Monday 7 September 2015

Iron Brew Macaron

iron brew flavour french macaron

Did you know that Scotland is the only country in the world where Coca-Cola is not the top selling soft drink?

That is because Scottish drink Iron Brew, or Irn Bru as it says on the cans, is the nation’s favourite here. I like it, can’t say I drink it all the time, but it is a very different drink.

It’s has ammonium ferric citrate (thanks Wikipedia) in it, which I think gives it the Iron name…

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Recently I was watching  Martha Stewart videos, and a clip about no-fail French macaron making. It was with the handsome Thomas Joseph who has a great series on Martha’s website called ‘Kitchen Conundrums’ that goes into the science of cooking and baking.

I try and I  try, but I cannot make macarons very well, and thought to myself I really must give this recipe a go.

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What do these two things have in common? Well, I had Iron Brew flavouring in the pantry and a desire to make macaron after seeing the video –as you can guess, I decided to make Iron Brew Macaron.

iron brew flavour french macaron


The recipe makes a very thick macaron batter, thicker than I have seen on other tutorials and I wondered if this may be the reason this is a no-fail recipe. I flavoured the mix with the Iron Brew extract, which you can easily find online, and added some orange colouring before piping it onto a lined baking tray.


As it was thicker, it didn’t smooth out liked I hoped it would. They do look a little rustic, I know, a bit lumpy-bumpy. But the baked result was really, really delicious.

I sandwiched the macarons together with some buttercream which I had dyed blue. The blue and orange are the colours of the Irn Bru can, that’s what I was going for there. I probably would add a bit more orange next time.

iron brew flavour french macaron

I have to say these are the best macarons I have made thus far and have Thomas Joseph to thank for that. You can follow the recipe, which I have converted to UK measurements, and add whatever flavourings or colours you like.

iron brew flavour french macaron


They were soft and crisp and had a subtle Iron Brew flavour which all my tasters loved. Here’s how I made them…

Iron Brew Macaron


Thumbnail Url French Macaron flavoured
with Scottish Iron Brew
Cuisine: Petit Four Category: Macaron Yields: 20-25 macaron
Prep Time: Cook Time: Total Time:
 




Ingredients
  • 70 grams ground almonds
  • 115 grams icing sugar
  • 2 large egg whites, room temperature
  • 50 grams granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoon Iron Brew extract
  • Orange food colouring paste
  • Blue food colouring paste
  • 100 grams unsalted butter, softened
  • 50 grams icing sugar
 
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C and place the oven rack to the lowest part of the oven.
  2. In a food processor, blitz together the ground almonds and 115 grams icing sugar for one minute.
  3. Transfer to a sieve and pass through until all you are left with are larger pieces in the sieve.
  4. Blitz the remaining crumbs again and repeat the process until all but a teaspoon or so is left after re-sieving.
  5. In the bowl of a food mixer place the egg whites and granulated sugar. Beat together by hand, before beating on high in the food mixer for 5 minutes. The egg whites should be thick and glossy.
  6. Add the 1 teaspoon of the extract and orange colouring (as much as you like). Stir these through
  7. Fold the almond mix in the egg white mix, gently, so you don’t deflate the egg whites.
  8. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. The rounds should be between just shy of an inch in diameter.
  9. Smack the baking tray off the worktop to get rid of any air bubbles.
  10. Place into the oven and bake for 13 minutes approximately.
  11. Allow to cool completely.
  12. Beat together the softened butter, 50 grams of granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of iron brew extract and blue food colouring (amount will depend on colour you prefer).


5 comments:

  1. They look fun, I have to admit I do love Irn Bru :-) I made many many macarons before I had some that resembled the real deal, so hard to make but so tasty!

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  2. These are so much fun and I love the colours!

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  3. I am not a lover of iron brew.. No sir! No thank you. I do love the colours though! Macaroons are like that high mantainence ex, you just want to not go there ever again but maybe this time you try it'll be different!!

    I know I always go back! To the macaroons that is... 😉

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  4. My husband, having been raised in England but with two Scottish parents, loves Irn Bru. I would love to make these for his birthday coming up soon. I have never successfully made macarons so might have to give this method a go as well! I will alsol have to source some of the flavouring for sure!! So much to do!! ;0) They look so cool!!

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  5. These have to be the funkiest macaron I have seen in a long time! I had no idea you could get Iron Brew flavouring.....

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