Viking Cruise Recipes: Tomato Feta Basil Macarons
An elegant French appetizer!
Servings: 12 macarons
Calories: 139kcal
Ingredients
Macarons
- ¾ cup almond meal 64 grams
- ¾ cup icing sugar 98 grams
- 2 large egg whites divided 1 + 1
- ¾ cup water 177 ml
- ¾ cup granulated sugar 144 grams
Filling
- 2 tablespoon feta cheese 30 grams
- 2 tablespoon cream cheese 30 grams
- 2 tablespoon basil, minced plus 12 small whole leaves for garnish 5 grams
- few drops lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
- 2 medium ripe tomatoes seeded and finely diced. Allow juice to drain off.
Instructions
Macarons
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dampen a clean tea towel and spread on counter.
- Mix almond meal and icing sugar in a medium bowl.
- Beat one of the egg whites in a clean medium bowl to firm shiny peaks stage. (Do not skimp on this step.) Gently fold the stiff egg white into the almond/sugar mixture.
- Beat remaining egg white in a clean medium bowl and beat to soft peaks stage and reserve.
- Heat granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium/low heat until sugar dissolves, stirring often. Boil mixture to 245° on a candy thermometer. This took several minutes for me but do not increase the burner heat too much or risk ending up with caramel instead of sugar syrup.
- Gradually (really gradually!) pour the sugar syrup into the remaining egg whipped white, beating constantly until shiny peaks form. Add almond mixture to this and fold gently in until evenly mixed.
- Prepare a piping bag with a large round tip (or cut the corner off a baggie and insert the tip). Stand the bag in a tall cup with the top folded over the edge of the cup. Fill the piping bag with the almond mixture.
- Preheat oven to 340°. Pipe 24 small disks about 2" wide on to the parchment paper. Leave about 1" between the piped disks. Allow to sit at room temperature about 20 minutes.
- Bake 12 minutes. Carefully slide/lift the parchment paper with the macarons on it to the damp tea towel and allow to cool to room temperature.
- If making ahead, once cooled completely you can store the macarons in an airtight container at room temperature a couple of days. Do not allow macarons to touch each other and use parchment paper to separate layers of macarons. Handle very gently since they will crush very easily. I used little tongs to gently transfer them to my airtight tin.
Filling
- Beat all filling ingredients except tomatoes until evenly combined. Gently stir in tomatoes.
Assembly
- Shortly before ready to serve (an hour or so), spread cheese filling gently on flat side of each of 12 macarons disks. Position a bit of basil leaf so it overhangs the edge as garnish. Top gently with the remaining 12 macaron disks. (Handle gently since the disks crush very easily!)
- Serve immediately.
- These are best served immediately. Once assembled they get soggy if refrigerated too long. If you have extra macarons disks or filling, store macarons airtight at room temperature another day or two but refrigerate filling separately and assemble before serving.
Notes
Nutrition is per macaron.
Nutrition
Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 99mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 233IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg