Sucre-Haven: Strawberry Cheese Macarons

I've got a group of youngsters who screams Macarons whenever they see me these days because I let them have some not too long ago. It's really flattering to have them squeal at the sight of my humble bakes, here's Strawberry Macarons for my young supporters. And guess what! I found strawberry fruit powder in phoon huat and added it to the dry ingredients. And with the leftover egg yolks, I made Pate Sablee.

For the strawberry macaron shells

147g ground almond

3g strawberry fruit powder

115g egg whites

150g icing sugar

0.5 tsp cream of tar tar

138g caster sugar

A few drops red colour paste

For the cheese buttercream (I used the leftover from the red velvet Macarons)

Cheese Buttercream Recipe

Here's the strawberry fruit powder. :)

1. Sift together the icing sugar, strawberry fruit powder and ground almond.

2. Beat the egg white at medium speed until foamy and add cream of tar tar.

3. Beat till soft peak and add the caster sugar one tablespoon at a time. When all the sugar is incorporated, turn speed on high and whisk till stiff peak. The meringue should be able to stand as shown below.

4. Add about a quarter of the meringue and the few drops of colour and fold in. You do not need to be too gentle. The purpose is to make the mixture easier to handle when the rest of the meringue is added.

5. Add the rest of the meringue and perform macaronage, rubbing the mixture along the sides of the mixing bowl using a spatula. This will be done about 10-15 times until the mixture resembles that of a thick cake mixture.

Here's a video that shows the consistency you should achieve.

6. Pipe the mixture into prepared baking trays using a plain nozzle. You can use Macarons template downloaded from Internet to ensure consistency in size.

7. Tap the piped Macarons on the work surface in order to allow trapped air to escape and to allow Macarons to spread out.

8. Allow the Macarons to cool at room temperature for about 60-90 min or in an air-conditioned room at 18 degree.

9. Once the surface of the Macarons dry, that means they have formed a skin, when you run your finger tips over the surface, it does not stick, the Macarons are ready to be baked.

10. Bake in a preheated oven of 150 degrees for about 13 minutes. I made some mini ones, so they need only bake for about 10 minutes and allow to cool completely before assembling.

To assemble

11. Pipe the cheese buttercream on the Macarons, using a star nozzle.