Chelsea Rose teaches Macarons on WPRI

Transcribed from In the Kitchen: Marbled Cranberry Orange Macarons | WPRI.com originally posted: October 30, 2019

Hi! I remembered the other day that I was on TV with WPRI The Rhode Show in Rhode Island back in 2019 before so many things changed for my business and home (and so many others’). Here is a link to the video (and I’ll embed it), as well as the recipe and directions I provided to the station. The templates referenced for piping can be found here.

From the WPRI Website when Chelsea Rose teaches Macarons:

In the kitchen today, we are joined by Chelsea Rose, owner of Rose Macarons in Middletown. She is making her Marbled Cranberry Orange Macarons.

Ingredients for Macarons:

• 52g Almond Flour
• 48g Powdered Sugar
• 40g Egg Whites
• 36g Granulated Sugar
• 1/8tsp Cream of Tartar (optional)
• 1/8tsp Salt (optional)
• Gel Food Color (optional)

Directions for Macarons:

1. Mix together almond flour and powdered sugar (and salt if using).
2. Sift and discard larger pieces of almond.
3. Whip egg whites to medium peak and add granulated sugar slowly until all incorporated (add cream of tartar here if using).
4. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks making a French meringue, add the food color before the meringue is at stiff peaks.
5. Fold in a third of the dry ingredients into the meringue and mix until incorporated.
6. Fold in the rest of the dry ingredients, at this point removing some of the air from the meringue with your “macaronage” (the folding process of the macaron batter).
7. You want the batter to be able to flow off the spatula with a slow honey/slow lava pace. Try and make a figure eight with the batter without it breaking.
8. Fill piping bag fitted with a large circular piping tip and pipe out macaron shells. (Hold straight up and down and squeeze out the batter, no need to go in a circular motion, until the “flick” to stop the flow).
9. Bang the tray a few times on the counter to pop any large air bubbles and smooth out the tops.
10. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. Let trays rest until a “skin” forms on the top and the shells are no longer tacky when touched lightly.
12. Lower the heat to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and place tray(s) in the middle of the oven. If more than one tray rotate halfway through baking.
13. Bake for 22 minutes or until the feet have set and do not move when lightly touched.
14. Fill with your favorite stiff ganache/frosting/buttercream, and let mature overnight or 24 hours in an airtight container in the fridge for the best texture.
15. If decorating with royal icing to marble the tops for an extra elegant touch, wait until the macaron has set with the filling inside and does not slide when touched. Then dip away!

Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Buttercream Filling:

• 4 oz Butter unsalted
• 8 oz Powdered Sugar
• Salt (optional/only to taste if using salted butter)
• 1 tbsp Orange Zest (zest of one orange)
• 1 tbsp Whole Cranberry Sauce
• 1-2 tsp Orange Juice (can use orange extract sparingly)
• Red and Orange Food Gel Color (optional)

Directions for Cranberry Orange Buttercream Filling:

1. Cream room temperature (around 70 degrees) butter until light colored and smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar a cup at a time, scraping down sides as needed.
3. Add orange zest, cranberry sauce and beat on medium until incorporated.
4. Add orange extract or orange juice a tsp at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
5. Pipe a dollop onto one of each pair of macaron shells. Fill a couple at a time until you know how much is the “perfect” amount, so that it doesn’t fall off the edge or hide inside the two shells.

Ingredients for Royal Icing:

• 1.25 oz Pasteurized Egg Whites
• 8 oz Powdered Sugar (sifted if clumps)
• Pinch of Cream of Tartar (1/8th tsp)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (or Orange Extract)
• Food Color of choice

Directions for Royal Icing:

1. Whip egg white until frothy (small quantities do best with a hand held mixer or stick blender).
2. Add a pinch of cream of tartar.
3. Add powdered sugar a half cup at a time. Stir and then whip to incorporate.
4. Add flavorings. Royal icing will be quite thick at this stage. For this small batch, add small amounts of extra water to thin out the consistency to your desired level.
5. For marbling, you want around a 15-second “top coat” icing. Which means if you take a glob of your royal icing and let if fall back into the main mass, it takes 15 seconds to disappear and flatten out.
6. Take out a portion (1/3 or less) of your royal icing and color it the color you want to marble with. If you want to marble more than one color with the white, choose colors that make sense together otherwise it can turn to mud by the end of your dipping experience.
7. Then just hold your cookie/macaron straight up and down and dip into the pool.
8. Gently shake off the excess and any dangling tails, then flip the cookie upright and shake left to right to help the royal icing flatten out.
9. If any falls off the edge you can wipe it off or scrape it off and stop the flow.
10. Let the cookie dry for a few hours for the top to be hard and easy to eat. Store dipped cookies in an airtight container, some macaron fillings need to be refrigerated.
11. If you need to refrigerate your marbled macarons, when you are ready to eat one take the whole container out and let it come up to room temperature before opening in case you have issues with royal icing bleeding with the condensation.

Helpful Tips:

• A digital scale is the best way to go for measuring ingredients for a macaron batter.
• Make sure your whisk and bowl are super clean with no fat/oil to help the egg whites whip up.
• A printed out template of circles under your parchment paper or silicon mat helps make the shells the same shape.
• Make your buttercream dairy free by choosing a dairy free butter option.
• Macarons that are “overbaked” or too crunchy will soften after a day or two in the fridge, just be patient.
• Thin your royal icing to the right consistency with a light mist from a spray bottle instead of pouring water in – helps control the additional liquid.

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