Recipe: Sweet’n’Sassy vegan French macarons

Nothing says classy like a tray of French desserts.

Vancouver’s Sweet’n’Sassy bakery has a recipe for you for French macarons that’s both 100 per cent vegan and 100 per cent delicious.

Ingredients (for 20 macarons)

The shells

• 75g aquafaba
• 75g caster sugar
• 75g icing sugar
• 75g almond flour
• Food coloring (optional)

The fillings

Lemon buttercream:

• 40g margarine (or butter)
• 150g icing sugar
• 1tbs lemon zest
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Chocolate ganache:

• 50g vegan/plant-based chocolate chips
• 40g margarine (or butter)
• 15ml plant-based milk

Method

Shells

1. Preheat your oven at 275ºF.
2. Weigh aquafaba and caster sugar and set aside.
3. Weigh icing sugar and almond flour, mix together, sift and set aside.
4. Put the aquafaba in a mixing bowl and start beating on medium speed. When all foamy, add 1/2 of the caster sugar. Keep beating for 5min, add the rest of sugar and beat for another 5min. It should be soft peaks now.
5. Add food colorant if necessary, push to full speed and beat until stiff peaks (5 to 10min).
6. Meringue is ready!
7. Tip in the sifted almond flour mix and start folding with a spatula (macaronage).
8. Keep folding and deflate until the batter flows from the spatula in the form of a ribbon.
9. Fill a piping bag equipped with a size 10 piping tip with macaron batter and start piping 2 inch rounds macarons on a silicon mat placed on a baking tray.
10. Tap the tray on the counter 10 times to chase any air bubbles and let dry for 1h/1h30 until shell tops are mate.
11. Pop in the oven on the middle rack for 30 min.
12. Take the tray out of the oven and let cool completely before removing the shells from the baking mat.

Fillings

Lemon buttercream:

1. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat on high speed until all combined.
2. Start with 2 tbs of lemon juice and add 1 tsp at a time if too thick.
3. The buttercream should be fluffy but firm. Keep refrigerated until you fill the shells.

Ganache:

1. Weigh chocolate chips in a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Put milk and butter in a saucepan on medium heat until the butter melt, then bring to a boil.
3. Pour the boiling liquid on the chocolate chips and stir with a spatula until the chocolate is all melt and glossy.
4. Let sit in the fridge and check every 5 min. by stirring with the spatula until the ganache thickens (15 to 20 min). The ganache should be firm but not hard.

Assembly:

1. When the shells are cold, pair 2 of equal size/shape to prepare for the filling.
2. Scoop buttercream and ganache in piping bags with size 10 or 12 piping tips and pipe the equivalent of a teaspoon of filling on half of the shells, in the middle.
3. Place the second shell on too and press until the filling reaches the edge.
4. Place all of your macarons in an airtight container and keep in the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours) before eating.
5. Leave them at room temperature 10 min. before serving.

You can find more Global BC recipes here.