Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

I went missing last week, from the internet and from the world in general. But I'm back! It was a rough week, I was struck down with an incredibly nasty virus that refused to go away, so I could do nothing but lie in bed and wait to get better. Everyone realised how sick I was when they saw I didn't have the energy to bake. It was sucky. It's so nice to be healthy again.

Things don't seem to be going as planned recently, I've had the idea for this macaron flavour running around my head for the last month, and I had all the ingredients ready but only just got the chance to experiment with it. I wanted to make blueberry cheesecake flavoured macarons, with a cream cheese and blueberry filling, and possibly incorporating the cheesecake crust into it somehow. The first experiment was a disaster. I was still on cold & flu meds and a little out of it, and my macaron shells ended up neon blue after I tipped in half a container of food colouring. The sight of bright blue shells with a purple filling made me completely nauseous, so I threw the whole thing out and went back to bed.

Now I'm still on the mend and much more clear headed, but things still didn't quite work out exactly like I had hoped. Maybe it was because I was out of practice or a little out of it from the illness, but my shells turned out bumpy and ugly and rather than having a pretty purple swirl they just looked unfinished and pale pink. I set the oven too high so the shells were a bit hard and hollow. And my tastebuds are still a little off, so I asked A to help me taste while I was making the blueberry cream cheese filling. That...was a bad idea. It went something like this:
Me: How is it?
A: It needs more lemon zest.
Me: *adds more* What about now?
A: Maybe a bit more lemon zest.
Me: Now?
A: Good.
Me: Does it taste like blueberry cheesecake?
A: No, it tastes like lemon.

Hmph.

So they didn't really taste like blueberry cheesecake, but that was my fault. I reckon someone out there can take this recipe and adjust it to taste and make it taste just like blueberry cheesecake. I ended up incorporating the cheesecake crust into it by creating tiny thin little disks of crust out of digestive biscuits & butter. The filling is delicious, even though mine was very lemony and not very blueberry...-y. I think it may be because I used this wild blueberry jam, since it's the wrong time of year for fresh blueberries and I was worried frozen ones would be too watery. Next time I will have to try it with fresh ones and I'm sure that will taste closer to blueberry cheesecake. These definitely aren't the prettiest macarons I've ever made but they are very moreish. The disk of cheesecake crust and cream cheese ensure that the macaron is not too sweet, and has a slightly drier texture than some of my previous macaron recipes. The important thing is, they taste really good.

Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons
(makes 20-25 macarons, depending on the size they are piped)
100g digestive biscuits/graham wafers
50g butter, melted

100g aged egg whites (you can use fresh eggs too, just make sure they are room temperature. I always use fresh these days, and zap it in the microwave on defrost for 10 seconds)
110g almond meal, dried in a cool (100 degrees C) oven for 5 minutes and sifted
200g icing sugar
50g caster sugar
Optional: 1 tsp powdered egg whites (available from The Essential Ingredient)

100g cream cheese, softened
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp blueberry jam OR 1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 tsp lemon zest

Place digestive biscuits in the food processor and crush to a fine crumb. Gradually add melted butter until the crumbs start to stick together nicely (you may not need all the butter, I only used about 40 grams in the end). Place mixture on a piece of baking paper and flatten into a tightly packed layer that is about 2mm thick. Using a 1.5cm cookie cutter, cut out small rounds of this packed crust. You will need about 20-25, one for each macaron. Place in the fridge to set while you prepare your macs.

Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Place icing sugar in food processor and pulse for a minute to remove any lumps. Stir in almond meal and pulse a few times to combine. Place in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and egg white powder in a medium mixing bowl until the egg white powder dissolves and it reaches soft peaks. With the mixer on high speed, gradually add sugar and beat until it reaches stiff peaks.

Add meringue (and powdered food colouring) to your dry mixture and mix, quickly at first to break down the bubbles in the egg white, then fold carefully as the dry mixture becomes incorporated and it starts to become shiny again. Take care not to overmix, the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after 30 seconds to a minute. Place in a piping bag and pipe rounds of about 3cm diameter on lined baking sheets or silicon baking mats. Gently rap your baking sheets on your bench top to remove any extra bubbles from your piped shells.

Preheat your oven to 140-150 degrees C (temperature varies depending on your oven). Leave shells on bench to dry for about an hour, so that when you press the surface of one gently it does not break. Place on top of an overturned roasting tray or another baking sheet if they are not professional grade. Bake for 13-15 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar and beat until combined. Add blueberries/blueberry jam and lemon zest and beat in lightly. You may need to chill it for a bit if it is runny. When you are ready to fill your macarons, place a disk of cheesecake crust on a macaron shell and surround the disk with some cream cheese filling, then sandwich with another macaron shell. Refrigerate overnight. Can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for several days.