Cereal Milk Macarons

Last summer I had gone out for ice cream with a couple friends-- as you do, and we all went to have Cereal Milk Ice Cream from a popular noodle bar in downtown Toronto, called Momofuku.
And man, was this ice cream delicious.
It tasted just like the milk you're left with after you finish your cereal. A strange taste/ idea when you think about it, and yet I completely fell in love.
It felt nostalgic and comforting, yet super simplistic.

I really wanted to try out that idea for myself, so that's how I came up with these Cereal Milk Macarons. I needed a filling that was milk based so I could easily flavour it with the cereal, so I decided to make a diplomat cream. Initially, I had the pastry cream to whipped cream ratio a bit off, so it didn't hold up in the shells. But I modified it and recipe should do the trick.

Cereal Milk Macarons

Makes about 25 macarons

Macaron Shells

100g         ground almonds, non-blanched
200g         icing sugar
100g         egg whites
4 tbsp        granulated sugar

Sift the ground almonds into a medium sized bowl. Dispose of any large lumps. Measure them out again, add more if needed, sift again with the icing sugar. Set aside. In a large bowl whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar 1 table spoon at a time and whip until it holds stiff peaks. Add green food colouring.
Dump 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the egg whites. Fold from top to bottom scraping down the sides. Add the second 1/3 and repeat. Add the last 1/3 and fold until it forms ribbons. When dropped from a spoon it should take 15 seconds to flatten out. Don't over mix!
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe onto a trays lined with parchment paper. Don't pipe too big, 1" is enough. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Let your cookies sit at room temperature until they form a dry "skin", this will help for feet. When you tap them it shouldn't be sticky.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. You can test by touching the sides, if they wobble they are not done. Let the shells cool before removing from the sheet.

Diplomat Cream

240ml               milk
1 cup                cornflakes
48g                  sugar
2 egg yolks
40 g                 corn starch
1 tbsp              butter
75ml                whipping cream
4g                    gelatin
1 tsp                 water

In a medium bowl combine the milk and cornflakes. Let soak for about 10 minutes.
Strain mixture through sieve into a medium saucepan, being sure to squeeze any liquid out of the cornflakes. Add sugar and place saucepan over low heat. Bring to a simmer. Take off heat.
Meanwhile in a separate bowl, combine the egg yolk and corn starch. Temper the egg yolks by pouring the hot milk mixture over the egg yolks while whisking constantly.
Transfer mixture back into medium saucepan and place over low heat and while whisking constantly, allow to thicken. Remove from heat immediately and transfer through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Add butter and stir to melt.
Place plastic wrap over top and allow to cool in fridge for about an hour.

While pastry cream cools, bloom gelatin in the teaspoon of water. Once bloomed, melt in microwave, about 8 seconds. Whip the whipping cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Add the melted gelatin and whip to combine.
When pastry cream is cool enough, take out of fridge and whisk to get rid of any lumps. In two additions fold in the whipping cream, being careful not to deflate the mixture too much. Once just incorporated place in fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up.
Once firm, transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe diplomat cream on the backsides of half the macaron shells. Take another shell and sandwich the two sides together. Repeat with all cookies.
Store in fridge. Best if eaten within the first few days after making. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Elanne Boake