Vanilla Bean Macarons with Raspberry Buttercream Filling

I have a long week, or I feel it's longer than usual. Because I try to make this macaron, I heard about it before but someone told me that it's easier to make than using French meringue, and I believed (when there are new recipes or new way of making something, I just can't wait to try it). I made three batch of this recipe in a week and the two of them are disaster, the macarons cracked in front of my eyes (yes, I was there in front of the oven after 3 minutes all my lovely little macarons turned into nightmare, oh). But I never give up, and I didn't want to so the next day I just baked another batch and my life ruined again.

Why this always happen at that time I's confused, and a little mad (even the cracked top macarons are edible but just looking at them make me feel bad). As I made two batch of the macarons so I test everything that I can, rest or not (it's not necessary to rest for Italian Meringue Macarons) , the consistency after the macaronage or the temperature of the sugar syrup. So, this is the time to start reading, and it's so funny that I have a lot of books but I can't find more than one of the Italian Meringue Macarons recipe in my collection (I use the recipe from ............... this is the only recipe that I have, do I have to buy more ?, haha). All I had to do was typing "Italian Meringue Macaron" into Google, and the results are long and long. But I found my answer in this blog ; serious eats

And this is what I saw "propping the oven door open with a wooden spoon for the entire baking period or halfway through the baking period". How can I forgot this simple trick ? May be because all the time I can bake my macarons (French Meringue Method) without doing anything to my oven. So, I had to find more information to get me out of the blue and I saw the light from Fanny at foodbeam, the Italian Meringue Macarons, which I'd been looking for, and I have to admit that the only problem is my oven temperature.

All the time I followed the instruction from the book, without reconsidering the fact that my oven couldn't act the same, so when the book said that I should lower my temperature I did it but the heat still there. When open the oven door a little, the heat in the oven is lower faster and the drying process is better.

So, today this is my first Italian Meringue Macaron, which I want to share the recipe with you.

Vanilla Bean Macarons with Raspberry Buttercream Filling

Makes about 20

Vanilla Bean Italian Meringue Macaron
For the macaron base
65 g	almond powder
65 g	icing sugar
25 g	egg whites
	Bean form ½ of the vanilla pod
	Yellow food coloring (you can skip this but it will give the macaron a lovely color)
For Italian Meringue
120 g	caster sugar
30 g	water
60 g	egg whites
	* You will use 90 g for the macaron and the rest will use for the buttercream

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Mix the macaron base:

Sift together almond powder and icing sugar into a bowl, put the color, vanilla bean and egg white into the bowl. Use a pastry scrap to bring everything together. Set aside.

Make the Italian meringue:

In a sauce pan, put the sugar and water and bring to boil over medium low heat.
When the syrup reaches 114°C, start whisking the egg whites.

The syrup is ready when it reaches 120°C; pour it over the egg whites and continue whisking until cold.

Make the macaron:

Mix together the base and 90g of Italian meringue.

The mixture should be softer and very glossy, a little stiffer then cake batter..

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Pipe or spoon mixture into 2.5cm rounds onto baking paper-lined (or Silpat) oven trays. When you’ve pipe out all the macarons lift each baking sheet with both hands and then bang it down on the counter (you need to get the air out of the batter).

Bake for 9 minutes to 15 minutes depend on your oven (oven door maintained open with a wooden spoon). Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaron to release.

Make the Raspberry Butter cream

First make the sweeten raspberry puree

(if you don’t want to make it, you can use seedless raspberry jam).

150 g	Frozen raspberry
30-35 g	Granulated sugar

1. Thaw frozen raspberry in a bowl. Do not strain the juice.

2. Put the raspberry in the blender and blend until smooth and strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl (you will get about 100g of the puree).

3. Place the raspberry purees in a small saucepan, add the sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat (add more or less sugar according to your taste) until all the sugar dissolves.

Make the raspberry buttercream

	Italian meringue the rest from making the macaron
100 g	Unsalted butter
50g	Sweeten raspberry puree

Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time into the meringue. Increase the mixer speed to high for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the butter is fully incorporated. Then add the puree and mix to combine.

Sandwich macarons with filling.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour for filling to firm.

Vanilla Bean Macaron with Raspberry Buttercream Filling