Pierre Hermé's classic Ispahan macaron recipe

Pierre Hermé shares the recipe for his best-selling macaron with flavours of
lychee, rose and raspberry, ahead of the launch of his limited edition Fetish
Ispahan Collection next month.
Pierre Hermé's classic Ispahan macaron
Pierre Hermé's classic Ispahan macaron
By Pierre Hermé7:00AM BST 12 Sep 2013
Makes about 72 macarons (or about 144 shells)

For the raspberry jelly

420g raspberries

35g caster sugar

4g gelatine leaves

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For the macaron shells

300g ground almonds

300g icing sugar

110g “liquefied” egg whites (see *)

4g approx. strawberry food colouring

4g approx. carmine red food colouring

300g caster sugar

75g mineral water

110g “liquefied” egg whites*

For the lychee and rose ganache

410g Valrhona Ivory couverture or white chocolate

400g lychees (preserved in syrup)

60g liquid crème fraiche or whipping cream

3g rose essence (from the delicatessen or health food shop)

To finish

100g granulated sugar

A few drops carmine red food colouring

Or Edible ruby glitter

*“Liquefied” egg whites. Egg whites will liquefy if you sit them in the fridge for
several days, preferably a week. During that time, the egg whites lose their
elasticity, the albumen breaks down and they will be much easier to whisk to soft
peaks without the risk of turning “grainy”.

To prepare the raspberry jelly: Soak the gelatine leaves for 15 minutes in cold
water to soften.

Using a hand blender, blend the raspberries and sugar to a purée. Strain the
purée to remove the pips. Heat a quarter of the purée to 45ºC. Drain and dry the
gelatine and add to the hot purée. Stir and add the rest of the raspberry purée.

Pour it into a gratin dish lined with cling film to a depth of 4mm. Allow to cool
for 1 hour at room temperature then put the dish in the freezer for 2 hours. Turn
out the jelly and cut it into 1.5cm squares. Return the jelly squares to the freezer.

For the coloured sugar: Preheat the oven to 60 ºC. Put on disposable gloves. Mix
the sugar with a few drops of food colouring and rub it between the palms of
your hands. Spread out the coloured sugar on a baking tray. Put the tray in the
oven and dry the sugar for 30 minutes.

For the shells: Sift together the icing sugar and ground almonds. Stir the food
colouring into the first portion of liquefied egg whites and pour them over the
mixture of icing sugar and ground almonds but do not stir.

Bring the water and sugar to boil at 118 ºC. When the syrup reaches 115ºC,
simultaneously start whisking the second portion of liquefied egg whites to soft
peaks. When the sugar reaches 118ºC, pour it over the egg whites. Whisk and
allow the meringue to cool down to 50 ºC, then fold it into the almond-icing sugar
mixture. Spoon the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle.

Pipe rounds of batter about 3.5 cm in diameter, spacing them 2 cm apart on

baking trays lined with baking parchment. Rap the baking trays on the work
surface covered with a kitchen cloth. Sprinkle every other row with pinches of
coloured sugar or ruby glitter. Leave the shells to stand for at least 30 minutes
until they form a skin.

Preheat the fan oven to 180 ºC then put the trays in the oven. Bake for 12
minutes quickly opening and shutting the oven door twice during cooking time.
Out of the oven, slide the shells on to the work surface.

For the lychee and rose ganache: Drain the lychees. Blend then strain them to
obtain a fine purée. You will need 240g purée.

Chop up the chocolate and melt it in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering
water.

Bring the cream and lychee purée to the boil. Pour it over the melted chocolate a
third at a time. Add the rose essence and stir.
Pour the ganache into a gratin dish and press cling film over the surface of the
ganache. Set aside in the fridge for the ganache to thicken.

Spoon the ganache into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe a mound of
ganache on to half the shells. Lightly press a square of frozen jelly into the centre
and finish with a dot of ganache. Top with the remaining shells.

Store the macarons for 24 hours in the fridge and bring back out at the point of
serving.

Macarons by Pierre Hermé is published by Grub Street at £25.00

Pierre Hermé's classic Ispahan macaron

Pierre Hermé's classic Ispahan macaron recipe
Total time: 3 hours