Raspberry Rose Macatons Vegan

TO MAKE THE AQUAFABA:

1. The night before, prepare your Aquafaba. In a small saucepan, bring 250 grams of Aquafaba to a simmer. Let this simmer away until it has reduced to 110 grams of Aquafaba. Once it has reached 4 ounces, pour it into a bowl to cool and refrigerate overnight.

TO MAKE THE MACARON SHELLS:

1. Process ground almonds and Icing Sugar in a food processor. Then sieve into a bowl, making sure there are no lumps in your mixture. Set aside.
2. With a stand mixer fitted with a clean bowl and with clean beaters, whisk Aquafaba on high till it turns foamy and resembles frothed up egg whites. Make sure there is no more liquid left at the bottom of the bowl before moving on to the next step.
3. Gradually add caster sugar, bit by bit, while your mixer is turned on. Add your food coloring and Rose Extract, then continue whisking on high for another minute. You should end up with a thick, glossy meringue.
4. Tip in half of your almond/icing sugar mixture into the meringue, and fold gently with spatula until it has incorporated with the meringue. Add the second half of your almond/icing sugar mixture, and continue to fold it into the batter.
5. Once your mixture has been incorporated, continue folding until you end up with a mixture that resembles thick lava. Do not over-mix or your batter will be too runny and you will end up with macaron blobs. You will know that you have reached the right consistency when you dollop a tablespoon of batter onto a flat surface and it gradually smoothens out into a nice round shape.
6. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle with macaron mixture and pipe into 2 inch rounds on a Silicone Baking Paper lined mat. This recipe makes enough to make 50 individual macaron shells, so you may need to have 3 or 4 trays ready.
7. Once piped, slam the tray down on your kitchen counter to eliminate any air bubbles in your piped macaron mixture. Leave your trays to rest in a cool area for 2-3 hours. They are ready to bake when they have turned matt and you are able to gently touch the surface of the shells without anything sticking to your finger.
8. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Bake each tray of macarons individually for 28-30 minutes,without opening the oven door in between. Smaller macarons or ovens may take slightly more or less than 30 minutes. It’s all about trial and error.
9. Once 30 minutes is up, leave your macarons in the oven for another 15 minutes without opening the door. After 15 minutes, open the oven door slightly and leave macarons in the oven with the door ajar for a further 15 minutes. Remove tray from oven and leave to cool thoroughly before peeling macaron shells off from Silpat/Silicone paper.
10. Repeat baking process with remaining trays of macarons.

TO MAKE THE FILLING:

1. In a stand mixer, whisk Vegan Butter with Icing Sugar, Rose Extract and food coloring. Whisk till fluffy and then transfer to a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. Wash and dry your raspberries and keep them aside.

TO MAKE THE ASSEMBLY:

1. Once you have gently peeled off all your macarons from your Silicone Paper, place them on a kitchen counter with the bottom side up (rounded side down). Using your spray bottle, lightly mist the bottoms of the macarons with water and leave for 5 minutes before filling.
2. To fill, pipe a ring of buttercream around the base of a macaron and place a whole raspberry in the empty circle inside your buttercream. Sandwich with another macaron shell and repeat the process till all your shells have been sandwiched.
3. Place macarons into a box and leave in the fridge overnight, or ideally for 2 nights so that they have time to mature and form the right texture.
4. Macarons are best served at room temperature or 10 minutes out of the refrigerator, not straight out from the fridge.