an electric whisk, once it had cooled in the fridge for some 30 minutes. It became a little lighter in colour, but much easier to pipe on to the macaron shells.

Enjoy!