This post is also available in(こちらの言語版もある): Japanese
The sakura (cherry blossoms) may have already dropped their petals like pale pink snow here in Tokyo, but I’m still in the mood for spring and had quite a bit of leftover sakura liqueur pastry cream on my hands to use up, so I’m introducing yet another sakura recipe despite the fact that hanami season is over for the year. After making those sakura liqueur pastry cream filled pink champagne cupcakes, I had a rather large amount of cream leftover and was wondering what I could make to use it up other than more cupcakes. After wracking my brains for a bit the first cream-filled thing that came to my mind was macarons, which are something I hadn’t yet attempted due to their reputation for being finicky to make with a high failure rate for amateurs, but I made up my mind to stop being such a chicken and take on the majestic macaron. Despite my worries, I was actually able to successfully make pretty decent macarons on my first try with minimal fuss, so I decided to upload this recipe for fragrant little sakura macarons with either sakura liqueur pastry cream or sakura liqueur butter cream for all those other people who are under the impression that making macarons is too difficult and tedious for the average noob★
First off, I took this as an opportunity to sit down and really do some research about the macaron-making process, and while it seemed like every macaron maker has his/her own key to successful macaron-making, after reading numerous recipes and tutorials for making French meringue macarons, the following appeared to be important to keep in mind to avoid amateur moves that lead to swift and sure failure:
- Older, aged eggs make it easier to make a proper stiff-peaked meringue
- Oil is the enemy of meringues so make sure your bowls are squeaky clean and grease-free
- The dry ingredients (almond powder, powdered sugar, flavoring) need to be very well sifted as lumps will ruin the glossy surface of the macarons
- Over-mixing the dry ingredients into the meringue will make the batter too thin and prevent the macarons from forming their characteristic “feet” so only mix until the batter is glossy and drops from a spatula in thick ribbons when scooped up.
- On the other hand, mixing is necessary to push enough air out of the batter for the spread out round and any “nibs” left from the piping process to disappear, so under-mixing should also be avoided so you don’t end up with macarons that don’t spread out round and have thick nibs. That said, a little under-mixing is preferable to over-mixing as the result will still be macaron-like, just not quite as pretty.
- After being piped out onto a baking sheet, macarons need to be left to dry for 20-60 minutes or until the batter doesn’t stick to you if you try to touch it so that the macarons form proper feet and don’t crack while baking.
- Baking at too high of a temperature results in brown macarons while baking at too low of temperature prevents the formation of feet.
- Under-baking can cause the macarons to go hollow so be careful to bake them enough.
Most of these things seemed doable, but that critical fine line between under-mixing and over-mixing to ensure the macarons look right still had me apprehensive. Would I really be able to determine the right time to stop to avoid both scenarios? Well, you don’t know until you try, so doing my best to keep all of the above in mind and not without a lot of nervousness I made my first batch of sakura macarons. I was afraid of messing things up so it seemed to take ages, but to my great surprise, I did not fail! The little feet properly formed and they still spread out round and fairly smooth with minimal nubs from the piping process, plus the texture seemed right.
Shocked and thrilled about my relative success on the first try, I thickened the sakura liqueur pastry cream up with some mascarpone cheese, and sandwiched it between the macarons. On their own, the macarons had a subtle sakura scent and flavor, but with the cream filling they really tasted like the embodiment of Japanese spring.
In general, it’s recommended that you let macarons sit for about 24 hours after filling and then eat them so the filling can blend with the macaron and bring it to the right level of softness, but I quickly realized that since there is a higher water content in the pastry cream than the usual ganache or butter cream fillings used for macarons, the macarons were softening up much quicker and there was a real possibility they might be too soft and downright soggy by the next day, so these macarons were clearly meant for immediate consumption. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but knowing that I often bake a day in advance of parties and the like I decided to make another batch of macarons and then make a sakura liqueur butter cream to fill them.
By the time I made the second batch, I was a bit more confident, but since I still fearing the overmixing that would cause the macaron feet not to form, I wound up not quite mixing the this batch enough to knock enough air out so they didn’t spread out as much and wound up a little puffy with nibs from the piping process. They still tasted good and the texture was still macaron-like with proper feet, so I went ahead with making the sakura liqueur butter cream and filling them. The butter cream was a bit sweeter than the pastry cream but it still added strong sakura notes, plus it didn’t make the macarons soft as quickly as the pastry cream so it should be perfect for next-day consumption.
Satisfied that my two versions of sakura macarons were both tasty and reasonably aesthetically-pleasing, there was only one last thing to try: I had read that macarons freeze well and can be thawed quickly, so I tried freezing both versions. The pastry cream doesn’t actually freeze solid so letting the macarons frozen with it thaw completely resulted in pretty soft macarons, but because the pastry cream doesn’t in fact freeze solid, you can actually enjoy these straight from the freezer a bit like an ice cream treat. Definite potential for summer there.
The butter cream-filled macarons, on the other hand, froze well and then thawed quickly to the perfect consistency just as I had read. The butter cream freezes pretty solid so they aren’t pleasant in their frozen state, but since I made my butter cream-filled macarons smaller anyway, they thawed out in a few minutes so hardly much waiting involved.
All in all, given that I was convinced I would fail at my first macaron attempt, I’m very happy with how this experiment turned out. Plus, it wasn’t that hard to make macarons using thing technique even for a complete noob like myself, so I definitely want to try to make some more macarons. Maybe absinthe macarons…but I am getting ahead of myself here.
- For sakura macarons:
- ¾ cup (115 g) almond flour
- 1 cup (128 g) powdered sugar
- 2 egg whites, room temperature and aged overnight
- A pinch of cream of tartar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 oz (30 g) sakura flakes (ground fine in the food processor if possible)
- Red powdered food coloring
- For sakura liqueur pastry cream:
- ½ (100 ml) cup heavy cream, divided
- ½ (100 ml) sakura liqueur (I used Japone Sakura by Suntory)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 5 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ cup (55 g) mascarpone cheese
- For sakura liqueur butter cream:
- ½ cup (114 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (612 g) of powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (50 ml) sakura liqueur
- 1 tsp vanilla
- red food coloring
- Make sakura macarons: separate the whites from two eggs, put them in a container with a lid and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the eggs from the fridge and let them return to room temperature.
- Grind the sakura flakes to a fine powder in the food processor if you have one.
- Sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, ground sakura flakes, and powdered food coloring. Sift these dry ingredients a second time to make sure there are no lumps that could ruin the macaron's surface.
- Make the meringue. Put the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl and whisk with a handmixer on low speed until frothy.
- Add the cream of tartar and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Add the granulated sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the meringue in 5-6 additions and gently stir in with a spatula, being careful to scrape all around the sides of the bowl and also gently scoop from the bottom until the dry ingredients are combined. You know you have mixed enough when the batter drops off the spatula in ribbons and any tracks you make dragging the spatula through the glossy batter slowly disappear.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag fit with a large, plain tip and pipe 1-1½ inch (3-4 cm) diameter circles onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Bang the sheet on the counter a few times to bring any air bubbles to the surface and leave to dry for 20-60 minutes until the batter doesn't stick if you touch it lightly.
- While the macarons are drying, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Right before you put the macarons in the oven, decrease the temperature to 325 F (150 C) and bake for 11-13 minutes until set.
- Let the macarons cool on the pan for 2-3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- In the meantime, prepare your filling--either sakura liqueur pastry cream or sakura liqueur butter bream.
- For sakura liqueur pastry cream: whisk together cornstarch and ¼ cup (50 ml) of cream in a medium bowl.
- Add the egg and egg yolks and beat thoroughly with a hand mixer.
- Put the remaining ¼ cup (50 ml) of cream, sugar, and sakura liqueur in a pot, bring to a boil, and then remove from heat.
- Pour ⅓ of the boiling sakura liqueur mixture into the egg mixture and whisk constantly so the eggs don't cook.
- Return the sakura liqueur mixture to a boil and slowly pour in the egg mixture while whisking.
- Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, then remove from heat and beat in the vanilla and butter.
- Let cool slightly and then beat in the mascarpone cheese until combined.
- For sakura liqueur butter cream: whip the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix on medium speed until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.
- Add the sakura liqueur and food coloring and mix on medium-high speed until combined and fluffy. If the frosting is too soft or runny, add more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached.
- Sandwich either the pastry cream or butter cream between the cooled macarons.
- If you used butter cream, wait a day to eat them for the flavors to meld and the macarons to soften to the ideal texture. If you used pastry cream, go ahead and eat them right away.
★Pastry cream-filled macarons are better enjoyed on the same day as the higher water content in the pastry cream could make the macaron shells too soft.
★Butter cream-filled macarons can be stored in a tightly covered container in the fridge for a few days. They can also be stored in the freezer and then thawed for 5-15 minutes and enjoyed.
★Pastry cream-filled macarons can be frozen, but are best enjoyed straight from the freezer without thawing since the pastry cream is much softer than the butter cream.
Recipe adapted from: http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2013/06/raspberries-and-cream-macarons-and.html
Miyah says
Oddly enough I had macrons last Saturday while attending a convention. They were doing an evening dessert gathering and they served all kinds of different flavors. One of them that I had tried had blue meringues with a vanilla cream and blueberries.