Rose Water & Earl Grey Honey Macarons

  

I received this 4-pcs set of French dessert/pastries/macarons theme plates & a separate large serving plate by Rosanna in the mail today. I was so excited and couldn't wait to come home to put my macarons on there for some pictures. They are absolutely adorable! It was funny how I found out about these dessert plates from someone's blog and I immediately fell in love with them when I first saw them. I went to check where I could purchase them from and saw the original price O_O... after seeing the price I tried to forget about their existence for awhile. A week ago I randomly clicked on one of the daily sale emails that I signed up (I usually got them every morning but deleted them most of the time, I wasn't sure why this time I actually looked into it) and saw they had these plates on sale for a few days (and that was the last day too). I didn't even hesitate and I knew that this was probably meant to be. I ordered them and they arrived today. They are so cute and very well made. It is also not very common to see everyday products with dessert theme especially with macarons. I think I'm going to collect anything that's macaron related (if they are collectible & affordable) from now on :)

Now let's talk about my new flavor creation of this week. Earl Grey is not new anymore since I've done it a few times already and it's been a great favorite to the people who've tried them. My new challenge this time was to recreate the Rose water filling that resembles the one from Laduree's. The description that I received was -- Light, Fluffy, and Delicate -- Those were the main keywords that I tried to imagine the taste with. Since I wanted a lighter and less sweet buttercream this time, I looked into Italian Buttercream instead. It was my first time to try to make Italian Buttercream too. It actually wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be. The only part that was different from Swiss Meringue Buttercream is to boil the sugar syrup to a certain degree (just like the Italian way of making macarons) before mixing with meringue and butter. I added rose water flavoring at the end. The taste was very light, fluffy, and delicate! Someone I know that is a huge macaron fan who is also a huge fan of Laduree's Rose macaron tried it and told me that the taste brought him back to Paris. That was the best achievement and compliment I have received since I started my macaron making journey :)

For Rose Water Buttercream Filling:

Ingredients:

Butter 200g (7.1 oz)
Egg white 100g (3.5 oz)
Sugar 100g (3.5 oz)
Water 30 ml (about 30g)

Red food coloring

Rose Water 1 tsp (can adjust to your taste)

• Start beating the room temperature egg white with a hand mixer or a KitchenAid mixer.
• At the same time, pour sugar and water into a sauce pan and bring them to a boil.
• When the temperature of the syrup reaches 120C (248F), pour the syrup into the stiff egg white.
• Keep beating until the meringue cools down when touched by fingers.
• If you are using a handmixer, in a separate bowl, whip the room temperature butter cut in small cubes until it is light in color (almost white) and fluffy. If you are using a KitchenAid mixer,  switch the whisk wire attachment to the paddle attachment for beating butter. Adding small cubes of butter one at a time to the meringue.
• If you are using a handmixer, after beating the butter, combine it with the meringue and mix until they are smooth and fluffy. If you are using a KitchenAid mixer, just keep beating the buttercream with the paddle attachment until it is smooth and fluffy.
• Add about 1 tsp of Rose water flavoring and adjust the amount to your taste.
• Add a drop of red food coloring to create light pink color for the buttercream.

Enjoy this delicate and fluffy Rose water buttercream!

Annee