Watermelon, one certain sign of summer at least in here in Israel!
I had the honour to make some sweets to a birthday of a special little man, who turned 1 year old earlier this May. The theme was fruity and so were the sweets. These watermelon macarons were a super fun project, I had matching design painted on my nails* as I fully fell for the theme!
Filled with watermelon buttercream with hint of fresh mint, these macarons note only look fruity but taste fruity too.
*nails by a talented nail artist Eveline.
Ingredients
- Green macaron shells
- 78 grams egg whites divided
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 100 grams icing sugar
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 25 grams water
- 1/4 tsp green food coloring gel or powder
- Red macaron shells
- 78 grams egg whites divided
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 100 grams icing sugar
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 25 grams water
- 1/4 tsp red food colouring gel or powder
- 1/4 tsp pink food coloring gel or powder
- roasted black sesame seeds for "watermelon seeds" decoration
- Watermelon buttercream
- 68 grams butter softened
- 250 grams icing sugar sifted
- 30 grams watermelon juice
- 2 fresh mint leaves thinly cut
- 1/8 tsp salt
Servings: macarons
Units:
Instructions
Macaron shells (green and red)
- Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F). Prepare baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking sheet.
- Divide egg whites placing half in a mixing bowl.
- Place the granulated sugar and water in a small sauce pan and put it on the stove on medium heat, at the same time start whisking the egg whites in the mixing bowl on medium speed.
- Bring the sugar to boil and let it boil for one minute until it comes a thick syrup, then slowly pour the syrup into the egg foam continuing to whisk on high speed.
- Place icing sugar and ground almonds in a food processor or coffee grinder and pulse for few seconds, then transfer to a separate mixing bowl through a sieve discarding anything that doesn't go through.
- Combine the finely ground mixture with the remaining egg whites and mix until fully incorporated.
- When the meringue forms stiff and glossy peaks add dab of food colouring dye and once incorporated remove from mixer and combine with almond paste by gently folding using a spatula or a big spoon.
- Place into piping bag with large round piping tip and pipe the macaron shells onto your baking sheet. For the top part (red) sprinkle a few black sesame seeds of top.
- Gently tap the baking sheet few times on the counter to break any possible air bubble in the batter. Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes until you can lift them off the baking sheet.
- Allow to cool before taking off the baking sheet and filling. Once cooled pair for filling.
Watermelon buttercream
- Prepare buttercream in mixer starting by mixing half of the icing sugar with softened butter, salt and watermelon juice mixed with couple thinly sliced mint leaves.
- Then continue to add the remaining sugar gradually and mix until smooth.
- Place in a piping bag with round or star tip. You can add a drop of colour in the piping bag before filling for a fading colour effect.
- Pipe buttercream onto the flat side of a non decorated macaron shell and top with a decorated red shell to make a sandwich. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.