Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Blue French Macarons

What flavor do you think of when you pick up a blue sweet?

I bet it's not Peanut Butter, and you might also think that peanut butter is a strange pairing for a french macaron.

But not so surprisingly when you think about it the filling, which has a touch of saltiness, balances out the sweet almond shells quite nicely.

This is the same peanut butter chocolate ganache that I used to top the If This is Wrong I don't want to be right Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes I made up a few weeks ago.

Oh and just in case you missed it, I did a tutorial for some plane cookies over at Polkadot Prints Blog, click over and have a look, they are based on the super lovely Flying High printable range.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache filled French Macarons

Macaron Shells makes around 20 filled macarons

190 gram (6 5/8 oz)almond meal (almond flour)
190 gram pure icing sugar (6 5/8 oz powdered sugar)
190 gram granulated sugar (6 5/8 oz)
48 grams water (1 5/8 oz)
140 gram egg whites aged split into 2 lots of 70grams each (5 oz split into 2 lots of 2 1/2oz each)*
dark blue food colour
*ageing egg whites refers to separating the yolks from whites and then leaving the whites to age for a few days. This can be done on the counter if your countries climate permits or in the fridge, wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and then pop a few holes in the top. Alternately you can pop the egg whites in the microwave on high for 10 seconds or so - I used the microwave method in this batch pictured.

1. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and pulse a few times in food processor to make almond meal finer. Do not over process as the meal can become oily. Sieve into a large bowl. Add colour and 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of the egg whites to the sugar/almond mixture but don’t mix in.

2. Place remaining 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of egg whites in bowl of mixer fitted with the whisk.

Yup - I really use this super old fashioned thermometer I have had for about 20 years to make my macarons

3. Pop granulated sugar and water into saucepan stir to combine and cook without stirring to 118C (245 F). Once the mixture reaches 115C (240 F) start mixing the egg whites on high. Make sure you have a pouring shield on your mixer, when the sugar syrup reaches 118C (245 F)remove from heat and immediately pour in a thin stream down the side of the mixer bowl continuing to whisk on high.

4. Continue to whisk the meringue on high until the side of the bowl is only a little warm to touch, around 50C (120 F).
.

5. Add meringue mixture to almond mixture and using a large spatula fold the mixture together until it starts to shine and forms a ribbon that disappears back into the mixture after about 30 seconds.

6. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip (or just cut the end of a disposable piping bag) and pipe in lines onto parchment lined baking sheets. To make the macarons as even as possible I apply a constant slow pressure to the piping bag and count a few numbers like up to 3 for each one.

7. Set aside for about 30 minutes or until the macarons have formed a skin so that the macaron mixture does not stick to your finger when gently touched.

8. Meanwhile preheat oven to 140C (285 F). Once ready bake the macaroons for around 13 to 15 minutes depending on size, they should not be browned. Remove the baking trays and immediately slide off the macarons and the parchment onto the work surface and let cool completely before removing the shells.

9. Once cooled match disks into like sizes and sandwich together using the ganache.

Peanut Chocolate Ganache

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) sifted
3 tsp or 15g  unsalted butter (1 US Tbsp or 1/2 oz)
4oz Dark or Semi Sweet Chocolate 
1 oz cream 

 pinch salt
1 Tbsp or 20g (1 1/2 Tbsp US or 3/4 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature

Chop the chocolate into fine pieces. Place in a microwave safe bowl with the cream and heat in the microwave at medium low heat for 1 minute bursts until melted. Make sure you do not overheat the chocolate. 

Cover and allow to set at room temperature until firm.

Place peanut butter, sugar, 3 tsp (1 US Tbsp) unsalted butter and pinch of salt into a bowl and mix until well combined set aside until required.

Beat the chocolate mixture on high for a couple of minutes until it lightens in color. Add the Peanut Butter Filling and mix well at medium speed, add the 1 Tbsp ( 1 1/2 US Tbsp) butter and continue to beat at medium speed until the mixture comes together, do not over mix.