Deliciously Delicate Pandan Macarons

The most delicious Swiss macarons with the delicate flavours of pandan - give it a go, you won't be disappointed!

This recipe is one which I created after a friend had asked if I could make some for his partner as she LOVES pandan. So I went on a google hunt to find a recipe to only be disappointed as it seems most "pandan" macarons were actually just coconut.

Luckily I was already familiar with the lovely, delicate flavour of pandan due to frequenting my local Asian supermarket whilst at university in Leicester so the thought of replacing it with coconut appalled me a little!

Queue recipe testing! It took a few goes but finally got the flavours I wanted. My preferred macaron filling is ganache but this recipe uses a buttercream which seems to work quite well - I thought a ganache would swallow that delicate flavour but will likely be testing that one in future!

So, enough babbling - here's the recipe!

Deliciously Delicate Pandan Macarons

Makes 12-15 Macarons

Ingredients

Macaron Shells

100g Egg whites

100g Caster Sugar

105g Ground Almonds

105g Icing Sugar

1tsp Pandan Extract (can be found at your local Asian Supermarket)

Buttercream

125g Unsalted Butter

250g Icing Sugar

1.5tsp Pandan Extract

2-3tbsp milk (optional)

Method

Macaron Shells

1. Put the eggs and caster sugar into the bowl of your mixer

2. Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water and whisk until the sugar has melted - feel the mixture with your fingertips, if it still feels grainy, keep whisking

3. Once the sugar has melted, fit your mixer with a balloon whisk attachment and mix the egg and sugar mixture to soft peaks

4. Once at soft peaks, whilst still mixing, add in the pandan extract and continue whipping until you get stiff peaks - be careful not to over mix

5. Meanwhile, push your ground almonds and icing sugar through a fine sieve

6. Once at stiff peaks, add your almond and sugar mixture to the meringue along with any gel food colouring (entirely optional)

7. Fold the mixture until the batter slowly runs off the spatula without breaking and the batter that has fallen into the bowl takes around 15seconds to flatten out into the rest of the mixture

8. Carefully put your batter into a piping bag, fitted with a large round nozzle

9. Pipe your macaron circles (or whatever shape you're using) onto a silicone mat or parchment paper (see notes)

10. Bang the tray of macarons onto your worksurface 3-5 times to release any air bubbles and then pop any obvious ones with a cocktail stick

11. Allow the macarons to sit out for 30-60mins until they form a skin (you should be able to poke the shell without any batter sticking to you)

12. Bake at 150degC fan for 15mins. If after the 15mins the macarons are still wobbly when you poke them, give them another 2mins in the oven

Buttercream Filling

1. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until fluffy and light

2. Scrape down the bowl and add in the icing sugar and pandan extract

3. Mix until light and fluffy - add in milk if the buttercream needs to be loosened a little

4. Once done, add to a piping bag and fill your macaron shells

5. Your filled macarons should be put in the fridge for as long as possible before eating as this will make them extract tasty!

Notes: 1. This recipe makes 12-15 macarons (24-30 shells) 2. I prefer to use a spice grinder to whizz up my ground almonds so they're really fine, leaving the shells with a nice, shiny effect (this is something I started doing after I made these, so this isn't represented in the image attached! 3. These are best kept in the fridge and should be eaten within 10 days of baking

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Leave a comment below to let me know how you get on! Or to ask any questions you may have. Also, please feel free to share and rate this recipe :)