Assorted Animal Macarons (updated whipped strawberry ganache recipe with higher fruit content)

A dear friend requested for animal macarons for her toddler's birthday. These aren't just any random animals but those that little Hannah can identify :)

Spider, chicken, shark and snail macarons!

I used the reduced sugar recipe for the macaron shells here. Both regular and reduced sugar recipes can be found here. You may refer to my Creative Baking: Macarons book for a systematic presentation of the basics and complex shaped macarons. You may refer to my video tutorials for macaron basics and piping of complex shapes on the blog too.

Just to share some photos of the process...

Piping shark and some rounds

Piping chickens! If they look familiar, that's because I made them before over here but I used the French method previously.

Piping snails!

Piping spider body

Freshly baked shells! Love the feet 😍

Freshly baked animal shells! The spider is not recognizable yet without eyes and legs 

I decorated the shells with royal icing and edible marker.

Kid friendly filling that can withstand storage out of fridge for several hours was requested. I filled the macarons with firm dark chocolate ganache and lemon curd or whipped strawberry white chocolate ganache. The strawberry ganache has higher fresh fruit puree content as I omitted heavy cream. It is also stable at Singapore's warm room temperature of 27-28℃.

Here's the recipe for updated whipped strawberry white chocolate ganache recipe.

Recipe for whipped strawberry white chocolate ganache
Ingredients (fills about 16-20 macarons):
55g white chocolate, chopped
10g vegetable shortening
10g unsalted butter
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
26g strawberry puree (or homemade strawberry jam*)
1/2 tsp strawberry emulco/ paste

*(Update 29/3/18): for a more intense strawberry flavour, you may make your own strawberry jam instead of using fresh fruit puree. Simply weigh out double the weight of fresh fruit puree required, place in saucepan together with a pinch of salt, a little sugar and half to one tsp of lemon juice. I don't use precise measurements as it's not necessary and it depends on your taste. Cook over low heat in a small saucepan until liquid is reduced and consistency is jam-like. Be careful not to burn the jam.

Steps:
1. Place white chocolate, vegetable shortening and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at medium power for 20 seconds. Mix well with a spatula. Repeat until mixture is smooth. Add salt and mix well.

2. Freeze the bowl for 2 minutes and mix well with spatula. Repeat freezing and mixing. As the mixture thickens, start to beat it with the spatula. You will notice that the texture will lighten up and become creamy.

3. Add a teaspoon of puree and whip the mixture with the spatula until well combined. Repeat until all the puree has been added. Add strawberry paste and mix well. The texture should be like buttercream.

4. Transfer whipped strawberry ganache into piping bag and pipe onto the shells. Store assembled macarons in the fridge in an airtight container for at least 24h before serving.

Filling up all the shells!

Another look at the animals :)

I hope they brought a smile to your face :).

With love,
Phay Shing