Raspberry & Passion Fruit Macarons

To change from the classic macarons, I decided to make larger ones in the style of individual desserts, filled with fresh raspberries and a passion puree/inspiration passion/white chocolate ganache. As for the macarons, no change in the recipe, it's still the same, I just piped larger shells, and made a very creamy ganache to have a slightly runny center. These large macarons are super fresh and light, a very good dessert to end a meal, especially with the current temperatures ;-) There you go, you know everything, grab your piping bags!

Macaron Shells:

25g of egg whites (1)
25g of egg whites (2)
68g of powdered sugar
68g of almond flour
17g of water
68g of granulated sugar
Red coloring

Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour, then add the egg whites (1) and the coloring, mixing well.

Next, prepare the Italian meringue: prepare a syrup with water and granulated sugar. When it reaches 110°C, start beating the egg whites (2). When the syrup is at 118°C, pour it in a thin stream over the egg whites and continue to beat until you get a shiny meringue.

Take half of the Italian meringue and pour it into the first mixture to loosen it. When the mixture is homogeneous, add the rest of the Italian meringue, mixing with a spatula or a maryse (this is the macaronage). You need to loosen the paste so that it is homogeneous and flexible, but not liquid; it should form the ribbon.

Put the macaron mixture in a piping bag fitted with a plain tip, then pipe the shells (with this quantity you should be able to make 8 large shells) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Here I used the Mastrad piping bag kit, which I found super convenient for piping the macarons and filling. The kit is composed of two silicone piping bags so reusable (I usually use disposable bags, but it's always convenient to have reusable ones, and it helps produce less waste when you bake often ;-) and they also clean very easily), different tips, a small brush to clean them, and a cap and clip that allow you to close the tip when you haven't used everything, which I found very well thought out. The kit also includes a "bag holder" (see photos) which makes filling the bag super easy. Finally, the tips screw onto the bags which allows for changing the tip when you need two (or more) different piping lengths with the same preparation. This was my first use of this kit, and even though I will continue to use disposable bags for some very sticky preparations making them not easy to clean, I think this reusable system is a great idea to avoid buying and throwing away too many bags, as well as for changing tips when the bag is already filled.

Let them crust for 15 to 20 minutes (you should be able to put your finger on them without the dough being sticky) then bake the tray in the preheated oven at 145°C fan-forced for about fifteen minutes (the oven temperature and cooking time are given for guidance, you will need to adapt to your oven).

Once the shells are baked, let them cool before removing them from the parchment paper.

Passion Ganache:

90g of passion fruit puree type Capfruit
100g of Valrhona passion inspiration
75g of Ivoire chocolate

Bring the passion puree to a boil then pour it in three batches over the chocolates, stirring well after each addition to obtain a smooth and shiny ganache. Place the ganache in the fridge to set.

*This ganache will never be very firm, it remains supple, that's intentional, but if you want a firmer ganache for one recipe or another, you'll need to change the proportions of chocolate and fruit puree: use more chocolate/inspiration and less passion puree.