Eggnog macarons
Nutmeg and cinnamon spiced macaron shells, filled with eggnog ganache.
Using the Swiss meringue method, these macarons have the simplicity of the French whilst having the stability of the Italian.
For my best macaron tips and tricks, see last year's cookie box page here.
I've funnily enough made it a thing to make macarons at Christmas. Why? No idea! I'm going to eventually run out of festive flavours! This is self-sabotage! I literally haven't made macarons since Christmas last year, so I'm glad I haven't lost my ~touch~.
I had only just tried eggnog last year, so of course I had to use it as a flavour this year!
Something I don't think I mentioned on that page is the fact that I personally always like to use ganache as the filling. It has the perfect amount of moisture for the maturation process (when the moisture and flavour from the filling absorbs into the shell). Curds and jam generally have too much moisture, resulting in soggy macs after 3 days or so (so soggy that the shells stick to the box), and I find that buttercreams tend to not have enough moisture. In saying that however, I've only tried American buttercream in macs because I didn't want to use up even more whites, so perhaps a Swiss buttercream may have enough moisture? Or perhaps a French buttercream?
Another reason I much prefer ganache though, is the simplicity of it when compared to say a French or Swiss buttercream. It's just chocolate and cream plus whatever flavours.
Notes for making eggnog macarons
I personally don't drink or like alcohol, but I'd actually recommend going for an eggnog that contains rum in it because the stronger flavour pairs well with the sweet white chocolate. You can always cook off the alcohol when you heat up the eggnog.
The macaron shells are only lightly spiced, so do increase the spice quantities if you'd like a stronger spice flavour.
I used store-bought eggnog (technically 'eggnog flavoured milk' as sad as that sounds, but it does feel thicker than regular milk) for the ganache in place of cream, hence the very high quantity of chocolate in comparison to what I'd usually do. If you decide to just do a regular white chocolate ganache, just use equal weights of cream and chocolate.
You're going to want to actually make the ganache a day in advance so that it gets a good amount of time to chill in the fridge since this ganache is slightly softer than usual.
Grind your almond meal with the icing sugar if you want smoother shells. I personally skip this since I don't mind the slightly rougher shells.
Recipe
For the macaron shells
Makes roughly 35 4cm macarons (70 shells)
INGREDIENTS:
150g egg whites
150g castor sugar
150g almond meal (can increase to 195g if desired)
150g pure icing sugar*
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon + extra for dusting
1/2 - 1 tsp nutmeg
1 batch of eggnog ganache (see recipe below)
*I have had some success with icing sugar mixture, but I have not tested its use extensively, so I'd suggest sticking to pure icing sugar
METHOD:
1. Line 4 baking trays with baking paper. Make sure the baking paper lays down flat and doesn't go up the sides of the tray. This prevents lopsided macarons. Set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, sift in the almond meal and icing sugar. Discard any overly large almond pieces. You may choose to process the almond meal with the icing sugar for a finer texture. Do NOT process the almond meal by itself - it will become almond butter. Set aside.
3. In a medium sized heatproof bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, place the egg whites and castor sugar and briefly whisk to combine. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, ensuring the bowl does not directly touch the water. Whisk continuously until the sugar has melted. You can test this by rubbing some between your fingers. The whites should also feel hot.
4. Remove from the heat and start beating on low with a hand or stand mixer. Once all of the whites are frothy, you can increase the speed to medium low. Once soft peaks are just beginning to form, you may increase the speed to medium and gradually to medium high. Beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Add the meringue to the dry ingredients and fold gently to combine. Once just combined, you can begin the macaronage process. Using a spatula, bring up some batter and press/ smear it against the side of the bowl. Repeat until you have batter all around the side of the bowl then scrape it all down. Repeat this process until you can draw a figure 8 using the batter flowing off the spatula without the batter ribbon breaking or until when you drop batter into the bowl it sinks back into itself in roughly 30 seconds.
6. Pour the batter into a piping bag or piping tool (I actually use a cookie gun) and start piping them out onto the lined baking trays, ensuring you leave roughly 3-5cm of space between them (depends on how much batter you pipe in one spot). Hold the tray roughly 5-8cm above the surface (your floor or tabletop) and drop it. Rotate the tray and repeat. This is to bring any air bubbles to the surface. using a toothpick or a similar utensil, pop the bubbles and swirl the batter to fill in the hole. Sift on a little extra cinnamon.
7. Allow the macarons to sit until a skin forms. You'll know they are ready when they look matte and the batter no longer sticks to your finger when you touch them. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 150°C.
Once the oven has preheated and the skins have formed, bake them for roughly 15 minutes or until the tops and feet are firm and they do not stick completely to the baking paper (mild sticking is ok).
Cool on the tray until fully cooled.
8. Pipe some eggnog ganache (recipe as follows) onto one shell and place another shell on top. Gently press to sandwich. Repeat until you've used up all your shells.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and allow 24-48 hours to mature before consuming.
For the eggnog ganache
INGREDIENTS:
350g white chocolate, chopped
125g eggnog
METHOD:
1. In a small pot, heat the eggnog, stirring occasionally until steaming (it should be bubbling around the edges).
2. In a larger pot or bowl, combine the steamed eggnog and chopped chocolate and cover for 2-3 minutes.
3. Whisk until the chocolate has melted and combined with the eggnog. Reheat lightly if necessary to melt the chocolate.
Set aside to cool at room temperature then in the fridge until fully set (it will not be completely firm, but it will be pipeable).
