JasmineRichelleBakes: Lavender Macarons

So we are full steam ahead in a new month, May guys, and this month is all about floral bakes. I found some inspiration from my Mommy. She loves fresh flowers and all things floral. Oh and Mother's day is in May so I decided I'm baking for her. I honestly didn't want to go out to the store for anything for this bake so I went with one of my favorite things to bake, the French Macaron. If you have read previous posts you will know that I bake these often. I wanted to play around with flavors and luckily I had a ton of floral things like dried lavender, and wild flower honey on hand. I went with a lavender macaron with a lavender infused chocolate ganache and a wild flower honey center. These were amazing guys. I've had lavender macarons with a honey buttercream before from a fancy macaron bakery and they were honestly disgusting. They tasted too much like soap, it was actually inedible to me. The Lavender Macarons that I made were really delicious, the lavender shined through with out being soapy, the lavender infused ganache really helped sweeten and balance the lavender. I was pleasantly surprised that the chocolate didn't wash out the lavender flavor. The wildflower honey added a nice scent and flavor to the macaron. I will definitely bake these again. I did bake two batches of these because I did not like the color of the first batch, I added a ton of purple + burgundy for the second batch and the color looked great after baking.

Lavender Macarons with Lavender Chocolate Ganache

Here's what you will need:

Lavender Macarons

65g Almond Flour
65g Powdered Sugar
50g Egg Whites (Room Temperature)
40g Granulated Sugar
Pinch of Cream of Tartar
Purple Gel Food Coloring
Dried Lavender for decoration

Lavender Ganache

1 Cup of Heavy Cream
2 Tablespoon of Dried Lavender
1+ 1/2 cup Chocolate
Wildflower Honey for center (optional)

I made the Lavender Chocolate Ganache earlier so it would be set.

First take your heavy cream + lavender and place it in a small pot and cook on medium heat until small bubbles form around the edge of the cream ( you don't want your cream to burn or scorch, that will be gross)

close up of the Lavender

Why are lavender buds so pretty

Once you see the bubbles appear remove the lavender+ cream from the heat and place a lid on your pot and let your lavender steep in the cream fro about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes place the cream back over medium heat until bubbles from around the edges of the cream.

this smells amazing

Using a sieve pour the hot lavender cream over your chocolate just to cover the chocolate ( you may have extra cream in your pot, just use it in your tea or coffee)

chocolate

strain the buds out

let the cream sit on the chocolate for 1 minute then stir till smooth

you can place this bowl in the fridge to continue to set

stir until it is super smooth

Once the ganache was set I whipped the ganache with my hand mixer before placing in a piping bag.

Ok now on to the macarons!

First sift your almond flour and powdered sugar together in a bowl and set aside.

Take your egg whites and pinch of cream of tartar and place them in the bowl of your mixer and whip on low until foamy.

Slowly pour in your granulated and whip on medium speed until soft peaks form.

When you have reached soft peaks now is the time to add in food coloring ( use gel or powdered coloring) and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.

I'm obsessed with meringues

Fold your meringue and almond mixture until mixture flows like a thick batter and falls of spatula like lava.

Place mixture in a piping bag with a round tip and pipe 1.5 inch circles on parchment or silicon mat.

Tap the tray on the counter a few times to flatten out the macaron shells and remove any air bubbles trapped under the shell.

Also if you want to used the lavender as a decoration, you can place a few buds on each shell before the shells dry out.

Preheat your oven to 325F

Leave the shells on the counter to dry out. Depending on the humidity this could take 20 minutes to 1 hour. ( you will know when the macarons are ready when you touch the shell and no batter is on your finger)

Once the shells are dry turn the oven down to 305F and bake for 9 minutes and then turn the tray and bake for another 9 minutes.

Once out of the oven remove silicon mat or parchment paper with macarons still attached and place on the counter to cool completely.

Pair up each macaron with a macaron in similar size.

Pipe a ring of the lavender chocolate ganache on one macaron shell.

Place the wildflower honey in the center of each ring of ganache.

honeyyyyyyyyyy

Place a macaron shell on top and sandwich the two together. Place these macarons in the fridge in an airtight container to mature for 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before eating.