Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Guest Post: Kool-Aid Lemonade Macarons With Grape Kool-Aid Buttercream filling

I have a serious baker crush on our next guest poster. She is nuts - like, more so than I am. And I'm totally jealous. Her brain works in weird and mysterious ways. It has to, because some of the bake goods she comes up will are the work of a mad genius. Or a Mad Hausfrau (hur hur see what I did there?).

So, my dear Lora, thank you so much for blessing us with a bit of your sweet craziness. You seriously inspire me with your unique flavour combos, recipes, and disco dust. So much disco dust.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


I am so honored to be guest posting here today at one of my favorite blogs. Courtney is so creative and funny and I am constantly amazed at her edgy and delicious recipes.

When she asked me for a French themed post in honor of her trip to Paris (where I hope she's having a fantastic time) of course I had to mix up a batch of macarons. However, I wanted to create something fun and bit more playful than the average Mac. 

Enter Kool-Aid.


Adding Kool-Aid powder to buttercream was a no brainer but I adding it to the shells did work. I will spare you the ugly picture. The best result came from sprinkling the powder on top of the shells before baking. My propensity for abusing my baked goods with glitter amuses Courtney. So of course I had to sparkle up these babies.

Just. For. Her.


These macarons have great sweet sour flavor and the buttercream rocks. The Sprinkled Kool-Aid lemonade mix sprinkled on the shells unfortunately turned brown when baked. Just think of them as delicious freckles.


Kool-Aid Lemonade Macarons With 
Grape Kool-Aid Buttercream filling

F
or the Kool-Aid Lemonade Shells:

I used the Tartelette's basic recipe. Use a kitchen scale for precise measurements.

Ingredients:
  • 90 grams  egg whites - aged at least 2 days. Let them sit out on the counter uncovered.
  • 25 grams of fine granulated sugar
  • 200 grams of powdered sugar (minus 2 tablespoons)
  • 110 Grams of almond flour*
  • Powdered yellow food coloring (Optional)
  • 1 packet Kool-Aid lemonade mix
*You can buy almond flour that has been ground with or without the skin. I use the later (blanched). The former looks really nice if you are not coloring the shells. You can also grind your own almond flour by putting whole or sliced almonds in a food processor or blender. If you do, make sure you throw a little of the powdered sugar in to prevent the almonds from forming a paste.

Directions:
  • Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together or pulse them together briefly in a food processor. Make sure there are no large pieces and set aside. 
  • Whip the egg whites. When they start to get foamy, slowly add the sugar. Continue whipping until you can turn the bowl upside down and nothing slides out. 
  • Add the powdered sugar/almond mixture to the egg white mixture and fold, using quick strokes at first then slow down.  No more than 50 strokes all together. The batter should have a "flowing like lava" consistency. If you like add the yellow food coloring about 3/4 of the way through the folding. 
  • Fill a Pastry bag and pipe circles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or on a Silpat.
  • Sprinkle Kool-Aid lemonade powder over the shells.
  • Let the macarons dry they harden a bit (about 1/2 hour to 1 hour).
  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes.
  • I keep the oven door propped open with a dish towel or wooden spoon. Try to refrain from obsessive peeping to see if they get feet.
  • Let cool completely and then match up the shells into pairs according to size.

For the Grape Kool-Aid Buttercream:

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 stick butter room temperature
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 packet of Kool-Aid Grape powder
  • 3-4 cups powdered sugar
  • Amethyst disco dust (optional)
Directions:
  • Beat the butter and milk together with one cup of the powdered sugar.
  • Add the Kool-Aid Grape mix
  • Add the remaining powdered sugar one cup at a time.
  •  Spoon the frosting in to a pastry bag fitted with a round tip.Stand it up in a tall glass and fill the bag.
  • Pipe the filling onto one macaron shell and sandwich together with the other.
  • If you want to paint the filling with disco dust, dip a small paintbrush into vodka then into the disco dust and paint onto the filling.

8 comments:

Jennifer @ Not Your Momma's Cookie said...

Disco dust FTW!

Gina said...

I need to get me some disco dust, these are just too cute. Hope you are enjoying your trip.
-Gina-

Paula said...

Only the Mad Hausfrau would think to add Kool Aid mix to a buttercream filling, to the tops of macarons and then take it one step further by adding disco dust. And that...is exactly why we love her :)

Unknown said...

Disco dust? seriously? I gotz to get my hand on disco dust. These macarons are tres fabu!!
Jackie

angela@spinachtiger said...

Mad Hausfrau never runs out of ideas. The fun comes through in every post. These are vibrant and so fun.

Julie said...

I saw Kool-aid flavored macarons elsewhere and then came across yours, too! I'm having a problem finding Kool Aid packets and so I had to buy the entire container. The only problem I see is that your packets say "add sugar" but the larger containers already have sugar added. Do your packets have sugar in them, or do you think I should remove some of the granulated sugar to make up for the additional sugar in the Kool-Aid?

blakescakes said...

Disco dust is not edible. It is PLASTIC CRAFT GLITTER. It’s meant for use only on things that will not be eaten. Doesn’t matter that it’s non toxic–it’s still plastic.

To keep something edible, edible glitter made from gum arabic, sanding sugar, or gelatin should be used

charlotte said...

This post looks very good, I like to read it.

Related Posts with Thumbnails