Sprinkle Charm's 2 Year Anniversary! Pistachio Macarons with Raspberry White Chocolate Caramel Filling

Sorry for the recent blogging hiatus, I have been working hard to give Sprinkle Charms a new blog design! In addition to a new design, you can now access this blog through the URL SprinkleCharms.com

When I started this blog 2 years ago, I did not know what to expect. I never expected 700 facebook fans. I never expected to be able to manipulate the manual settings on my Digital Rebel XSi camera. I never expected to have one post receive 200,000 views (Mini Oreo Cheesecakes). I never expected to have followers in countries such as Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

Photo from my first post!

I remember writing my first post about Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting after I had photographed the desserts on my counter top, at night, with a point-and-shoot digital camera. Since that first post, my baking and photography skills have improved, and I have learned a lot about the blogging world!

Since Sprinkle Charms continues to gain readers, I want to be able to post more frequently. But instead of making more decadent dessert recipes (which would probably be detrimental to my health), I want to start sharing a few healthy recipes and some of my fitness adventures with you. So check back tomorrow for a post with the recipe for Healthy Pumpkin Pancakes!

Today, I am excited to share a recipe for macarons. Macarons are one of the most technically complex desserts to make, yet they are trendy and can have delicious flavor profiles. I felt that after making my fair share of cookies, cupcakes, and pies, I was ready to take on the macaron. I spent several hours in the kitchen, had to adjust my batter after baking the first batch, and troubleshoot baking time, but I finally produced a batch of what could reasonably be referred to as macarons.

I figured that if I was going to take on this baking challenge, it wouldn't be half-hearted, so I even made my own pistachio flour! Making nut flour is not too complicated, but you can easily substitute store-bought pistachio or almond flour in place of the homemade.

I decided to make pistachio macarons with raspberry white chocolate caramel filling using recipes from the cute and fun book, Les Petits Macarons, that I bought at Anthropology.

If you make these macarons, look at it as a baking adventure because you will spend ample time in the kitchen and may not end up with perfect macarons. Even if your cookies aren't perfect, the combination of ingredients are sure to resemble something that tastes good!

To learn more about macarons, refer to the book or website Les Petits Macarons by Kathryn Gordon and Anne McBride. The book also has instructions for troubleshooting if your macarons do not turn out correctly.

PISTACHIO FLOUR

1 1/2 cups shelled, whole pistachios

Place the nuts into a high power blender and pulse for 3 seconds. After four pulses, scrape down the sides of the blender. Repeat this process for 30 pulses or until the pistachios form a fine flour.

Place the flour on a silicon baking mat or wax paper and place in oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow to cool.

PISTACHIO SHELLS (THE COOKIE PART OF THE MACARON)

1 1/4 cups prepared pistachio flour

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp. powdered egg white

3/4 cup sugar

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

green and yellow gel food coloring/icing coloring

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Pulse the pistachio flour and powdered sugar in a blender 4 times for 3 seconds each. Then, sift the mixture into a bowl using a fine-mesh strainer.

Combine the egg white powder and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. 

Add the egg whites and cream of tartar. Whisk for 11 minutes or until the egg whites form shiny, stiff peaks. If you tip the mixing bowl upside down, the ingredients should resemble marshmallow fluff and not slip in the bowl.

Quickly  and gently fold the sifted dry ingredients into the meringue using a rubber spatula. Once the mixture is almost all the way combined, add the gel coloring to achieve the desired shell color.

Pipe the mixture onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet into 1-inch circles using a 1/2-inch piping tip. The cookies should be about 1 1/2 inches apart. You might want to only pipe a few cookies for the first batch to test the baking times and oven temperature. Smack the baking sheet on the counter 6 times to get the air bubbles out of the batter before baking.

Bake for 15 minutes. Then increase the oven temperature to 350 and immediately set a timer for 9 more minutes of baking time (you do not have to wait for the oven to reach 350 to set the timer this time).

Allow to cool before removing from pan.

RASPBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CARAMEL FILLING

1/2 pint (70 grams) raspberries

1 cup sugar

5 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1 tbsp. raspberry framboise (I substituted raspberry extract)

1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1/3 cup heavy cream

Heat raspberries and 1/3 cup sugar in small saucepan until mixture reaches 220 degrees F, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and raspberry framboise.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is almost to a boil (about 3 minutes).

Heat reaming 2/3 cup sugar and lime juice in small saucepan over medium heat. Stir with heat proof spatula or wooden spoon until sugar melts and turns amber. Immediately add the heated cream and remove from heat. Stir in the raspberry jam mixture.

Allow the filling to cool before spreading between two shells.

ENJOY!

Raspberry Crumb Bars

It is hard to believe how much has happened in the past month! I finished my internship at the Cheryl's Cookies headquarters, I graduated from high school, I attended more than a dozen graduation parties, I planned my own graduation party (which included numerous baking projects!), and the past two days I attended summer orientation at Furman University! Whew, now that my diploma is framed, the calendar is party-free, and my fall class schedule is planned, I am ready to celebrate my first real week of summer.

After attending the same school since second grade, it doesn’t seem possible that all of my childhood friends will be packing their bags to head across the country for college in less than two months. However, after summer orientation on campus in Greenville, South Carolina, I am confident that I will have a new group of friends and place to call home in the fall! I was able to speak with other members of the incoming freshmen class, and I met new friends from across the country. It was interesting to hear what activities other students enjoy (baking included!). With a picturesque campus and a community who truly cares about the well-being of students, I can hardly wait until August for Fall Orientation and move-in day! Go Paladins!

To celebrate my high school graduation, I enjoyed planning a party to celebrate with the friends and family who have supported my academic pursuits. With a large family, I needed to bake sweet treats to feed 100 guests. I immediately turned to my new Magnolia Cookbook. I have never been to Magnolia Bakery in NYC, but now it is definitely on my bakery bucket list of places to visit! If you need to feed a crowd, I highly suggest any of Magnolia’s recipes that are made in 12x18 jelly roll pans. They are all quick to make, easy to store/transport, and dangerously delicious! I wanted an assortment of flavor profiles, so I chose to make Raspberry Crumb Bars, Lemon Bars, and Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies (the latter two recipes to be posted next!).

RASPBERRY CRUMB BARS

printable recipe

CRUST

2 cups butter (melted)

4 cups flour

FILLING

1 1/4 cups raspberry preserves

TOPPING

4 1/2 cups flour

3 cups light brown sugar

2 cups butter (softened)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine butter and flour to make crust. 

Press crust into 12 x 18 in jelly roll pan.

Bake crust for 15 minutes.

While crust is cooling, combine flour and brown sugar for topping. Cut in softened butter until mixture resembles course crumbs.

Spread raspberry preserved over cooled crust (leave 1/4" border around edge).

Sprinkle crumb topping over preserves.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool and cut into squares.

Yields 54 2-inch bars (or 24 3-inch bars)

Recipe from The Complete Magnolia Bakery cookbook.

Enjoy!