You know those flavours that you either love or hate? Well, I think liquorice is one of them. I fall in the former camp. I am a liquorice fan through and through.
As a child, I remember my mother carefully guarding an occasional box of Bassett’s liquorice allsorts that she would buy from the (unfortunately now non-existent) food hall at David Jones here in Brisbane city.
I was not setting out to create a liquorice flavoured macaron. My initial list for the wedding favor trials consists of champagne, blueberry, matcha and lime-basil. But after a hiccup or two, an opportunity presented itself. Yet another batch of macarons.
Being a liquorice lover, I have some liquorice flavoured tea in the pantry. I was staring at the tea and had a flashback to some Earl Grey truffles I made last Christmas. With a batch of light blue coloured macaron shells just screaming for some filling, I knew what I had to make.
After gently warming some cream, I added a couple of tablespoons of the liquorice tea. I left that infuse then strained well. I then proceeded to make a dark chocolate ganache. The resulting flavour is noticeably liquorice-y but subtle. It has a refreshing finish that marries perfectly with the cool blue shell.
I am not sure if these will make it to the wedding (the Champagne macarons are currently top of the list!), but I have enjoyed making and tasting them nonetheless.
For the shells, I used my standard macaron recipe, but I hope to actually trial a new version very soon!
{ Liquorice macarons }
* Ingredients *
100g egg whites
3g egg white powder
125g almond meal
125g icing sugar
Blue food colouring
For the syrup:
150g sugar and 50ml water
* Directions *
Process the almond meal and icing sugar together. In a mixer, whip half the egg whites to soft peaks. Meanwhile, in a saucepan bring the water and sugar for the syrup to 117C (or 242F) on a candy thermometer. Once ready, slowly add the boiling syrup to the egg whites and continue to whip on medium speed until they thick and shiny and are completely cooled (about 10 minutes). At the final changes of whipping the meringue, add the food colouring. Mix the remaining egg whites to the sifted almond mixture and fold into the meringue in four parts.
Pipe macarons on lined baking sheets. Double up your baking sheets if you do not have professional grade quality. Let your macarons sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes. Bake at 140C or 280F for 15-18 minutes. Fill with ganache or filling of your choice. Refrigerate to set.
{ Liquorice cream }
* Ingredients *
120g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons liquorice tea
* Directions *
Heat cream and tea until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Let cool and rest for about an hour. Strain the tea from the cream. Reheat the cream gently and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 2-3 minutes and then stir. Let cool then transfer to the refrigerator to thicken.
June 26, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Awww, we’re having Macarons marathon. Looks so gorgeous. My husband loves liquorice. he’s gonna love this one.
June 26, 2009 at 3:01 pm
They look beautiful! An interesting macaron flavor!
Cheers,
Rosa
June 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Very Tiffany and Co Julia and they taste delicious!
June 26, 2009 at 6:19 pm
… they look lovely ^^ .. XOXO
June 27, 2009 at 1:14 am
Oh, you are such a teaser – these are glorious!
June 27, 2009 at 6:42 am
Well, it was bound to happen. We DO have something NOT in common. I am so not a licorice person. I just can’t do it. The taste, the smell… ew. If I had jelly beans here, I would still pick out the black ones! 😉
HOWEVER…. there is only one licorice product that I actually do like. And I have a black, colorful bag of them sitting in my cupboard right now, that I found here in Zurich – and grabbed! Yup, Bassett’s allsorts ! ha ha! So true. Not sure if it’s because of the cute little guy on the packaging, or perhaps the TON of sugar coating each tiny piece of licorice!! Ok, both! 🙂
Meanwhile… my favorite color is blue, and I am LOVING the look of these cool blue shells. Your photos are divine, as always. And your creativity in the kitchen and mastery of the macaron continue to amaze me. Bravo !
June 27, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Funnily enough I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with licorice. There are some versions of licorice I can’t seem to eat. Licorice root tea for example, makes me cringe a little, but I love salted licorice and used to love licorice jelly beans. Once again, love the colour scheme you’ve picked to complement your gorgeous macarons!
June 30, 2009 at 12:18 pm
[…] Images :: some of my recent macaron creations } Top row: Lavender macarons, Champagne macarons, Liquorice macarons Middle row: Blueberry macarons, Lemon macarons, Passionfruit macarons Bottom row: Pistachio […]
July 1, 2009 at 12:42 am
These look amazing and so beautiful! i love the color! I mostly love them because they are liquorice! i love love love it! i eat it all the time in Finland!
July 5, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Elra – I think I’m always having a macaron marathon. Well, so it seems! 🙂
Rosa – yes, I’m not sure how common liquorice is for macarons, but seemed like a great idea. And as a liquorice lover, it was delicious I must say.
Kati – thank you. Didn’t even pick up on the Tiffany colour.
Gine – thanks! 🙂
Patrica – tease? Well, I guess for people who can’t try them! 😉
Kerrin – do you know how disappointed I was to hear that you weren’t (initially by the sounds of it!), a liquorice lover. But then, to know you devoured a bag of allsorts, heartened me! 😉 I think you would have liked these macarons. The bitter dark chocolate ganache would have provided you enough distraction from the anise flavour!
Y – ohhhh, hate to say that’s the tea I used in these macarons. It’s a T2 tea – liquorice legs. Cool name, huh?
Laura – my partner (who is half-Finnish) is liquorice mad, too. I think liquorice is more common in Europe than here in Australia.
July 6, 2009 at 8:59 pm
[…] far I have trialed champagne, blueberry, liquorice and now matcha macarons for my wedding […]
July 7, 2009 at 5:03 am
Ok, you got me. I’m not writing off these macarons any time soon then. They’ll remain on my good list ! 🙂 So the search continues — for what really makes us different !! ha ha!
July 20, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Hi Julia,
Your blog is gorgeous! I love the bright happy yummy photos!!
I was just wondering where you buy your egg white powder from? I’m in Melbourne but figure if you get yours from a ‘chain’ store, I can find it here too! My first foray into macarons weren’t that great but your blog’s made me determined to keep trying until I make the perfect ones! 🙂 Thanks!