Paulchens FoodBlog?!

Macarons are not my favorite thing to bake I have to admit – but when Jamie and Deeba, two of my favorite foodbloggers, started the Mactweets Challenge I knew I’d be pushed to give them a try every now and then.

With all the things going on this year it was not very often that I tried my hands on making macarons but and with a failure rate of 10:3 against me I had not many success stories to post either.

So far I successfully made Vanilla Macarons and Rose Macarons and these two Holiday flavored Macarons you see below…

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Since the challenge this time called for Seasons & Holidays Macs I thought what flavors represent this season best for me:

Chestnuts, figs, pears, pistachio were things that came to my mind and that’s why you will find them in my macarons this month.

I think the Chestnut flavored mac shells go great with the taste of figs and dark chocolate. I love them. The chestnut was not too overpowered and the fig gave a slightly fruity flavor to it.

As for the pistachio and pear macs, I even liked them better because the pear gave a very fresh and subtle fruity flavor to the cream and the pistachio in the shells was just the perfect companion.

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Chestnut & Pistachio Macarons

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Chestnut Macarons filled with Chestnut & Fig
&
Pistachio Macarons filled with Pear

As base I used the basic recipe given in Helen’s guide and Jamie’s instructions again.

Ingredients
3 egg whites (100gr)
50 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr blanched almonds ground

Method – Please see Helen’s guide for instructions!

For the Chestnut Macarons I substituted 100gr of the powdered sugar with cocoa and 50 gr of blanched almonds with chestnut flour.
For the Pistacio  Macarons I substituted the blanched almonds for pistachios.

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Chestnut & Fig Creme

Ingredients
400g of fresh chestnuts
30g of unsweetened cocoa powder
50g of sugar
20g of unsalted butter
50ml of fresh cream
50 gram fresh figs, finely cubed
1 dash of your favorite liqueur (optional)

Method

1. Score 400g of fresh chestnuts by making a cross through the outer skin with a knife, then boil for 25 minutes.
2. Drain and pass through a sieve into a bowl while still warm.
3. Add 30g of unsweetened cocoa powder, 50g of sugar, the finely grated rind of a lemon, cubed figs and 20g of unsalted butter.
4. Mix well and cool in the refrigerator.
5. Whip 50ml of fresh cream and fold into the chestnut mixture, add a dash of your favorite liqueur as an option.

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Pear Creme

Ingredients
150g fresh pears, cubed
50ml cream
200g white chocolate
50g chilled butter, cubed

Method

1. Blend the pears in a food processor and warm up in a pan for 3-4 minutes on high heat.
2. In a separate pan, bring the cream to simmer, in the meanwhile chop the white chocolate very finely.
3. Once the cream is simmering pour on top of the chocolate and let it soften for a few minutes. Then add the hot pears and using a hand blender work till you have a nice cream.
4. Add the cubed butter and blend in.
5. Leave the ganache to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up.

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Chestnut & Pistachio Macarons

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Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas time
and
Happy Holidays with your Loved Ones! 

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MACTWEETS is a monthly challenge for all macaron lovers out there and for those among us who need a frustrating experience from time to time love to improve your baking skills with this sweet tempting lovely baked goods.

Jamie and Deeba created a virtual home at MACTWEETS where you can read all about the past challenges. Be sure to follow them at twitter and follw the hashtag #mactweets  for all things macaron.