These are Pomegranate Macarons, filled with a Pomegranate Jam.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword macarons
Prep Time 40 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Servings 26macarons
Calories 80kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
3egg whites 100 grams 3.5 oz
1/2cupwhite granulated sugar 100 grams 3.5 oz
1cupalmond flour 96 grams 3.4 oz
3/4cuppowdered sugar 90 grams 3.17 oz
Food coloringI used some burgundy, red, pink, and a tiny bit of blue
Pomegranate Jam
2cupspomegranate seeds
1/4-1/2cuppomegranate juiceor water
3tablespoonsmaple syrupor another sweetener
1tablespooncornstarch
1tablespoonwater
Buttercream
2cupsconfectioners' sugar sifted
6tablespoonsunsalted butter softened
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1tablespoonwhipping cream
Instructions
Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat.
Under my parchment, I put a layout with circles that measure about 1 1/2 inches each. That’s how big I like to pipe my macarons.
Measure out all of your ingredients.
Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
Now you can finally start.
Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. (I use my kitchenAid bowl when doing this, because it makes it easier)
With the whisk attachment, whisk mixture on high speed for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
You don’t want to overbeat the mixture at this point, because you don’t want to add too much air to it. Just whisk until stiff peaks have formed.
Pour powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula. Add the food coloring at this point if you would like to use any.
It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
First, I pick up some batter with my spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
Then, I grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto my parchment paper or silicon mat.
If the batter stays stiff and doesn’t spread out a bit, I start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
Test again.
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy on the parchment paper, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
Once you’ve piped as many 1 1/2” circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
Let your trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
Pre-heat the oven to 300°F.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 6 minutes and rotate the tray.
Keep baking the trays for a total of 16-20 minutes each.
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet.
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Pomegranate jam
Add seeds, juice, maple syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stirring constantly, bring the heat down and let mixture cook.
Once you’ve let the mixture simmer, while stirring, for about 8 minutes, you can mix the cornstarch with the water in a small bowl, and once the water and cornstarch are incorporated, you can add that to the jam.
Let it come to a boil again, cook until thickened for a couple of minutes. Turn heat off.
Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Use a spatula to help press the mixture through, scrape the bottom of the sieve as you go.
Place jam in the fridge until completely cooled down and you’re ready to use it.
Buttercream
Cream butter at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 1 minute. With the mixer off, add all of the powdered sugar in.
On low speed, beat the sugar and butter together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy. Add vanilla and cream in, beat for a another 30-45 seconds.
STORAGE: Store buttercream in the fridge for up to 1 week.
How to assemble
Pipe a circle of buttercream around the edges of the macaron, in a way that you have a little hole in the middle. Fill the little hole with a bit of pomegranate jam. Don't overfill it. Place another shell on top.
Storage
These Pomegranate Macarons will be at their best up to 4-7 days in the fridge.