Tiramisu Macarons
I love tiramisu and I love macarons so one day I thought “Why not Tiramisu Macarons?”. So I got to work on that. They are not hard to make and they are extremely tasty. Making macarons can be a challenge but that is a matter of technique not that they are actually complicated. If you have the right equipment and especially if you have the correct folding technique you will be successful.
To make things easier and more uniform I would get a macaron baking mat for your cookie sheet. They are easily found at Amazon and I have a link for them here.
This will make life much easier when you are piping them out and give you all uniform cookies for making the final sandwich cookie that makes the macaron.
Tiramisu Macarons are the perfect marriage of that classic Italian dessert tiramisu and the French sandwich cookie the macaron. The word tiramisu translates to “Pick me up” or “Lift me up” both ways the meaning would be, its been a long week and I need some tasty relief so I tend to make this dessert on Fridays. The same goes for macarons.
The one thing I would add about macarons is the pronunciation of the word. Almost all the time and without fail people refer to this cookie as if it were the American macaroon. These are entirely different (but tasty) cookies. They have nothing in common other than being tasty to eat and perhaps in basic size. So to ask for one and not the other you need to pronounce the names correctly. Almost every one says them with the same name. The difference is in the end of the word. Macaron ends with RON and macaroon ends with ROON. To pronounce this difference just think ron & moon, Macaron pronounced with ron nice and clear at the end and macaroon pronounced with a clear roon (kinda like moon) at the end. This difference will make it cear the cookie you desire.
Tiramisu Macaron Recipe
Now on to the fun stuff. Here is the recipe for how to make my Tiramisu Macarons:
- Macarons:
- 100 grams ground blanched almonds or almond meal/flour
- 170 grams confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar
- 5 grams espresso powder
- 100 grams “aged” egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)
- 35 grams superfine or castor white sugar
- Filling:
- 225 grams mascarpone cheese at room temp.
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cognac (brandy, amaretto, rum, or other)
- 5 ml vanilla
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup sugar
- ) Place the ground almonds, confectioners sugar, and espresso powder in your food processor and process until they are mixed together and very fine (about 45 seconds). Then sift the mixture 2 times to remove any lumps.
- ) In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment (can use a hand mixer), beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar, and continue to beat, on medium-high speed, until the meringue just holds stiff peaks (when you slowly raise the whisk the meringue stands straight up (no drooping)).
- ) Then, two additions, sift the ground almond mixture over the meringue. When folding, cut through the meringue and then fold up and over, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Once the almond mixture is completely folded (called macaronage) into the meringue (the batter will fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon) it is time to pipe the Macarons.
- ) Fill a pastry bag, fitted with about a 1/2 inch (1 cm) plain tip, pipe about 1 1/2 inch (4 cm) rounds onto the parchment paper tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles (can also break air bubbles with the end of a toothpick). Let the Macarons sit at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes (depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen) or until the tops of the Macarons are no longer tacky when lightly touched.
- ) Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 205c 400 F convection on. When heated and macarons go in drop temp to 160 c(325F) with the oven racks in the top and bottom third of the oven. Bake the cookies (two sheets at a time) for about 14 – 16 minutes, If not using convection rotate the pans top to bottom, front to back, about halfway through baking.
- ) The Macarons are done when they just barely separate from the parchment paper. Remove from oven and let the Macarons cool completely on the baking sheet placed on a wire rack. To assemble the Macarons, take two cookies and sandwich them together with filling.
- To make the filling:
- ) Make the sabayon by beating egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar over a double boiler until it doubles in volume and this creamy. The mixture falling from the whisk should be able to make a figure 8 when falling back into the bowl. Remove from heat and beat another 3 minutes to cool. Allow to cool completely.
- ) Beat mascarpone a little to soften. Fold into the cooled sabayon.
- ) beat whipping cream until slightly thick then add sugar, vanilla, and cognac, then beat until soft peak. Fold into the mascarpone & sabayon mixture. Refrigerate to thicken up a bit.