Black Pepper Rose Macarons


If I was a lady of questionable morals, I would want my name to be Black Pepper Rose.

I made these for a friend's baby shower, and they were supposed to be pink.

But oh no!  I've long since spent all my red food coloring on red velvet (and all my blue food coloring on blue suede...), and all I had left were icky yellow and green!


Neither of those makes a good cookie/fabric, in my opinion.

Ordinarily I am in the bright macarons camp, as opposed to those who prefer pastels.  What was I to do?

TURN THEM PINK WITH SHEER FORCE OF WILL.


Not bad, huh?  I added nothing, and they came out kinda pinkish anyway.

Cool.

Rose is a nice flavor.  Go ahead, try it.  It's not just for perfumes anymore.  If you're shy about flower flavors, rose is a good place to start because it's pretty familiar.


Throw in a delicate sprinkling of black pepper for crackle and kick, and you got it, baby.

Black pepper rose.

Her morals may be suspect, but if you need help in a jam, you go to her.


Black Pepper Rose Macarons (recipe adapted from Cannelle et Vanille)

180 grams almond flour
240 grams powdered sugar
140 grams organic egg whites, aged
3 grams egg white powder
2 grams fine sea salt
80 grams sugar
freshly ground black pepper

Make sure that the egg whites have been separated from the egg yolks the night before. This bit of aging really makes a difference in the macaroons.

In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar and sea salt. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites with the egg white powder until very fluffy, almost fully whipped. Start adding the sugar slowly while whipping. Whip to stiff peaks but not too much or the meringue will dry out. We want semi soft "ripples" still in the meringue. Add as much food coloring to the meringue as you like.

Add the meringue to the almond flour mixture and fold with a spatula until a shiny mass forms. We want to achieve a batter that makes ribbons. You might have to test it to see if it's done. Pipe a small amount on your sheetpan. If it keeps a little bit of a top when piped, then you have to mix it a bit further, if it spreads really fast, you have gone too far and your macaroons will turn out flat.  I undermixed mine, so they have little points.  Shut urrrrp I don't care.  (I care)

When you have the right consistency, place the mass in a pastry bag and pipe small rounds onto sheetpans lined with parchment or silpat. While the tops are still wet, sprinkle the ground black pepper on top. Let them dry at room temperature for at least 45 minutes to an hour, or until the tops are dry to a gentle touch.

Have the oven preheated to 350 degrees. Place one sheetpan in the oven at a time and reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes and rotate sheetpan and bake for another 10 minutes. Test to see if they are done by picking one up and seing if it still sticks to the paper or not.

Rose Buttercream

This isn't a real buttercream, it's a confectioner's frosting.  I tried to make a buttercream, but I broke it and there wasn't time to try it again.  But this is yummy too!

3 1/4 c powdered sugar
1 c butter at room temperature
1/2 t vanilla extract
3 T rose syrup

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes. Add vanilla and champagne, beating on medium for another minute.

4 comments:

Gina said...

I kind of like that name, I think I could make it work. Did you use paste food color or drops? When I want deep macs, I use americolor paste or wilton. I bet the heat went really good with the sweet. Have a great weekend.
-Gina-

Ana Regalado said...

*sigh* Now you got me thinking of my feetless macs ! lol These are so pretty ! The color looks good , sort of beigey-pink if there is such a color ! :D Hmmmmm Black Pepper Rose sounds sexy !

dervla @ The Curator said...

Love these! Anything with a hint of rose flavor gets me every time. Plus, I'm on a total macaron kick.

amlamonte said...

ah yes anne, the feetless macs :) so disheartening. for the first time i'm finally starting to feel some macaron based confidence, because i'm consistently getting feet. for me the trick was drying them long enough. but for you who knows? so many little tricks go into these babies...but keep at it! we'll get there together :)

oo and gina! i used drops. i need some good quality paste like wilton.