Strawberries and Cream Macarons

The title of this post says it all. These macarons are filled with a custard-cream that encases a hidden dollop of the best quality strawberry jam. You might have seen these from my last post on how to make macarons. You might have not. Either way, these delicate treats are certainly delicious when filled with a creamy, vanilla-y thick cream. Just what I need to serve an elegant afternoon tea with the girls. Oh, and some organic tea or hot chocolate to go with it too.

 

Instead of using strawberry jam, you could use fresh pureed strawberries with a little sugar added to it to give it a fresh strawberry scent that is perfect when paired with the cream in the macarons. I must admit that I am a little disappointed with the colour of my macarons since they were over-baked. It makes them look brown and ugly, hiding the real beauty of the macarons. But putting them in pretty cupcake liners adds a touch of cuteness and probably also hides my mistake, right? Next time when I make another batch of macarons, I will be in the kitchen watching closely at the oven door the whole time. That should solve my problem of over-baking macaron shells.

For the macaron recipe and a tutorial on how to make them, click here.

Vanilla Custard Cream Filling
Adapted from the book, Macarons: Chic and Delicious French Treats

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks (saved from the last batch of macarons)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of cornflour/cornstarch
1 cup of milk
1 vanilla pod/bean or 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of thickened cream

Method:
1. Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a heatproof bowl until combined.

2. Heat the milk with the vanilla in a small saucepan until it just starts to boil.

3. Pour the hot milk over the egg yolk mixture and stir until incorporated.

4. Put the mixture back into the pan and simmer gently over a low heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens and will coat the back of a spoon. Heat it slowly and gently and remove it from the heat immediately after it is ready. Be careful not to boil it too much otherwise it will curdle.

5. Strain the mixture into a clean bowl and add the butter, stirring until it has melted and incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to cool before refridgerating.

6. Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks and fold it into the custard. Chill before filling the macarons.

When done, the custard/cream should look thick and creamy like the one in the picture above. The colour of the filling depends on the type of sugar you use. My filling is kind of a brown colour because I used brown sugar so if you use white sugar, it should look like whipped cream.

After filling the macarons with the cream and strawberry jam, you should refridgerate them for 30 minutes before serving. Don't store the filled macarons in the fridge otherwise they will go soggy from the custard. Store them separately and fill them before serving.