Macaween

The trees are already turning yellow, summer was way too short this year in Michigan. It's Halloween again!! We've seen lots of spooky cupcakes and candies on Halloween. I'm going to try some Halloween colors on my Macarons. Orange and violet came to mind whenever I think of Halloween. 

The macarons look like the are dancing in this picture.

The kids will have a blast picking on these treats.

A close up.

I find this batch a little too bright as I used 2 drops of coloring gel. I will put only one drop in my recipe below. But ofcourse it is completely up to you what you prefer :)

The recipe for the shell is exactly the same as the ones in my Macaron Back to Basics.

Filling
Orange buttercream

2 egg white

150g butter (soften)

80g sugar

1 orange zest

1) Shred one whole orange skin in a bowl. Remove any excess juice.

2) Beat the egg white and sugar until you reach stiff peak.

3) Add in the shredded orange skin and mix.

4) Add in the butter and continue to beat at low speed. At this point you just want to mix them, and not to make it fluffier.

5) Pipe the buttercream on the orange macaron shells

Printable Recipe

Vanilla buttercream

2 egg white

150g butter (soften)

80g sugar

1/4 tsp of vanilla essence

2 tsp of cream cheese

pinch of salt

1) Beat the egg white and sugar until stiff peak. (consistency similar to whipping cream)

2) Add in the butter and continue to beat at low speed for 2 to 3 seconds. At this point you just want to mix them, and not to make it fluffier. 

3) Add in cream cheese. The cream cheese just makes it extra tasty.

4) Add in the vanilla essence.

5) Add in a pinch of salt if use unsalted butter. The salt brings out the flavor.

6) Pipe the vanilla buttercream on the violet macaron shell

Printable Recipe

A little trick to get the shine on the shells is to put them in the freezer. When you take them out from the freezer, a thin layer of moisture gives it a natural glow.

Jack-O'-Lantern

To make it more interesting, why not draw some spooky faces on them (inspired by Bake me I'm yours..cake pop book by Carolyn White). I use Americolor Food Marker. You can find edible pen even at Meijers or Joann's. 

Happy Halloween!