Blackberry and Hibiscus Macarons, Coffee Macarons!

Nope, they are not Laduree's, I made them last nite, for Zura and Norli! I used Tartelette's basic recipe and decided to give it a twist by infusing Blackberry and Hibiscus's Organic Tea Leafs (got one bag when I attended a seminar in Marriott, two weeks ago!) and Coffee (I used Nescafe!) into the batter. The whole house smelled of sweet blackberry and coffee last nite...mmmm...

Basic Recipe For Shell

50g egg whites (I aged in the fridge for 3 days)

25g granulated sugar

100g icing sugar

50g ground almond

1 sachet of Blackberry and Hibiscus Tea, grind together with almond meal and icing sugar, sifted, twice.

or 5g Nescafe, grind together with almond meal and icing sugar, sifted twice. [The green ones were Green Tea Macarons (added 5g of Green Tea powder, I made the shells on Tuesday].

Prepare your baking tray with Silpats or baking paper, I used Silpats last night. Prepare a piping bag and tall mug, to pipe the batter later.

Whisk egg whites until foamy (like shaving foam). Gradually add in granulated sugar, and continue beating until stiff peak meringue is formed but not dry, when lifted the meringue could hold at 90 degrees! Be carefull not overbeat .

Add in the almond meal icing sugar mix in three portions, fold in gently and scoop from the bottom of your bowl and turning your bowl every 45 degrees. When all mixture is well mixed, do macaronnage...this is to break the air in the batter, until you get a nice shiny batter that flows like ribbon. try not to overbeat or you will get a runny batter....I have done alot of boo boos here before, he he!

Pipe the batter, imagine a 50 cents coin, rap on counter top a couple of times, and let it rest for 20 minutes to an hour....depending on humidity....I find that when it rained, it took about an hour to dry the shells.

Bake at 150C for about 20 minutes...my ovenlah! you know your oven is like your husband, only you know his temperament!

Happy trying!!