Savoury goats’ cheese macarons with fig, walnut and black sesame!

Well these are as savoury as a dessert with macaron shells of sugar, ground almonds and egg white can be! They were created in response to a Daring Kitchen macaron challenge. I’d made Italian meringue macaron shells many times so challenged myself to create an unusual savoury filling. Tangy goats’ cheese seemed a tasty option but other recipes add honey and fig jam resulting in rather sweet macarons. So I chose to add no sugar, keeping the goats’ cheese as tangy and savoury as possible then rounding the edge off with ground black sesame seeds. The unsweetened fig intensifies naturally in flavour as a compote. Finally, I liked the idea of a crunch in my experimental macarons so added little walnut pieces. Tada! Goat’s cheese macarons with fig, walnut and black sesame – an amazing collage of textures and flavours! But they’re all optional and you can leave them out or play with quantities. Even plain goats’ cheese is simply delicious. I can see these as a savoury canapés at a party or special dinner with intrigued guests raising impressed eyebrows. Or on a plate waiting to go into my stomach… 🙂

Goats’ cheese macarons with fig, walnut and black sesame

RECIPE

These strangely delicious tangy-sweet-smooth-crunchy macarons are a home-kitchen invention! Your contribution to goats’ cheese macarons research would be greatly appreciated If you could also test them and let me know which filling combinations work best for you.

Macaron shells (40 shell halves to make 20 macarons)

Use macaron shells hanging around your freezer or make them. You can follow my Italian meringue macaron shells recipe (my preferred more stable method) or the French meringue macaron shells recipe. Allow the shells to cool completely before filling.

Fig Compote and other options

Chop 1 or 2 figs into very small pieces and heat gently in a covered heavy-based pan for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Your fig compote should be soft and the flavour more intense. Pour into a bowl and let your compote cool in the fridge.

Options: instead of figs you could try using apricots. pears, blackberries or raspberries, all of which can pair well with goats’ cheese.

Goats’ cheese cream

150g/9 tablespoons goats’ cheese – I used a creamy supermarket kind, le Président which was rindless (just the middle part) and not very strong
45g/3 tablespoons mascarpone (or some other creamy cheese)
1 and a half teaspoons/3g ground black sesame seeds, to taste (optional)

Beat the ingredients together with a plastic or wooden spoon until creamy. The ingredients and quantities you choose depend on the taste and texture of your goats’ cheese (with stronger goats’ cheese you’d need to increase the mascarpone). The mascarpone makes it creamier but you can also have only goats’ cheese, add some other kind of cheese or omit the black sesame. Taste your filling as you go along to see what you prefer and test some out in a macaron or two! 🙂

Assembling

Use a disposable piping bag and plain medium-sized nozzle (no.8) to make a ring of goats’ cheese cream on half your macaron shells. Then add a quarter to half a teaspoon of fig compote in the middle of each ring. Sprinkle a few small walnut pieces on them then top with the remaining shells.

After the first few I started placing the walnuts more towards the centre to have a more even white edge. Billy the goat insisted on posing with his favourite meh-eh-ehmacaron. Yes, just when you thought I’d stopped being so batty! 🙂

Storing, testing and sharing

These macarons won’t keep very long and should be eaten within 2 days. By day 3 you can still eat them but the shell will be softer. You could keep the prepared goats’ cheese cream separate and fill when required.

I hope you’re intrigued by these ‘savoury’ macarons and might try some out. I also highly recommend, as do my friends and family, my mojito macarons.

I’m just going to thank Rachael from pizzarossa and Korena from Korena in the Kitchen for motivating me to make macarons again with their Daring Kitchen challenge, where you can see lots of other macarons! I’m also sharing these tasty little bites with Perfecting Patisserie@bakingqueen74, Recipe of the Week@aMummyToo, Tasty Tuesdays@HonestMum and Simply Eggcellent@BelleauKitchen. Check out all their lovely recipes! And please help yourselves to a little goats’ cheese macaron with fig, walnut and black sesame seed.