Chicken Farm Baker's Project # 34 : Boost your body with Yummy Sweet, Five spices macaron with roasted Chinese pear and ginger custard sauce

Chicken Farm Baker's Project # 34 : Boost your body with Yummy Sweet, sounds good to your health, right? And yes, this month we will bake something special that good for your body. 

Actually the point is not the healthy sweet (that I rarely believe in, eating everything in moderation is my motto ^^). So, after reading the project, I thought about myself, my health, what I lack of. Most of the time I have a problem about the cold, and the coldness of my body. When talk about Traditional Chinese medicine or herbal, we always hear about the Yin and yang, fire and water or hot and cold. When body is imbalance we will sick. So when we have a cold, our body will be colder and we need to make it warm, by taking herbal that will warm the body up.
I choose to use the five spices powder, actually I really want to try this recipe since I saw it in the book. The five spices powder is using in many dishes in Chinese cooking, the ingredients for making it are China Tung Hing cinnamon, powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. They will warm  the body up and make us feel better ^^. 
The other reason for this dessert is that I had a cold last week and I didn't want to take a lot of medicine so the additional for the people who have a cold like me is a roasted Asian pear and ginger sauce. The Asian pear will help to reduce a red and painful throat, and cough. While the ginger will add more heat to the body.
In my opinion, this dish is very suitable for anyone who have a cold ^^, hehe. Because we will get everything, the heat from five spice and ginger, soothing quality of the pear and finally deliciousness from the taste of everything. 

Five spices macaron with roasted Chinese pear

 and ginger custard sauce

Serve 4

Five spices macaron
63g .................................. Almond powder
105g ................................ Icing sugar
2g .................................... Five spices powder
8g .................................... Cocoa powder
50g .................................. Egg whites
13g .................................. Sugar
......................................... A pinch of cream of tartar 
Filling
100g ................................ White chocolate
50g .................................. Whipping cream
2g ..................................... Five spices powder


Roasted Chinese pear
200g ................................ Sugar
440ml .............................. Water
½ ..................................... Vanilla pod
.......................................... Juice from 1 lemon
2 strips of orange zest
2 strips of lemon zest
1-2 ................................... Pears (about ½ of the pear per person)
60g ................................... Butter
50g ................................... Demerara sugar


Ginger custard sauce
2 ....................................... Egg yolks
3tbsp ................................ Sugar
1tbsp ................................ All purpose flour
250ml .............................. Milk
2 tbsp ............................... Butter
50g ................................... Fresh Ginger, sliced


Sift icing sugar, almonds, five spices powder and cocoa through a fine sieve, pushing mixture through with a wooden spoon; this will help to make a smooth macaron.


* If using sliced almond: Place the almond, icing sugar, five spices powder and cocoa powder in a food processor and process until the mixture fine as flour (about 3-5 minutes). When the almonds are ground, using a wooden spoon, press the mixture through a medium strainer.

Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar whisk to combine and caster sugar, a little at a time until using all, and whisk to firm peaks.
Stir in almond mixture; in three or four additions. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated; the mixture will look like a cake batter.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Pipe or spoon mixture into 3.5cm 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).

Set aside for 1 hour. After 1 hour the top of the macarons will be dry, and ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake for 13 minutes (baking time and temperature can be varied) or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaroon to release from paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or until ready to assemble.

Making the Filling:

Boil the whipping cream with the five spices powder, let the mixture cool.  Strain the whipping cream with strainer into a small pan, bring the cream to boil then take the pan of the heat and pour the chocolate into the pan, stir until melt.
Let the chocolate ganache firm up before put it in the piping bag, and sandwich the macaron shell together, and refrigerate until ready to serve.


Make Roasted Chinese pear:

First poach the pears. Put the sugar, water, split vanilla pod, lemon juice and orange and lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the pears; they should be just covered by the liquid. Cover with a circle of baking parchment and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the pears are still firm but just cooked. Remove from the heat and lea ve the pears in the syrup to cool down. You can now store them in the fridge until needed.

To roast the pears, drain them well, cut them in half and scoop out the core. 

Heat the butter in a large, cast iron frying pan. When it is frothing, add the pears, cut-side down, and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning once, until a good colour is obtained. Add the Demerara sugar and cook until it has melted. Add 2 tablespoons of water, then transfer the pan to an oven preheated to 180°C, Gas Mark 4 and roast for 15 minutes, basting every 3-4 minutes with the pan juices, until the pears are a deep golden brown. Remove them from the juices and keep warm until needed. Place the pan back on the stove, add 2 more tablespoons of water and bring to the boil, stirring well. Remove from the heat and pass through a fine sieve.


Make Ginger custard sauce:

Heat the milk with ginger until boil, take the milk out of the heat, puree the ginger and let the milk cool.

Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

Put the egg yolks, sugar and the flour into the saucepan, whisk until combine.

Heat the milk in the microwave for 1-1.30 minutes or until heat through.

Pour into the egg mixture slowly, whisk all the time.

Put the sauce pan over low heat, let the mixture con to boil (whisk all the time), or until the mixture thicken a bit.

Take off the heat and add the butter, whisk slowly until the butter melt.

When ready to serve:
Put the pears on a plate drizzle with pan juice and serve with five spices macaron and ginger custard sauce.

Chicken Farm Baker's Project # 34 : 

Boost your body with Yummy Sweet, 

Five spices macaron with roasted Chinese pear and ginger custard sauce