Vanilla Macaron

• For the biscuits:

• Sift the almond flour and icing sugar in a medium bowl. Split the vanilla beans and scrap the seeds. Add them to the almond flour & powdered sugar mixture. Add 55g (half) of your egg whites to the almond/sugar/vanilla mixture, without mixing them.

• In a small saucepan, combine the water and 150 grams of sugar and bring to a boil until it reaches 118c. 

• Place the other half of the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer with a whisk attachment.

• When the sugar syrup is at 115c start beating the whites on medium speed until they reach soft peaks.

• Pour the sugar at 118c over the egg whites. Beat until the temperature of the mixture drops to 50’C. Fold the meringue into the almond-sugar-egg white mixture until it’s homogeneous. Place in a large pastry bag with a plain #11 tip.

• Pipe rounds of the meringue dough onto the prepared parchment paper. 

• Leave the meringues out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. This is a very important step as the piped meringue rounds develop a thin ‘crust’ over their surface during the rest.

• Preheat the oven to 175c. Bake the meringues for exactly 12 minutes. Open the oven door quickly-twice during cooking. When the Biscuits are cooked slide the parchment paper onto a work surface and leave them to cool.

For the vanilla ganache:

• Preheat the oven to 160c.

• Split the vanilla beans in half and scrap the seeds with the tip of a knife. Add them to the double cream along with beans. 

• Bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat.

• Cover and let infuse 30 minutes.

• Place the chopped white chocolate in a bowl of a bain-marie and melt. Remove the vanilla beans from the cream and pour the mixture over the melted chocolate in three addition. 

• Mix until smooth and scrap the mixture in a container. 

• Cover with plastic wrap and let it cool in the refrigerator.

• Pipe a generous amount of the ganache onto the underside of your biscuit then sqaush it down gently with another biscuit.