September 18, 2012

sweet and sour

The summer season is winding down and while I'm anticipating all the delicious fall flavours that are going to popularize every treat menu (i.e. pumpkin), I want to hold on to sunshine and flip flops for as long as possible. Citrus epitomizes summer fresh and makes the perfect, refreshing flavour for any treat.



This was also a great opportunity to showcase some new macaron fillings; typically, macarons are filled with ganache, buttercream or a jam; I found a great recipe for lemon curd that can be adapted for any citrus fruit. Thus, a trifecta of lemon, lime and grapefruit citrus curd macarons was born.




Citrus curd filling:
recipe yields 1 cup

Ingredients:  
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup citrus juice
2 eggs
2 egg whites
5 tbsp butter
1/4 cup zest
2 tbsp corn starch


Directions:
In a double boiler, combine sugar, citrus juice, egg whites and eggs and whisk together until mixture thickens (10 minutes). Remove from heat, stir in butter, zest and corn starch. Cover and refrigerate until set (4 hours). 


The corn starch is added in this recipe in order to make a thicker, more stable filling; there's nothing worse than anticipating the most delicious bite of a macaron, only to have its guts spill everywhere as you chomp down. 


I prepared the shells according to this recipe. After letting the macarons set overnight I sampled one: the juxtaposition of sweetness from the shells and tartness from filling is probably the best thing I've ever tasted. These macs are definitely my new favourite, and will  help with the summer withdrawal (along with my nail polish). 


Happy baking!

-Danielle