Macarons are not only delicious, they’re also a great way to use up any egg whites you might have kicking about. That said, not everyone has egg whites on hand, and splitting eggs just for the whites can feel wasteful. That’s why we love to fill our macarons with a vanilla pastry cream, which uses the egg yolks in this rich custardy filling. Waste not, want not!
Preparation time
40 minutes (plus 30 minutes cooling)
Cook time
20 minutes
Serves
20 – 25 macarons
Ingredients
For the macarons:
- 175g icing sugar
- 125g ground almonds
- 3 Respectful egg whites
- 75g unrefined caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste or essence
- A pinch of salt
For the filling:
- 3 Respectful egg yolks
- 50g unrefined caster sugar
- 25g plain flour
- 3 tsp cornflour
- 275ml whole milk
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste or essence
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan. Line 2 flat baking trays with parchment paper.
- Blitz the icing sugar and ground almonds briefly in a food processor until they are well mixed, then tip them into a bowl.
- In a nice clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold light soft peaks, then gradually whisk in the sugar until you have a thick shiny mixture.
- Fold half the almond mixture into the meringue and mix well. Add the remaining half, along with the vanilla paste, then use a spatula to carefully fold the mixture until everything is well combined. Spoon the macaron mixture into a piping bag.
- Carefully pipe 3 – 4cm rounds of onto the baking sheets (it will spread a little). Leave at let the piped mixture stand for 10-15 minutes to dry a little – you should be able to touch them lightly without getting sticky fingers. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Combine the milk and vanilla paste in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Take the pan off the heat.
- Beat the egg yolks and sugar for a few minutes until pale and slightly thickened. Whisk in the plain and cornflour. Pour the hot milk over the egg yolk and flour mixture and whisk well.
- Return the mixture to the pan and set it back over a low heat, stirring regularly, until it reaches a very gentle simmer and thickens.
- Spoon the pastry cream into a bowl, cover loosely with parchment and allow to cool then chill in the fridge until it’s set.
- When you’re ready to assemble the macarons spoon the pastry cream into a piping bag and pipe out 1 – 2 tsp or so onto the flat side of a macaron, then sandwich the filling with a second macaron.
- Repeat with the remaining macarons.
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