Pastel Macaron Stack
French macarons in five pastel colors, pink, pistachio green, lemon yellow, peach and lavender, with matching fillings.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
A stack of pastel macarons is like a little spring bouquet you can eat. One batch of almond batter is divided and tinted in five colors, pink, pistachio green, lemon yellow, peach and lavender, and each pair of shells gets a vanilla buttercream tinted to match. Set them in a tower for a baby shower, a tea party or a dessert table.
The Thermomix® TM7™ grinds the almond flour and powdered sugar extra fine and whips the egg whites and sugar at 50°C (122°F) into a stable Swiss meringue, then beats the buttercream after a quick wash. Folding and piping are done by hand. Give yourself an unhurried afternoon, with the air conditioning on.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Pastel Macaron Stack
Makes: About 24 filled macarons (about 5 of each color)
- Prep1 h 15 min
- Cook35 min
- Total3 h
- Serves12
Ingredients
Macaron shells
Vanilla buttercream
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Draw 3.5 cm (1 1/2 in) circles 3 cm (1 1/4 in) apart on the paper with a pencil, then turn the paper over.
- Place the almond flour and powdered sugar in the dry mixing bowl and grind 10 sec/speed 10. Sift it through a fine strainer into a large bowl and discard any coarse bits, no more than 1 tablespoon.
- Wash the mixing bowl and the butterfly whisk, dry them completely and wipe them with a paper towel dampened with a little lemon juice or vinegar. Insert the butterfly whisk, add the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar and whip 4 min/50°C (122°F)/speed 3.5.
- Without heat, whip 8 min/speed 4, until the meringue is thick, glossy and holds stiff peaks.
- Fold the meringue into the almond mixture with a spatula until it is smooth but still a little thick. Divide it among 5 small bowls and tint each one with a tiny dab of gel: pink, green, yellow, orange for peach and purple for lavender. Fold each bowl 5 to 10 more times, until the color is even and the batter melts back into itself in about 15 seconds.
- Fill a piping bag, or a zip-top bag with a small corner cut off, with each color and pipe rounds that fill the circles. Tap each sheet firmly on the counter 4 or 5 times and pop any bubbles with a toothpick. Let them rest 30 to 60 minutes, until the tops are not sticky. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
- Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 14 to 17 minutes, until the shells have risen on ruffled feet and lift cleanly off the paper. Let them cool completely on the sheet.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl. Place the butter in it and mix 1 min/speed 4. Add the powdered sugar and salt and mix 20 sec/speed 3, then add the cream and vanilla and mix 30 sec/speed 4. Divide the buttercream among 5 small bowls and tint each to match a shell color.
- Pair the shells by color and size, pipe the matching filling on half of them and gently press the other halves on top. Stack them by color to serve.
Tips
- Flavor each filling to match its color if you like: a little lemon zest in the yellow, a drop of almond extract in the pink, or finely ground pistachios in the green.
- Pastel shades need very little gel; the colors get a touch lighter in the oven. Mixing a dot of pink with a dot of yellow also makes a soft peach.
- Macarons taste best the next day: keep them in a closed container in the refrigerator overnight and let them stand 20 minutes before serving.
- Filled macarons keep 4 days in the refrigerator or 1 month in the freezer.
