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Hibiscus Macarons with jammy centres

It’s never a bad time for dessert. Cookies, cake, pie, you name it! But sometimes you need to change it up with something a little fancier: enter hibiscus macarons. They may seem intimidating but with our easy-to-follow guide, they don’t have to be. And you can customize them!
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Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Servings 24 macarons

Ingredients
  

Macarons Shells

  • 200 g confectioner’s sugar
  • 115 g almond flour
  • 4 x egg whites room temperature
  • 1 pinch cream of tartar
  • 100 g granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Hibiscus Buttercream filling

  • 225 g unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 2 tsp hibiscus powder
  • 3 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Royal Icing

  • 1⅓ cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tbs meringue powder
  • 2 tbsp warm water
  • Food colouring depending upon what you want to decorate the macaron shells as

Decoration

  • Hibiscus Buttercream
  • Jam of your choice
  • Sprinkles

Instructions
 

For the macaron shells

  • Preheat oven to 160°C. Line baking sheets with the paper templates, and top with the parchment paper
  • In a bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse 1/2 of the confectioner's sugar with the almond flour until a fine powder is formed. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl and mix in the remaining confectioner’s sugar. Sift mixture three times into a large bowl. Set aside. This process is important, do not cut short this step!
  • To make the meringue: In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add granulated sugar. Once all the sugar is incorporated and the mixture is thick, scrap down the sides of the bowl, add the vanilla extract, and increase the speed to high, whipping until stiff, firm, glossy peaks form for atleast 5-7 minutes.
  • You can remove and turn the whisk and the meringue should hold.
  • To complete the macaronnage step: Sift the almond flour mixture, one-third at a time, over the egg white mixture, and fold using a large spatula until just combined.
  • Add colouring to your batter
  • Now mix each batter, until the mixture is smooth and shiny. The batter should be firm, have a glossy shine and drip smoothly from the spatula. Take in the batter with your spatula and press it against the bowl in the same motion to remove the air from the batter. This step is very important. If you overwhip the batter will be too runny so do not overwhip. It should flow like lava, slowly but form ribbons. 
  • Transfer the batter to a pastry bag filled with a 1/4 inch plain round tip, and pipe 1 inch rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets using a template for macarons or use a MACARON SILPAT to help get the round shapes. Gentle tap the bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air OR you could bang the tray against the kitchen counter. Do this step atleast 10 times. If there is a bubble, use a toothpick to fill it up.
  • Let stand at room temperature for 45 minutes atleast. Check for a slight crust to form on the macaron. The macarons should not stick to your finger when lightly touched.
  • Bake one sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 15 minutes.
  • Allow macarons to cool on the baking sheets for 30 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.

For the hibiscus buttercream filling

  • For the hibiscus tea, microwave about 1/4 cup water in a small microwaveable bowl, along with 2 teaspoons of hibiscus powder. Let it steep for about 5 minutes covered once out of the microwave. Strain the hibiscus tea into another small bowl.
  • In a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, add the butter and salt and whip until light and creamy about a minute. 
  • Add the sugar, vanilla extract and hibiscus tea to the whipped butter and mix until the ingredients are well combined and the mixture is smooth about 2 minutes, starting at low speed(so that the sugar does not fly everywhere!) and gradually increasing the speed to high. Use a pastry bag with a 1/4 inch round tip to fill the buttercream filling and pipe around the outside of the shell on the rim. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of jam of your preference in the center. Use the same sized macaron shell to cover the icing.

Royal Icing

  • In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the confectioner's sugar, meringue powder and water, first on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue mixing the icing until it is light in color and holds a stiff peak, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not overmix the icing.
  • Use the stiff consistency as-is for outlines. To make the icing a bit smooth and thinner consistency, add ¼ tsp water to thin it out. Mix well to check on the consistency. If needed add ¼ tsp more and so on and so forth to get the right consistency to flood the still outline of any shape.

Notes

1) Make sure that you whip the meringue thoroughly. The best way to check after 5 minutes of whipping is to remove the whisk, stir the meringue vigorously and turn it upside down. The merigue should stay stiff like a peak.
2) Make sure that you fold the almond mixture and it is well incorporated with the meringue and the end mixture is smooth and falls off the spatula with ease.
3) When using the pastry bag to pipe the macarons, hold it absolutely vertical, and center to the holes on the template and slightly above it, and not touching the paper to pipe it. You need to squeeze just a tad bit to release the batter onto the parchment paper.
4) Do not overwhip the batter else it will be too runny, and your macaron shells will be flat. Do not underwhip as well, else your macarons will not form a proper shell. 
5) Make sure that you tap the tray atleast 10-15 times to release any air bubbles in the macaron shell.
6) You HAVE to let the macarons rest for atleast 45 minutes to form a nice shell.
7) It is very important to rotate the tray halfway through baking to make sure that the macarons are baked evenly.
8) DO NOT remove the shells off the parchment paper as soon as the tray comes out of the oven, else you will break the shell. Wait for 15 minutes atleast for it to cool down.
9) You can keep the shells covered and do the frosting the next day as well. The shells will keep for a couple of days.