Awe look at poor Rudolf the red nosed mac, all of the other mac's used to laugh and call him names......but then I took them to a party and someone ate them all:)
That'll teach 'em to be bullies, or not I guess.
Anyway I know I'm not the first to make Rudolf Macarons because like I always do when I get an idea I did a google search, you know not in a stealing ideas way but more in a 'are there already a stack of these out there cause if there are I'm not gonna do it way'.
I did find some pretty ones with little chocolate button noses and pretzel antlers
HERE, but I thought my idea for a mini macaron nose was cute and different enough it was worth sharing, plus I had already made up the little noses and it seemed a great opportunity to use up some of those DIY
royal icing eyes I make up :)
Because these are so Christmassy I am going to pop them over in the
Mac Tweets Mac Attach # 25 Seasons & Holidays challenge.
I think this will be my last Christmas food post this year unless I get totally inspired by something that I MUST make.
and I know it's not cool to brag but I'm going to anyway - Although I do not normally make large cakes I can and I was featured on one of the most lovely cake blogs around
Half Baked:The Cake Blog with my 3D ruffled Christmas Cake as one of the 12 cakes of Christmas. I was thrilled as there were a bunch of world renowned cake artists along side my cake, so if you love cake awesomeness you might want to pop over and check out the yumminess.
Rudolf Macarons
If your not into making your own macarons you could just use shop bought ones and they would still be as cute.....perhaps. Also you might then prefer to use red chocolate buttons (like M&M's) in place of the mini mac's.
Filled Macarons (recipe below)
Pretzels cut it half
Mini Red Macarons unfilled
1/2 cup royal icing in a ziplock back with a small corner cut out
edible premade eyes (make your own with left over royal icing see how
HERE)
edible black pen - I prefer the americolor ones
Using a small amount of royal icing adhere the small red macaron 'nose' to the top of each macaron, then adhere the edible eyes. Push the half pretzels into the filling so it appears they stick out of the top to look like antlers.
Use the edible pen to draw on a mouth.
Alternatively you could ditch the premade eyes and just use the white royal icing to pipe a couple of circles for the eyes and then use the edible pen to draw on black pupils.
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)*
brown food colour
Red 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). Brush down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water as required to avoid the sugar crystallizing. 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.
I don't use a piping tip - I just cut the end off the piping bag for macarons
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.
Waiting to form skins after piping
7. Set aside for about 30 minutes or until the macarons have formed a skin so that the macaron mixtture does not stick to your finger when gently touched.
Baking in the oven. The macarons will rise after a few minutes in the oven and develop a frilly foot
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.
#For Rudolf macarons you will need to split out a small amount of mixture just after it is combined, leave it to the side until you have finished piping the brown macarons and then color the small amount of mixture bright red and mix until it is shiny and disappears back into into itself within 30 seconds. Put mixture into a piping bag and pipe out small round noses on another prepared baking tray.
Ginger Spice White Chocolate Ganache
The ration of chocolate to cream is quite high in this - it is full summer here where I live, you can increase the cream if you prefer a softer ganache or if it is very cold.
75g (2 5/8 oz) cream
300 gm (10 5/8 oz) white chocolate
1 Tbsp ground ginger (1 US tablespoon + 1tsp)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3tsp instant coffee
pink food colouring - I used Wilton gel colours
Bring cream to boil, remove a few tablespoons to a small bowl and mix in the instant coffee until dissolved pour the coffee mixture and the remaining hot cream over finely chopped white chocolate and stand 5 mins. Stir until all chocolate has melted and mixture is glossy mix in ginger and cinnamon. Allow to set overnight at room temperature of chill in fridge until just set.
I have provided a recipe for ginger spiced latte ganache above. In the pictures I have mixed the ganache with about 3/4 cup of Italian Meringue Buttercream to make it a bit fluffier for the piping and used a Wilton #22 tip. But you can just use the ganache as is and they taste great. The Italian Meringue Butter cream recipe is from The Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook which I have previously recommended
HERE
Finally if you are looking for something fun to do with the kids this year over the Christmas Holidays check out my cookbook which is a US release and aimed at getting the kids in the kitchen with you and having fun baking up a storm with easy kid friendly recipes.....it's available at most online stores including these ones.
Amazon,
Or the book depository (Click
HERE)
Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)
