Mini Egg Macaron Chicks

What a beeaaaautiful day! The sun is shining and Spring is in the air, which means one thing, Easter is on the way wahooo!

Mini eggs are my favourite Easter time chocolatey treat, so it was only a matter of time before I decided to incorporate it into a macron!

My macarons consist of 2 pale yellow shells, filled with a crunchy mini egg buttercream, and decorated with white and dark chocolate.

To make these macarons a little extra special, I decorated them into cute little Easter chicks. These chicks would be perfect for an Easter gift, or an alternative homemade treat for an Easter egg hunt.

Macarons can be quite a daunting idea – as I’ve mentioned previously, they took me quite a while to crack (Easter pun intended). So, I’ve tried to make this recipe super simple and as easy to follow as possible! If you’re at all stuck please do feel free to write a comment below 🙂

Happy Easter + Enjoy my recipe!

Ingredients (makes 20 medium-sized macarons)

• 130g ground almonds
• 130g icing sugar
• 90g caster sugar
• 100g egg whites, aged
• pinch of salt
• yellow food gel
• 1 share packet of Mini Eggs
• 100g butter, softened
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 250g icing sugar
• 100g white chocolate
• orange food gel
• 50g dark chocolate

 

Method:

1. Start by lining 2 baking trays with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
2. Sift together your ground almonds and icing sugar (130g) together into a bowl, discarding any large lumps. I also like to give my ground almonds and icing sugar a whizz in the food processor – so the consistency is super fine.
3. In a clean glass bowl, whisk your egg whites until foamy and frothy. Add a pinch of salt and continue to whisk until ‘soft peaks’ are achieved – this is when the egg whites are starting to get thicker, but don’t yet retain their shape. At this stage, continue to whisk the egg whites, whilst adding the caster sugar into the eggs in 3 stages.
4. Add a few drops of your food gel to the egg whites at this stage.
5. Continue to whisk until you get a nice glossy and thick meringue – I would say for another 2 minutes.
6. Next, add 1/3 of the almond mix into the egg whites, and fold with a spatula. With your spatula make figures of 8 patterns, scooping the ground almond mix around and down in the meringue. You don’t have to be too delicate at this stage!
7. Add the rest of the almond mix and continue to fold the mixture, gently. This stage is called ‘Macaronage’, and is critical…
   1. Continue to fold for roughly 30 seconds, until the macaronage is a consistent batter. After this point keep checking the macron mix to see if the correct consistency has been achieved
   2. Stop folding when your mix has a ‘lava-like’ or honey consistency. – Another great tip is to draw out a figure of 8 into the macaronage with your spatula – if the trails of the macaronage mix stay in place then it is ready (see pic below). Check this if you’re at all worried! 
   3. Next, fill up your piping bag, and pipe the macaron mixture into equal sized circles, roughly 3cm in diameter .
   4. After piping, bang your tray on top of your work surface… by tap I mean actually hit your baking tray down onto the surface with quite a force. This is to get rid of any air bubbles in your shells which cause cracking when baking. I tap my tray about 3 or 4 times, but try not to get carried away..!
   5. If there are any visible air bubbles on the surface of your macarons, pop them with a toothpick.
   6. Leave your macaron shells to rest on a work surface for around 30 mins. This is so your shell’s develop a ‘skin’, which allows little macaron ‘feet’ to form when baking. I have always rested my macarons, although some cookery books will miss out this step. You’re looking for the appearance of your shells to become matte and not shiny at all, this could take 15 mins, or even 45
   7. Whilst the shells are sitting, turn on your oven to 160°C.
   8. After resting for approximately 30 mins, place one baking tray into the oven ready to bake!
   9. Bake one tray at a time for 12-14mins
   10. Whilst the macarons are baking, you can prepare the buttercream.
   11. Beat together the butter and icing sugar (250g), until a silky smooth consistency is achieved.

[If your buttercream isn’t coming together nicely, try placing it in the microwave on a very low setting for 10-20 seconds to soften the butter a little more]

12. Crush up the packet of mini eggs into little crunchy pieces, and them and the milk into your buttercream, and fold.

13. Once cooled, pair up your macaron shells and place one with the flat side up.

14. Pop your buttercream into a piping bag, and pipe a blob of buttercream onto the upturned shells, leaving a little circle of shell clear around the edge.

15. Place the matching shell on top.

16. Next, melt your white and dark chocolates – I melt mine by popping it into the microwave on 20s high blasts, mixing in between.

17. Mix the orange food gel into the white chocolate, and pour each chocolate into its own piping bag.

18. Finally, its time to decorate your macarons! Pipe a small orange triangle into the centre of a shell, and also two little feet.

19. Using the dark chocolate, create two little wings, and a pair of big brown eyes above each triangle – and ta dahhh! You have a little chick!

20. Decorate all of the macarons and enjoy!

Lots of Love, Sofia ❤ xoxoxoxoxo