Totoro Macaron

I know some of you have been waiting for my Totoro macarons recipe, sorry for the delay. Thank you for your patience, managed to get the recipe updated today. :)


I've forgotten when I made these, I think it was during the June school holidays.


These Totoro macarons were made using black sesame, I added grinded black sesame into both the shells and buttercream. :)  The white portions were also done using macaron batter, hence there will be an extra step to prepare another white batter in my recipe. If you find it too much of a hassle, you can pipe on the white portions using melted white chocolate or icing after the macarons are baked.


I found the grey colour a little too light, hence the details on Totoro's tummy was not that obvious. I suggest increasing the amount of grinded black sesame a little (remember to decrease the amount of ground almond proportionally). Please note that the recipe I am sharing below is the actual amount I used to make them. Alternatively, you can skip that step and use a black food marker to draw on Totoro's tummy instead.

TOTORO BLACK SESAME MACARON RECIPE
Ingredients:
Totoro grey portion:
45g ground almond
35g grinded black sesame seeds
160g icing sugar
60g egg white, separated for 24 hours in advance

Totoro white portion:
40g ground almond
80g icing sugar
30g egg white, separated for 24 hours in advance

Buttercream:
60g egg white
110g butter, room temperature
110g fine castor sugar
50g grinded black sesame

Method:

1. Sieve 80g icing sugar together with ground almond and grinded black sesame seeds twice. Alternatively, you can also use a food processor to pulse them till fine before sieving them once. Set aside.


2. Beat egg white on low/medium speed until foamy, sieve 80g icing sugar in 3 batches, change to high speed and beat till soft peak form. You can turn up the speed and continue to beat till stiff peak, if you prefer a thicker macaron.

3. Add step 2 icing sugar/almond/black sesame mixture into egg white in 2 batches, folding well to combine.

4. Scoop batter into pipping bag with nozzle tip #1A attached. Set aside 4 tbsp of mixture in another pipping bag for step 7. Pipe out Totoro on a non-stick baking sheet. I piped out an oval shaped and used a toothpick to pull out the ears. Use a toothpick to prick the air bubbles. Leave the macarons to dry.

5. Proceed to prepare the white macaron batter. Steps are similar to step 1 to 3, sieve 40g icing sugar together with ground almond. Beat 30g egg white with 40g icing sugar. Fold in both mixtures together. 

6. Fill white batter in pipping bag, snip off tip or you can use a small round nozzle. Pipe out Totoro's eyes and tummies.  

7. Using the batter set aside in step 4, pipe out inverted 'V' on Totoro's tummy. Dry macaron shells for around 30 minutes.

8. Preheat oven to 150 degrees celcius. Bake macarons at middle rack for around 12-15 minutes. Once the feet appears (they should do so before 5 minutes) , place an oven rack above the tray of macarons and continue baking till 12-15 minutes is up. (this is to prevent the top of the macarons from browning) When baking is complete, do not remove the macarons from the tray, allow them to cool for a while before removing. 
9. To make buttercream filling, combine egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk over a gentle simmering hot water bath, till all the sugar have melted. Remove from heat.

10. Place on mixer and whisk on high till stiff peaks are formed.

11. Turn down the speed and add in the butter gradually, mix well.

12. Mix in black sesame paste. Fill in pipping bag, refrigerate around 15 minutes before pipping onto your macarons. 

13. Use a black food marker to draw Totoro's eyes and whiskers.

Note:

• The amount of grinded black sesame seeds in the buttercream recipe can be adjusted to your preference. Just increase the amount of black sesame if you prefer the black sesame taste to be more intense, and vice versa.
• The measurements for the ingredients is crucial. It is also important to whisk the egg whites and fold in the sugar/almond mixture correctly.
• The need to use aged egg whites is debatable, but you should at least use egg whites at room temperature. I usually separate them the night before, leave in a bowl covered with cling wrap at room temperature.
• Please ensure equipments are dry when beating egg whites, else you will have problem beating them till stiff peak.
• It is necessary to leave the batter to rest for at least half an hour before baking, this is for the macarons to form a shell on top.
• It's important to use a non-stick baking sheet, I usually bake mine on silpat mats.
• Macarons taste better the following day, so if you can wait, keep in fridge and eat them the next day.

Where to get same item used in today's post: