Vegan Cherry Macarons 🍒

Instructions

Aquafaba

Weigh the liquid from the chickpeas and place in a pan over heat and simmer until it reaches half the weight you started with. (Roughly starting with 250g and ending with 125g of liquid). Leave to cool and pop in the fridge overnight.

Macaron Shells

Preheat the oven to 150C or 130C for fan assisted ovens. Place 100g of the aquafaba into a bowl with the cream of tartar. Whisk until frothy and pale, gradually add the sugar a little at a time while whisking until the mixture becomes white, glossy and forms stiff peaks. This will take a while so keep whisking! (Use a stand mixer if possible).

Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar into a separate bowl, remove any lumps using the back of a spoon through a sieve. Add half of the almond and icing sugar mixture to the meringue mixture and gently fold. Add the rest and repeat.

Continue folding until the mixture gets a little softer but do not over mix. Place the mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe 2 inch circles onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Slam the trays on the work surface to get rid of any air bubbles, then let them sit at room temperature for 20 - 30 minutes.

Place in the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 18 minutes. Wiggle the tray and if the macarons do not move they are done. Leave to cool then gently pull them off the tray (if they stick to the tray they are under baked and need to go back in the oven).

Filling

Mix the icing sugar, butter, jam and vanilla together in a bowl until smooth. Add the milk if the mixture needs to loosen a little. Mix until fluffy. Pipe the buttercream onto the centre of a macaron, sandwich it together with another macaron, using a gentle twisting motion and repeat until all of the macarons have been paired.