Sunflower Seed Macarons with Black Truffle Salted White Chocolate Ganache Guest by The Pleasure Monger

I am at a loss for words. Just when I think I've seen it all, a madly talented girl like Rachel comes along. As I was reading her post, along with her email message, with every sentence I burst into giggles. Rachel (@pleasure_monger) is a quiet blogger, packed with such refinement, smarts and a fun and playful personality and style. Going through her stunning site feels like virtually leafing through a high end glossy food magazine. With her Pandan Swiss Roll with Toasted Coconut Whipped Cream post featured in the 'Best of the Blogs' section of Fine Cooking magazine among many other accolades and recognitions, watch out world!

Rachel does the baking while her husband does the cooking. This newly married pair's affection to each other is so endearing. I am fortunate to know Rachel, a mesmerizing foodie, who just received her PhD, taking us on culinary journeys through London. I was once a stubborn molecular gastronomy doubter, but now she convinced me I would love The Fat Duck and Heston Blumenthal. I so badly want to revisit England. Rachel's post below speaks volumes of her immense talents. No words will prepare you for what you are about to encounter.
When the very talented and prolific Shulie approached me on Twitter to do a guest post for her tree-nut free macaron series, I was, first and foremost, starstruck and busy thanking the high heavens that I was hiding behind a Twitter profile in my unkempt getup so Shulie wouldn't be able to see how flabbergasted I was. Within two seconds of losing my cool, I realised the dangers of crossing into tree-nut-free macaron zone......and right about 3 seconds later, I grew acutely aware of the itch in my hands to experiment in the kitchen again. Just so you know, the adrenaline rush did the trick and I said yes. Of course I would say yes, it's Shulie, and we're talking about macarons here!
You see, I am the biggest fan of macarons and I would do almost anything, legal or not, to get my hands on these delicate gems. I will never forget the first time I sank my teeth into these babies when a dear friend treated me to afternoon tea at Ladurée for my birthday; I kid you not when I say that my life was changed forever. And then, the revered pastry chef Pierre Hermè waltzed into my life with his achingly beautiful macarons; like a sinusoidal, my life was changed yet again.
Fans of macarons would agree with me when I say that there's something criminal about the smooth, poreless, frightfully thin and crispy skin that yields to a melting core, finally giving way to luscious creams of the most wonderful textures and the most imaginative flavours. All this pleasure in one bite...a bite that I took for granted until Shulie's invitation made me conscious of the perils of tree nut allergy.
Back in Singapore where I grew up, peanut allergies are uncommon, let alone tree nut ones. I wasn't entirely sure what was on the hit list and what wasn't, so I did my research and realised, to my horror, that the tree nut family is inconveniently extensive. How does one get around tree nut allergy? Almost anything could contain some form of tree nuts and an innocent day out to the tearoom or the bakery could be life-threatening. The macaron, a pastry that I have come to love so dearly, is made of almonds and I hate to think that tree nut allergy sufferers are deprived of them. But thanks to Shulie and her drive to create tree nut-free recipes, food writers put their thinking caps on and came up with ingenious ways of making macarons without tree nuts, artificial flavours and colouring. After much brainstorming, and hours spent in the kitchen, I'm pleased to join these partners-in-crime with my Sunflower Seed Macarons with Black Truffle Salted White Chocolate Ganache.
Sunflower seeds are a good source of nutrients and impart a distinctively nutty flavour with a sweet-ish aftertaste to the shells. When toasted and ground, the texture of the flour resembles that of almond meal, and I'd go as far to say that the layered nutty aromas are so much better than that derived from almonds. I've paired the shells here with white chocolate ganache that has been infused with deep earthy flavours of black truffles, and even added a touch of salt to give it a little edge, much like what salt does for caramel.
I hope you enjoy these flavours as much as I have enjoyed making them. Most of all thank you, Shulie, for having me here and for inspiring me to push the boundaries with traditional recipes. You have opened my eyes to a whole new world of cooking and baking, and I can't thank you enough for that. Here's to tree nut-free macarons, and more to come!
Recipe for my Sunflower Seed Macarons with Black Truffle Salted White Chocolate Ganache:

For the macaron shells (makes 24 shells):
50g egg white, aged
1.5g egg white powder
45g caster sugar
75g sunflower seeds
80g icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius (fan). Roast sunflower seeds on a baking tray that has been lined with aluminium foil for about 10 minutes and let cool completely. Turn the heat down to 140 degrees Celsius.
2. Blitz cooled roasted sunflower seeds and icing sugar in the food processor until you get a finely ground mixture. This took about 1 minute for me. Sift this sunflower seed flour into a bowl. At this stage, you will have some residue that is not finely ground, so just pop that back into the processor and blitz for another 30 seconds. Sift this mixture again into the bowl. It is crucial to not over-blitz them, as the heat will cause oils to be released; this wets the mixture and creates tiny lumps, something that you don't want when you make macarons. I had about 20g of mixture that was not finely ground, and I simply chucked these away.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites and egg white powder till soft peaks are formed. Whisk in caster sugar until stiff peaks form.
4. To the egg white mixture, fold in dry ingredients from Step 2 in 1/3 portions to combine. Once the last portion of dry ingredients are added, fold in the mixture more vigorously. Test the consistency from time to time by lifting a generous dollop of macaron paste and dropping it into the mixing bowl. If the macaron paste does not settle smoothly after 30 seconds, continue folding the paste. If the macaron paste smooths out too quickly before 30 seconds are up, you’ve gone too far.
5. Pipe out the shells onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and leave them to rest for 15 minutes before baking.
6. When a 'skin' is formed (touch the shells and the batter should barely stick to your fingers), bake for 15 minutes. You might need to turn the tray around halfway through baking, if your oven has hot spots.
7. Cool parchment of baked shells on cooling rack. Unmould when the shells are completely cooled.

For the Black Truffle Salted White Chocolate Ganache:
70g White chocolate
40ml double cream
1/3 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon chopped black truffles (Salsa del Tartufaio: Truffle gatherer's sauce)

1. Place white chocolate and cream in a double boiler and heat over barely simmering water till chocolate melts. Stir continuously as you melt the chocolate.
2. Let the ganache cool slightly and stir in the salt and chopped black truffles.
3. Refrigerate ganache till it sets to a pipe-able state and fill the cooled macaron shells.

It is very tempting to have the macarons once you've filled them, but be patient, refrigerate the filled macs to allow flavours to mature, trust me on this. Then let them come to room temperature before serving. Enjoy!

Writer of http://www.thepleasuremonger.wordpress.com/

Thank you for dropping by my blog. You can now follow me on Facebook and on Twitter!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pleasure-Monger/351341007921
http://twitter.com/pleasure_monger

Tree Nut Free Macaron Series:
1. Mocharons, Chocolate-Coffee Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache by The Daily Palette.
2. Pumpkin Seed and Matcha Macarons with Coconut, Dark Chocolate Ganache by Brave Tart.
3. Cocoa nib Macarons with peanut butter ganache by eat.live.travel.write.
4. French Fridays: Peanut Macarons with Cacao Nibs by The daily Palette.
5. Black Sesame Macarons with Cherry Chocolate Ganache by Passionate about Baking.
6. Sunflower Seed Macarons with Black Truffle Salted White Chocolate Ganache by The Pleasure Monger.

30 comments:

  1. Wow, these posts just keep getting better and better! Gorgeous! And a new blog to follow to boot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gorgeous Macs Rachel. I love the pairing of the salted white chocolate ganache

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely GORGEOUS! It is amazing to see how fabulously Shulie has led us to step out of our comfort zone & stretch our imagination! And equally amazing to see the creativity that Rachel presented. WOW! Fantastic pairing and beautiful photography!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holy cow, I can't tell if I'm in love with you because of your sunflower seed macarons or your photography.. either way I bow down before you.

    These are fantastic !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shulie, I've said this many times before but you have no idea how this invitation to your series has inspired me. I was going through a bit of a slump in the ktichen, what with life taking over and getting the better of me lately, but because of you, the spark is re-ignited, and I'm once again bursting to get into the kitchen with every chance I get! Thank you for planting seeds in my head!!!

    Mardi: Thank you!! I'm looking forward to stalking your blog!! =)

    Baker Street: I love it very much too, I've always loved salted butter caramels, and dark chocolate with a dash of salt, this time round, I thoguht why not add a little salt to white chocolate to temper the sweetness and to give it a little edge?

    Deeba: Thank you!!! I should get back into MacTweets again, I haven't done very much on it since a while ago...

    Maureen: Either way, I'm glad you're in love with me! Only my husband tells me that.....=p

    ReplyDelete
  6. STUNNING! Masterful work of art. Rachel, I've been a fan and this just confirms my obsession with your blog. Thanks again Shulie rounding up the best of macs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh. My. Gosh.

    The photos are OUTSTANDING.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gorgeous post, Rachel! So glad to "meet" you =)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Impressive, unbelievably impressive...
    and what stunning photos:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Stunning pictures, they almost look unreal!!! it's so hard making macarons, that when you see something so beautiful like these ones, you can just admire!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Rachel, it's the first time I read you (I know, I know, I live under a rock!) but better late than never! Your way with words is amazing, so flowing, never tiring, just luring us to read more! Love it and the macs? Ridiculous, in the best way possible. Truffles and Salt?! Shulie, thank you so much for this, loving the mac series!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. So creative! Yet another wonderful guest post and mac recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  13. oh good lord are these beautiful!!! just WOW!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've been waiting for this post! I am so happy you're guest-posting at Food Wanderings ;-). Ha, and I can say, "I've been your fan earlier on!"

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh my gosh, Shulie, you really have your guests creating the most incredible macarons. Who knew it could be done with all of these marvelous ingredients?

    ReplyDelete
  16. sunflower macarons? wow, first it was sesame and now its sunflower!! this would taste amazing with sunbutter making it the ultimate sunflower macaron heehee.

    ReplyDelete
  17. oh wow! i need to read the rest of the nut free macaron posts...my kids also have tree nut allergies and i've been wanting to try some recipes!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Again, the photos took my breath away and I'm loving having another awe-inspiring blog to follow. I'm smiling really big now! Beautiful post, great recipe and beautiful art to ponder at the same time. What more could a reader want?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank you everyone for dropping by and following this series and the talented women who were brave enough to take on the challenge. If you already known them they yet again taken our breath away if they are new to them I am happy you got to know them. I did feel often in the past handicapped literally and figuratively due to our many food issues and I know it's late but it is rather cathartic to face something and say we can find a way around it. Thanks to these talented group it was possible and my thanks run deeper than words can describe. I am working on a version myself, first batch went SPLAT! :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi everyone, thank you so much for your kind, kind words!! You just made my weekend SO MUCH better! I'm glad you love the post and the photos, more to come hopefully!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very impressive photos, and love the macarons.

    ReplyDelete
  22. WOW! I just discovered this post through Top9 - congratulations. But no wonder - this is downright stunning. What photography (bowled over - could sit and stare at them for hours!) and bravo on the nut-free. I'd heard from Stella of Bravetart about sunflower seeds and yet to try them - and adding truffle? Incredible - Pierre Hermé watch out! I've made nut-free using quinoa of all things. What a super guest post and so glad I found you both. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is too fabulous for words. You are one of my all time favorite bloggers! Serious! I want to meet you in person!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks everyone, I'm glad you like these macarons! I hope to think out of the box and create more of these nut-free ones, thanks to inspiration from Shulie and other writers in the series!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hey.. congrats on Top 9 :)
    Ever since I have seen macaron in Xiaolu's blog I have been only planning to make these sometime at home And now I see these gorgeous bite here too. I really should just make it once and enjoy it!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I can't get over how beautiful that photo is...it could be a post on its own and completely speak for itself. Lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I have an urgent question, do you need to have egg white powder? is there any why i can just use egg white and no egg white powder?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous: You don't necessarily have to have egg white powder to make macarons, although I have used it every time I make them (other bloggers have successfully made macarons without egg white powder). I just find that it adds stability and dryness to the meringue in my recipe, and as I understand it, dryness of the meringue helps to form the structures of a macaron (feet nicely torn away from the smooth tops).

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi Shulie,

    Question when you say you chucked about 20 grams of unground seeds is that out of the 75 grams in recipe so about 55 grams actually went in or is that you ground enough to put 75 grams in the batter?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi,
    Quick Question. If we don't have to have egg white powder to make macarons, could we just completly leave it out of the recipe? Or do we have to add in more egg whites?

    ReplyDelete