There will be blood orange
This Presidents' Day, I was devastated.
One of my oldest and longest-running crushes, dating (but not dating) all the way back to sophomore year of college, was forced to come to an end. The details are whatever, what matters is this: I needed to do some damage.
Blood. Those vanitas-evoking little citrus beauties are in season, and when I received my macaron-covered March issue of Martha Stewart Living, I knew what I had to do.
Sifting, squeezing, whipping, beating — it sounds like rage, doesn't it? These blood orange macarons and their white chocolate ganache guts were time-consuming, but oh-so cathartic.
Blood Orange Macarons
adapted from Martha Stewart Living
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 pinch cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup superfine granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp blood orange juice, strained
- 2 drops red food coloring
- 1 drop yellow food coloring
- 3/4 cup almond meal
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Mix almond meal and powdered sugar in a bowl with a fork. Sift mixture at least once (twice, if you're less lazy than I and want suuuuper smooth tops). Set aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk egg whites with an electric mixer on medium until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, and add superfine sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form. Turn off mixer and add juice and food coloring. Beat on high for two more minutes. Pour flour mixture over whites, and fold with a spatula, lifting from the bottom of the bowl, then flattening the spatula through the middle and letting the batter run back toward the center. Do this until the mixture is smooth, shiny, and slightly runny.
Spoon or pipe 3/4-inch rounds of batter one inch apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let rest for 15 minutes, then rap on the counter to release air bubbles before baking for 12 minutes until risen and set (note: timing may differ depending on your oven). Let cool on baking sheets for a couple minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
If you're having trouble with the tops cracking, try letting your batter rest a bit longer, and rap the sheet on the counter to release air bubbles.
White Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Place chocolate chips in a medium-sized, heatproof bowl. Bring cream just to a boil, then pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for one minute, then stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let cool until it's the consistency of thick frosting/Nutella. To speed up the cooling process, stir over an ice bath (or a bag of frozen peas, which is what I did).
Spread a small dollop of ganache on one macaron half, then press other half on top. Repeat with remaining macarons.