Black Sesame Macarons

For a while now I have been meaning to bake something with Black Sesames and to be honest if was difficult to come up with a recipe where the seeds can be the hero flavour and really shine.

As the flavour is quite subtle adding any other flavour in the mix would clout and take over.

Why Black Sesame then if it’s such a restrained flavour? I ate the seeds in an ice-cream Asian dessert recently, and though the dessert wasn’t anything special I was quite drawn to the rawness and uniqueness of the flavour.

After playing around with a few recipe drafts I ended up deciding on macarons. Macarons are so airy and light thus the filling is usually the primary element in which I could easily use the seeds for the filling and make it shine. A slightly vanilla spiked biscuit flavour would allow the black sesame to really take over the palate.

Now the last time I made macaron’s they didn’t turn out that great, so to ensure I would get the best result possible I have used Adriano Zumbo’s macaron recipe as a base guide and altered accordingly.

The outcome = perfect macaroons!

Black Sesame Macarons recipe

Ingredients:

Macarons:

95g eggwhites (3 large egg equivalent)
135g icing sugar
135g almond meal
40ml water
1/4 tsn vanilla essence
125g sugar

Filling:

2 tbsn black sesame seeds
45g butter
90g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 135c degrees and line 2 large biscuit trays with baking paper.
Using a 20 cent piece sized cookie cutter draw circles on the paper leaving 2cm gap between each.
Sift the icing sugar and almond meal through a sieve into a bowl, stir to combine.
Add 45g of eggwhite and the vanilla, stir until well combine.
Place the sugar and water into a saucepan and cook on a high heat, stir until the sugar has dissolved and the mix boils to become a syrup.
Place a candy thermometer in the syrup and leave the temperature on high until it hits 120c degrees.
Add the remaining eggwhites into a new unused bowl and with electric beaters beat for 30 seconds on a medium speed.
Next, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the eggwhites while you beat.
Beat eggwhite for 3 minutes or until the mix is smooth and glossy.
Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the almond mix until just combine.
Add the remaining eggwhites to the mix and fold until just combine.
Place the mix into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain circle nozzle.
Pipe the mix into the drawn circle shapes by placing the nozzle in the centre of the circle and use pressure on the piping bag until the circle is filled.
Once all circles are filled tap the tray to get rid of any air bubbles and leave the tray for 45 minutes to allow the biscuits to form a skin on top.
Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes or until crisp.
Let them cool completely on the tray.
Meanwhile to make the filling, place the seeds into a saucepan and on a medium heat stir until the seeds start to release their wonderful scent (do no allow to burn).
Take the seeds off the heat and grind the sesames in a pestle and mortar until they resemble a paste (do 2 tsn at a time).
Once cooled place the paste, room temperature butter and icing sugar in a bowl and using electric beaters whisk on high for 3 minutes or until mix is creamy and fluffy.
Spread the biscuits with the icing mix and sandwich 2 biscuit together, the filling in the centre.
Enjoy and serve.