Holiday baking was in full force this week.  The baking started with my lemon curd cookies and is culminating with, of course, my macarons.  Before holiday 2017 is up, I’m sharing with you 2 new recipes that are festively appropriate yet all year ’round delicious.

The only gingerbread baked good that appears at Christmas is usually my pre-baked store-bought gingerbread house [if anything].  This year, since I completely went off the holiday script with my lemon cookies, I decided to go 100% full force holiday with my macarons.

G I N G E R B R E A D  M A C A R O N S
[makes about 36 macarons]
Note: I’ve stuck with the Pierre Hermé method [1/2 portion] but tweaked the base recipe

MACARON SHELLS

• 150g almond flour
• 150g icing sugar + extra for powdering
• 55g liquified egg whites 
• brown gel food colouring
• 2tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2tsp cinnamon
• 1/2tsp nutmeg

+

• 150g sugar
• 37.5g water
• 55g liquified egg whites 

• oven temp @ 300ºF

MACARON GANACHE FILLING

• 170g white chocolate chips
• 1/4 + 1/8 whipping cream | a couple splashes more if needed
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/4tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1/4tsp nutmeg

to make the shells…
combine + weigh ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg
sift together almond flour + icing sugar | skim weight of ginger mix from the icing almond flour/sugar mixture [not sure if this is needed but I wanted to keep my ratio of dry ingredients to wet the same]
continue on with regular recipe

to make the ganache…
combine whipping cream, cinnamon, ground ginger, and nutmeg in a small sauce pan over low-med heat and bring to a simmer | if the mix appears quite thick add a splash more of the cream
remove from heat and let sit for 10mins | ensure to mix midway to prevent skin from forming
bring cream back to a simmer
remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips
add mixture to a food processor to further smoothen and combine if needed
pour into a shallow dish | let ganache cool to room temp
cover with plastic wrap directly touching ganache surface | place in fridge for 2hrs [until mix thickens] to overnight
when ready, whip ganache with mixer until light and fluffy
transfer to a pipping bag and start pipping the macs!

I made these macarons both for gifting and to bring to a Christmas Eve cocktail party.  So far from the gift recipients, I’ve gotten great feedback; now to see how the party goers like them.  I think this recipe may just make it into my yearly baking batch.

Stay tuned for holiday macaron recipe #2!

Merry Christmas!!!