Thanksgiving Macarons

Every couple of months I forget how painstakingly long and arduous the task of making macarons is and I am consumed by an overwhelming urge to make a couple hundred of them. Indecision leads to choosing multiple filling flavors, and why would I make half batches of ganache when I can make a double batch of shells, right? I mean, I'm already piping these things until my arms fall off, might as well make a supply that lasts through the holiday party season.

In honor of the holiday party season, I chose the the quintessential ingredients of November - cranberry and pumpkin. I was talked out of attempting savory turkey and gravy macarons. Maybe next time.

I used Pierre Herme's recipe for the shells. They use an italian meringue, meaning a sugar syrup is heated to the thread stage and beaten into egg whites. I highly recommend his book Macarons, as his shells seem to come out perfectly, the fillings are creative and delicious, and the photos are inspiring (sometimes too inspiring - I'm addicted).

The grinding, sifting beating, folding, piping, resting, baking, filling, and assembling process probably took me most of a day with some breaks for food and water now and then.

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Cranberry Ganache

Qty	Ingredient	Procedure
8 oz	Whipping cream	Mix sugar and cream in a saucepan.
8 oz	White sugar1
12 oz	Raw cranberries	Add the cranberries to the saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook cranberries until most of them have popped. Puree the cranberries with a stick blender until smooth.
6 oz	White chocolate, cut into small pieces	If the white chocolate is in small enough chunks, strain puree directly onto the white chocolate and stir the mixture vigorously until all of the white chocolate has melted. The cranberry mixture may take a long time to strain, due to its viscosity, so it may be safer to return the strained puree to a boil before pouring onto the chocolate. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ganache to prevent a thin film from developing on the top. Place ganache in the fridge until thickened.

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Pumpkin Ganache

Qty	Ingredient	Procedure
80 g	White sugar	Mix the cornstarch and sugar together in a bowl.
16 g	Cornstarch
180 g	Whipping cream	Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan. Mix the cream into the sugar and cornstarch mixture little by little to temper the cream. Return the sugar cream mixture to the pan and bring to a boil.
6 tbsp	Pumpkin puree	Add the pumpkin puree, allspice, cinnamon and ginger and mix well.
2 tsp	Ground allspice
2 tsp	Ground cinnamon
a pinch	Ginger powder
90 g	White chocolate	Pour the liquid over the white chocolate and whisk until smooth.
100 g	Unsalted butter, cut into small chunks	Let the ganache cool to 40°F and mix in the butter. Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ganache to prevent a thin film from developing on the top. Place ganache in the fridge until thickened.

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1. If I did this again, I'd use way less sugar as the bitterness of the cranberries was completely lost ↩