Cheesecake & Dark Chocolate Ganache Macarons, my senior gratitude macarons.
Aug 21 is World Senior Citizen’s Day! Of all the causes I have volunteered or fundraised for, senior care and children’s cancer has been closest to my heart, perhaps because of my personal encounters. I have seen my grandparents and what isolation can do to our seniors.
In 6th grade my handmade greeting cards were purchased by so many people – the proceeds of which supported senior care and St. Jude’s. You can see some of my cards here. When I founded Meraki-X, I thought of how I could continue helping seniors and children through my passion.
This year French macarons happened during the quarantine and has been such a blessing. They are my superpower now. I am overwhelmed with your support and the response I have received to my macarons. Not only have I mastered the art now, I I have been able to give back to causes close to my heart (including Black Lives Matter) through the sale of macarons.
I have utilized my summer break in learning the intricacies and formalities of running a food business. Now that I have formalized the latter, I wanted to share with you the causes that will benefit from the support you all (my precious customers) are giving me. Proceeds from my macaron and handmade card sales will support one cause every month (in addition to the two closest to my heart which are senior care and childhood cancer).
World Senior Citizen’s Day is coming up this week on August 21. I announced yesterday that I am donating 100 handmade cards to a local senior center. Thanks to all of you (especially my school friends) for responding immediately and writing messages to be included in the cards for our beloved seniors.
Now on to the macarons. I have created a new flavor dedicated only to seniors for this special day. These are Meraki-X’s senior gratitude macarons. These beautiful, purple “Thank You” macarons with a touch of happiness sprinkles are filled with a cheesecake and dark chocolate ganache filling. They are DELICIOUS. I guarantee you will LOVE this flavor.
All proceeds from the sale of my cards and macarons in August will go to “Cure Alzheimer’s” fund where 100% of the donations go to Alzheimer’s research!
Thank you and here’s to Meraki-X’s “senior gratitude” macarons!
You may also like the recipes below:
Cheese and Dark Chocolate Ganache Macarons
Ingredients
Method
- Pulse the almond flour in a food processor a few times.
- Separate the egg whites from the egg yolk. Be very careful not to have the egg yolk break into the whites. Make sure egg whites are at room temperature.
- Now in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the egg whites and the cream of tartar at medium speed.
- As you see the egg whites getting foamy, add the granulated sugar in 2-3 batches. Increase the speed, and let it whip.
- Add the vanilla extract and the food color.
- The egg white should be whipped to a stiff consistency. Easily took me about 6-8 mins for the whole process. You have to stop the mixer and check if the egg whites when scooped gets stiff peaks.
- Add the almond flour and powdered sugar mix into the whipped egg whites in 2-3 batches and mix it in. It took me 3-4 mins to mix and get a texture which would let me write an eight with the batter falling freely from the spatula used for mixing.
- Now fill a piping bag with a round tip and pour the batter in it.
- Prepare a cookie sheet with silicon sheets, mine have the macaron template.
- Pipe small circles about an inch and half in diameter about a couple of inches apart from each other on the cookie sheet.
- You should put gentle pressure on the piping bag and let the batter fill out from the center and form a circle.
- Once you are done piping the circles, tap and gently bang the cookie sheets on your countertop for 2-3 times. This actually helps reveal the air bubbles. With a tooth pick burst the bubbles gently and remove them.
- Now let the cookie sheet rest on the counter top for at least 20-30 mins.
- The macarons should dry up enough so that when touched they feel dry and nothing sticks to your fingers. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Put the cookie sheets in the middle rack and bake for 20 mins. Take them out and let them stand for 10 mins. Remove on to a wired cookie rack and let them cool down.
- In the meantime, whip together all the ingredients for the filling and fill a piping bag with a round tip again.
- Take the cookies and fill one side with the filling and place another cookie gently on top to sandwich them.
- To decorate them I just rolled them sidewise in a bowl with 1/2 cup of sprinkles.
- I also used a cookie stencil and air brushed the words Thank You on them.
