Sakura Heart Macarons

Here is another Teacher's Day bake that I prepared. Sakura Heart macarons!

These dainty treats are made with dried Sakura flowers and dried Sakura flower powder that my Japanese friend bought from Japan. The dried flowers can be found in baking specialty shops in Singapore but I have not seen the lovely pink powder sold anywhere here. The powder tastes exactly like the dried flowers, salty and full of sakura flavour.

The day before baking the macaron shells, I washed the flowers thoroughly to remove excess salt on them. I try to open up the petals gently and lay them flat on paper towel to dry. I oven dried at 50℃ with the fan on for a few hours to make sure that the flowers are thoroughly dried.

Washed and dried flowers

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 pictures of the process..

You may refer to this video tutorial on how to pipe the perfect heart shapes:

In order to attach the flowers to the shells, let the shells partially dry until a sticky membrane forms. Gently stick the flower on. I dabbed a little Sakura powder on the shells at this stage as well.

Adding flowers and sakura powder

Freshly baked shells! Checkout the awesome feet!

As these are to be given away as gifts, I filled them with sakura white chocolate ganache that fan be safely kept out of the fridge for a few days at cool room temperature. If you are unable to get hold of sakura powder, you may use sakura jam or tea to infuse the flavour into the filling.

Sakura white chocolate ganache
Ingredients (fills about 35 macarons):
110g white chocolate, chopped (I use vanilla bean white chocolate)
15g vegetable shortening
15g unsalted butter
30g heavy cream
2 tsp Sakura flower powder
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Steps:
1. Place white chocolate, shortening and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at medium power for 20 seconds and mix with spatula. Repeat until fully melted.

2. Heat cream in a small saucepan until it starts to bubble. Pour over melted chocolate and mix well.

3. Add salt and vanilla and mix well. Freeze for 2 minutes and mix well with spatula. Repeat freezing and mixing and start beating with spatula when mixture firms up. Keep beating until mixture is light and fluffy like buttercream.

4. Add sakura powder and mix well.

Earthy pink coloured ganache!

5. Transfer ganache to piping bag and pipe onto shells.

Refrigerate at least 24h in airtight container in the fridge before eating. Let the macarons sit at room temperature for 10min before consuming.

Here's a sneak peak at the insides :)

Yums!

With love,
Phay Shing