What’s black and white and red all over in the middle?

This Valentine’s Day, I decided not to go the way of the obvious heart shaped cookie in 50 shades of pink/red.  Instead, I drew inspiration from the classiest treat I knew; the Oreo – always dressed for a black tie affair.  Originally, I wanted to make Oreo macarons, however, when I googled Oreo ganache/filling recipes, short of buying  a bag of Oreos and scrapping out the centres – which  I likely will attempt one day, all I could see were the words ‘shortening’ + ‘icing sugar’.  I decided that a brick of Crisco wasn’t very romantic and decided to keep the tuxedo but to opt for a different filling.

As dated or as cheesy as they may be, one cannot fault fruit covered in chocolate.  They are the perfect couple.  If I could, I would have a chocolate fountain on our kitchen counter flowing 24/7.  For my Valentine Day macarons, I stuck with a classic fruit + choco pairing; strawberries and white chocolate.

M A C A R O N S
.ingredients
.directions

for these shells, I had to use a ton of black gel food colouring to achieve a dark + rich colour

F I L L I N G S
[enough to fill 35-40 macrons]

.strawberry cream.

[though below is the full recipe, in this case I only made a 1/2 portion]

160g sugar
5g corn starch
3 eggs
1/2c fresh strawberry purée
235g soft butter

combine sugar + corn starch + eggs + strawberry purée
cook over low heat continuously stirring until the mix simmers and starts to thicken
remove from heat | cool for 10mins or until it reaches 140ºF/60ºC
combine mixture with the soft butter in a food processor until smooth
refrigerate for 12hrs
transfer into a pipping bag

.white chocolate ganache.

[enough to fill 35-40 macaraons]

170g white chocolate
1/4 + 1/8c of whipping cream

chop white chocolate into small chips if not already
melt the chocolate on a stove in a double boiler
while the chocolate melts, in a small sauce pan bring cream to a simmer
when chocolate is melted remove from stove
mix cream into chocolate until combined
transfer into a shallow dish and let cool to room temp
cover with plastic wrap directly touching ganache surface | place in fridge for 2hrs-overnight until mix thickens
when ready, whip ganache with an mixer until light + fluffy
transfer into pipping bag

once macarons have been paired, pipe a ring of white chocolate ganache on 1/2 of each cookie
pipe the strawberry cream into the white chocolate ring centre
sandwich together each cookie 1/2
place in an air tight container and refrigerate for at least 24hours before serving

I found the perfect black + white boxes to coordinate with my black + white macarons.

Boxed up and sealed with a kiss!
Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!

b+w box, Kate Spade | Indigo
lips sticker | Indigo