Blueberry, Vanilla and Elderberry Macaron’s

Posted on | by Free-From Heaven
The best thing about these wonderful blueberry, vanilla and elderberry macarons is that elderberries help to boost your immune system, because they contain a lot of vitamin C, which is so helpful around this time of the year when almost everyone get’s a cold (as if you need any excuses to munch on some macarons!) 

 

HI5A0480

 

Blueberry, Vanilla and Elderberry Macaron’s

 

By Nora Eisermann and Laura Muthesius (www.ourfoodstories.com)

Serves 12 | Prep 2 days (to allow the macarons and egg whites to mature) | Cook 60 mins

GF MF

Ingredients for the macaron shells:

 

  • 100-110g egg whites (we took 102g)
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 200g powdered sugar
  • 4 tbsp sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1.5 tsp blueberry powder (or gel food coloring for the Blueberry-vanilla macarons; our blueberry-powder is from Mill & Mortar)
Vanilla white chocolate cream:

 

  • 60g white chocolate
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 75g heavy cream
Elderberry cream:

 

  • 150ml elderberry juice (incl. some lemon juice if you like and can tolerate citrus)
  • 65g white chocolate
  • 80ml heavy cream
  • 1 pk agar-agar
Method:

 

For the macaron-shells:

 

    1. Separate the eggs the day before you will use them, cover the egg whites with clingfilm and leave outside the fridge so they will have room temperature.
    2. Line two baking sheets with silicone macaron-mats or baking parchment (you can draw 2-euro-coin circles (about 1-inch) on the baking parchment – leave some space between circles).
    3. Blend ground almonds and powdered sugar and process in a food processor until finely ground. sift through a sieve and put away the grainy remains.
    4. Beat the egg whites until foamy, then add gradually the sugar and vanilla pulp – beat 3-4min longer.
    5. Fold in the almond-powdered sugar mix with a silicone spatula or similar, fill about half of the batter into another mixing bowl and fold in the blueberry powder.
    6. Stir the batter slowly until it looks like a thick paste and runs in a thick ribbon from the the spatula (don’t stir too much!).
    7. Fill the blueberry batter into a decoration bag with a round decorating tip (7-9mm-ø) (cover the tip with clingfilm, so the batter cannot leak while you fill the decorating bag) and start to pipe the batter on the baking parchment (or silicone mat – pipe in the size of the circle, then they should “melt” a bit and increase their size).
    8. Then stir the vanilla macaron batter and fill into another decorating bag and pipe on the other baking parchment.
    9. Let the batter on the baking sheets rest for 30-60min until a “skin” has formed.
    10. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celsius (we took 140 degrees – depends on your oven) and bake the one baking sheet after the other for 11-13min (check constantly after 11min, so the macarons don’t get too brown – press lightly on the top, if the skin feels stable and is not cracking they are done).
    11. Let them cool down completely before you remove them from the baking parchment.

 

Vanilla cream:

 

  1. Chop the white chocolate finely. stir the vanilla pulp in the heavy cream and let boil.
  2. Let cool down for 1min, then pour over the chopped chocolate and stir with a whisk until the chocolate has melted completely and you have a nice smooth cream.
  3. Let the cream chill for a while, then fill into a decorating bag with round tip and fill the blueberry macarons (twist the shells a bit when you press them together).
  4. Dust with some blueberry powder and allow to mature overnight in the fridge.
Elderberry cream:

 

  1. Chop the white chocolate finely. Let the heavy cream boil, then cool down for 1min. pour over the chopped chocolate and stir with a whisk until the chocolate has melted completely and you have a nice smooth cream.
  2. Stir the agar-agar into 100ml elderberry juice and boil for 1min, let cool down for a moment, then stir in the remaining 50ml elderberry juice, then the white chocolate cream.
  3. Let the cream chill for a while until it turns a bit more firm, then fill into a decorating bag with round tip and fill the vanilla macarons (twist the shells a bit when you press them together). Allow to mature overnight in the fridge.

6J0A4855About the authors: Nora studied fashion design, and is now working as a (food)stylist,  and Laura, who studied photography, works as a photographer. They decided to start their blog, Our Food Stories, while Laura was feeling unwell due to her gluten- and histamine-intolerance. They started to cook together every day, and while they were looking for recipes they realised that there were very few recipes that were both low on histamine and gluten-free. They want to show people how easy and delicious it is, to prepare gluten-free meals, and that your gluten-free lifestyle does not mean you have to miss out on delicious food. You can get in touch with Laura and Nora on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.