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Love Heart macarons

by Graham Hornigold
  1. Love Heart macarons
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This beautiful love heart macaron recipe was created by Hakkasan executive pastry chef Graham Hornigold in collaboration with chef Sarah Frankland, head of Pastry at Yauatcha. The wonderful pastel shade shells are created using food colouring. You can only make one colour at a time, so whip up separate batches for a larger variety of colours. Crushed Love Heart sweets will add a subtle colour to the buttercream filling, but feel free to add a few drops of colour to correspond to your chosen shade of shell if you're after a more eye-popping shade.

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Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Ground almond base

Italian meringue

  • 110g of egg white
  • 300g of caster sugar
  • 55g of water
  • 2g of white food colouring
  • 0.5g of red food colouring
  • 0.5g of purple food colouring
  • 0.5g of yellow food colouring
  • 0.5g of green food colouring

Love heart butter cream

  • 216g of Love Heart sweets, blended to a powder
  • 100g of egg white
  • 180g of caster sugar
  • 60g of water
  • 200g of unsalted butter, softened

Pink royal icing for piping

SAVE RECIPE

Equipment

  • Food mixer
  • Sugar thermometer
  • Blender
  • Piping bag and fine nozzle
  • Piping bag with 1cm plain nozzle

Method

1
To begin the macarons, make the ground almond base. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a food mixer and whisk until incorporated. Set aside until required
2
To make the Italian meringue base, add the egg whites to a clean bowl and whisk on a low speed. Meanwhile, add the water and 280g of caster sugar to a pan and place over a medium-high heat. Cook until the syrup reaches ‘soft ball’ stage, or 118°C
  • 110g of egg white
  • 280g of caster sugar
  • 55g of water
3
Once the temperature reaches 105°C, increase the speed of the mixer and add the remaining 20g of caster sugar in order to stabilise the meringue. When the sugar reaches 118°C, reduce the speed of the mixer and gently pour the sugar down the side of the bowl into the whisking egg whites
  • 300g of caster sugar
4
Turn up the speed and mix for 1 more minute, before stopping the machine and adding your choice of food colouring. It's important to stick to the prescribed colour quantities listed with these as too much liquid may upset the delicate balance of the meringue, causing less-than-perfect macarons. Turn on the machine once more, mixing on a medium speed until the meringue has cooled to blood temperature and has a thick, fluffy consistency
  • 2g of white food colouring
  • 0.5g of red food colouring
  • 0.5g of purple food colouring
  • 0.5g of yellow food colouring
  • 0.5g of green food colouring
5
When ready, mix 1/3 of the Italian meringue base into the reserved ground almond base, stirring to combine. Repeat this process twice more until all of the mix is incorporated, smooth and shiny
6
Add the macaron mix to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle, and pipe 4.5cm bulbs of the meringue directly onto either a non-stick baking mat, or a baking tray lined with silicone paper
7
Set the macarons to one side for 30-60 minutes until they form a dry skin on top. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 130°C/gas mark 1
8
While the macarons are resting, make the butter cream. Place the egg whites in a food mixer with a whisk attachment and mix on a moderate speed. Meanwhile, place the caster sugar and water into a pan and heat until the temperature reaches 118°C
  • 100g of egg white
  • 180g of caster sugar
  • 60g of water
9
Gently pour the hot sugar down the side of the mixing bowl into the egg whites while the mixer is still running. Increase the speed and whisk until the meringue cools to blood temperature
10
Gradually mix in the softened butter and whisk until smooth and fluffy. Add the blended love heart sweets and relevant food colouring for a brighter colour. Whisk again to combine before transferring to a piping bag with a 1/2cm nozzle
  • 200g of unsalted butter, softened
  • 216g of Love Heart sweets, blended to a powder
11
When ready, bake the macarons for 17-18 minutes, until you can just peel them away from the tray. Remove from the oven, allow to cool then match each macaron half according to size
12
While the macarons are cooling, make the royal icing. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until just frothy
13
Add the icing sugar to the egg whites one tablespoon at a time, folding into the egg whites with each addition. Add the lemon juice and continue to beat the icing until it stiffens, adding food colouring until the desired colour is reached. Beat again until the icing stands up to form stiff peaks
14
Transfer the icing to a paper cornet (or piping bag fitted with a very fine nozzle) and decorate each macaron lid with a love heart and your desired message. Fill each macaron base with a bulb of love heart butter cream and top with the decorated macaron lid
First published in 2015
Graham Hornigold

Graham Hornigold’s expert pastry skills have been refined in some of the best restaurants and hotels in London, effortlessly adding delicate, refreshing touches to dessert menus. Today, he runs gourmet doughnut brand Longboys, which has three sites and stocks the likes of Harrods and Selfridges.

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