Popcorn and Malteser Macarons

My friends and I had a favourite movie snack growing up, being popcorn and maltesers.  The saltiness from the fresh popcorn combined with the chocolatey goodness that is the malteser is absolutely delicious.  Many I have told of this combination have turned their nose up, but I have managed to convert a few along the way.

For my first foray into the macaron world, I thought I would pay homage to this treat by making Popcorn and Malteser Macarons.

Of course when looking for a macaron recipe I started with Adriano Zumbo’s version that was used on MasterChef when the contestants had to make a macaron tower with kalamata olive and beetroot and raspberry macarons.

However, the first step was to make was the malted chocolate ganache in order for it to have enough time to cool and set.  For this recipe, I turned to Martha Stewart.  The original recipe is here however it wasn’t “malty” enough for me, mainly due to the amount of dark chocolate which overpowered the rest of the ingredients, and the small quantity of malted milk powder.

My version is:

• 300mL heavy cream
• 1 2/3 to 2 cups malted milk powder
• 400g milk chocolate
• 120g dark chocolate

The recipe says to whisk the heavy cream and malted milk powder in the saucepan and then bring to a boil.  Me with my awesome “burn everything to the bottom of the pan” skill is able to burn the malted milk powder, even with constant whisking.

However, I am yet to test whether by adding the malted milk powder to the chocolate would make the ganache more grainy as it might not dissolve effectively.

Let the cream sit with the chocolate for a minute or so in order for the chocolate to start melting.  Then start mixing to make the smooth ganache and set aside to cool.

Next you can put the popcorn through the food processor to break it down a little more for sprinkling on top of the macarons once they are piped.  You can pop your own corn, use one of those “popcorn in a bag” bags or for the authentic flavour, go to your local cinema and buy a small popcorn (which is what I do).

It is up to you how fine you want to go, I like a mixture of fine crumbs and chunky for the texture.

Now it’s macaron time.  As I said, I went with Zumbo and used the recipe here, but only making one batch of macarons.  For me piping 5cm macarons this makes about 110 shells for 55 completed macarons.

The recipe indicates to sieve the almond meal mixture together.  I did this first time, but haven’t done it since.  I do sieve the icing sugar, but I found the almond meal to much of pain to push through the sieve.  The mixture is a little more grainy, but nothing to concerning for this variety in my opinion.

Once the temperature is reached, turn off the heat and add to the combined aged egg whites and egg white powder in the stand mixer (if you have one) when it reaches 121°C.

Whisk this until it has cooled completely and becomes thick and glossy.

I made templates for both 4cm and 5cm macarons and I pretty much only use the 5 cm template now as they create a nice sized final product.  Put the template under your baking paper on a flat tray and start piping away.

Once the macarons have been piped, sprinkle the popcorn over the top and lightly press it into the shell.  Just enough so that the skin will form around it so that popcorn stays on the shell.  Let these sit for half an hour or so until a skin forms.

The first time I made these I was a little bit light handed with the popcorn, but you can put more than the above picture shows if you desire.Once the skin has formed, stick the tray in the 200°C oven and turn it off immediately.  Let it cook for 10 minutes in the residual heat and then turn the oven on to 155°C and let cook for a further 10 minutes.  You can then remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

Now for the most important step…. enjoy!!!

29/09/2013 UPDATE – To check out a few prettier pictures of these beauties, visit the Popcorn and Malteser Macarons – Photo and Method Update post for new photos, a slight change to the method and a recipe card you can save/print.