COLORFUL GULAB JAMUN RANGOLI MACARONS
Rangoli was one of my favorite art things to do as a kid. I would participate in rangoli competitions in school and college. I did not win, but does that really matter in the bigger realm of things? I loved participating and showing off my art to whatever ability.
Every Diwali, my mom and I would make rangolis outside the front entrance of our home. It was a ritual that I truly enjoyed with my mother. We would start off in the morning, she would help me with the design, and decide on what colors go where. I would continue into the wee hours of the afternoon to completion. We would then light them up with diyas, and there was such a beautiful pretty rangoli by our doorstep.
In those days there were no iphones 😉 so all I have are the memories etched in my mind. Diwali was celebrated in all zeal and enthusiasm, and love. It was THE festival when sweets were exchanged between friends, family and even business partners. It was the festival when we all got new clothes, mom got new jewelry, and we cleaned the house inside out, top to bottom to welcome guests during this busy time, into our homes.
In the south of India, and an art that originated in Tamil Nadu, I was inspired to make these Gulab Jamun Rangoli Macarons by the beautiful art of Kolam, which is making rangoli designs traditionally with rice flour. Over the years, folks use white chalk, or white powder to make the designs.
I really wanted the macarons to signify color, and brightness, by making tri-color macarons. The first set of macarons were made with orange, pink and yellow colors. The second set of macarons were made with purple, blue and green colors – almost peacock colors. The white royal icing piping stands out quite beautifully on the macarons.
Macarons are finicky and my previous macaron posts have tons of tips and tricks on what all to do to get perfect macarons.
This post is in partnership with my favorite flour brand – Bob’s Red Mill ! Their Super Fine Almond Flour is truly my favorite. They do make the best macarons ever! So if you are looking for an excellent brand to make macarons – go with Bob’s Red Mill! I use their all purpose flour, oat flour, semolina flour amongst other ones, regularly as part of my cooking/baking needs. I talk about the history of Bob’s Red Mill in this blog post – so please do check it out!
Macaron Shells are made with basically few ingredients:
- Almond Flour: Use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour for best results!
- Confectioner’s Sugar: Almond flour and confectioner’s sugar are ground together as the first step always.
- Egg Whites: I have seen recipes that use cold egg whites, however i have always used room temperature egg whites.
- Cream of Tartar: This is used to stabilize the meringue.
- Granulated Sugar: This is used to make the meringue as well, in conjunction with the egg whites.
- Vanilla Extract or in this case Rose Water: I use a tad bit to add flavor to the shells.
Some tips for the macarons and the tri-colored macarons:
- Always ensure that you sift the almond flour and the confectioner’s sugar, atleast 4-5 times, and discard the bigger pieces that are left behind in the sifting process.
- Whip the egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar for about 5 minutes in total, and ensure that when you turn the whisk, there are stiff peaks formed for the meringue. Do not over whip.
- For the tri-colored macarons, ensure that the plastic wrap is tightly sealed on the top and the bottom, and when putting it into the piping bag, make sure to pull the wrap through the piping tip and then cut it off, before piping the macs.
- Bang the tray atleast 10 times for the macs to settle, and no bubbles to form on the top.
- Always let it set for atleast 40 minutes.
- If you are not decorating the macs on the same day, lay them on the tray and cover with a plastic wrap, so no air goes into the macs and hardens them. This will ensure that the center remains chewy.
For the white chocolate ganache that is infused with saffron and rose, I have to attribute and give due credit to Chef Karina Rivera who has inspired me to make this ganache for these macarons. Her feed is truly inspiring and her macaron flavors are just drop dead gorgeous! You can find her at this website!
These macarons are Gulab Jamun flavored Macarons. Gulab Jamuns are these golf ball sized desserts, made with mawa, or even milk powder, and ghee, bound into little balls and deep fried. Then they are dunked into a cardamom, saffron, and rose water syrup to give it its signature sweetness. This sweet is HUGELY popular in India, and all across the globe. I got the idea to use white chocolate ganache for the inside of the macaron, infused with saffron and rose water from the gulab jamun syrup.
The white chocolate ganache is made with good quality white chocolate. Use Valrhona if you can. I infuse the heavy cream with saffron, add it with white chocolate and the corn syrup. Once the chocolate is melted, using a hand blender, blend the ganache until smooth. Add the rose water at this time, to give it a beautiful saffron rose flavor.
The macarons are filled with a piping of the ganache, and filled with ready made gulab jamun pieces in the middle. This makes for a very festive, delicious, bite sized beauty, that is absolutely divine!! I shared these macarons with a lot of my friends, and they all loved these macarons SO much – could not have made me happier to have positive reinforcement from my friends!
The gulab jamuns are ready made from this famous brand Haldiram linked here. They are cheaper at the Indian grocery store, and that is what I would recommend if you are making these macarons.
I loved making the kolam designs on top of the macaron shells! It was absolutely therapeutic and my favorite thing to do with these macarons.
I hope you get to make these macarons, and always feel free to holler at me, if you have any questions. If you do make them, please tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment for me on this blog post.
Always appreciate your love! Hope you enjoyed this Diwali recipe!
XO
Amisha
Colorful Gulab Jamun Rangoli Macarons
Ingredients
- Saffron Rose White Chocolate Ganache
- 11oz good quality white chocolate
- 1oz corn syrup
- 5oz heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon saffron
- ¼ teaspoon rose water
- Macaron shells
- 5oz Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour
- 5 oz confectioner’s sugar
- 4 oz egg whites
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 4 oz granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon rose water
- Americolor Electric Pink food gel
- Americolor Electric Orange food gel
- Americolor Yellow food gel
- Americolor Electric Blue food gel
- Americolor Electric Green/Forest Green food gel
- Americolor Electric Purple food gel
- Royal Icing
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tablespoon meringue powder
- 5 to 6 tbsp warm water
- 6 to 8 gulab jamuns ( I used Haldiram’s gulab jamuns from the Indian store)
- Equipment
- 4 x 12 inch pastry bags
- 2 x ½ inch round piping tip
- 1 x #1 Wilton piping tip
- 1 x ¼ inch round piping tip
- Plastic wrap
Instructions
- Saffron Rose White Chocolate Ganache
- In a medium bowl, on medium to low heat, add the white chocolate, heavy cream, corn syrup and saffron. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the white chocolate has completely melted and the mixture looks cohesive.
- In a deeper narrow plastic bowl, add the mixture and rose water, and using a hand blender, blend the mixer until super smooth and silky in texture.
- Add the mixture onto a quarter size baking tray, lined with parchment paper. Place a plastic wrap on the top, touching the mixture, to seal from developing a layer on the top. Place in the fridge for atleast 6 hours to set, overnight is preferred.
- Macaron shells
- 1. Preheat the oven to 310 degrees. Line baking sheets with the paper templates, and top with the parchment paper, or you could use silpat.
- 2. In a bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the confectioner's sugar with the almond flour until a fine powder is formed. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Using a drum sieve, sift the mixture four times. Set aside.
- 3. To make the meringue: In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy for about 1 to 1 ½ minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar. Once all the sugar is incorporated and the mixture is thick, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the rose water, and increase the speed to high, whipping until stiff, firm, glossy peaks form for about 3 to 4 minutes. You can remove and turn the whisk and the meringue should be held at the tip of the whisk.
- 4. To complete the macaronnage step: Sift the almond flour mixture, one-third at a time, over the egg white mixture, and fold using a large spatula until JUST MIXED.
- 5. Now divide the mixture into 6 bowls. Add each of the 6 colors into each of the bowls.
- 6. Use separate spatulas for each bowl. Now using the pink bowl, use a circular motion in one direction, fold the mixture to incorporate the color. Press the mixture against the bowl to remove any air as you go in a circular motion. Keep repeating this form/action until you can form a figure 8 with the batter. The batter should flow like a smooth ribbon. Do NOT over mix, else your macaron shells will not form well. The consistency should be right. When you form the figure 8 from 2 inches above the batter, the batter should subside and blend with the batter in the bowl within 10 seconds. That is when you know your consistency is correct.
- 7. Repeat this step for the other bowls.
- 8. Place a large plastic wrap on the counter. Add the pink, orange and yellow batters, length of about 12 inches. Slowly roll the plastic to tightly wrap it all together and seal the ends.
- 9. Add this roll up into the plastic bag that has the ½ inch piping tip attached. Make sure the sealed end of the plastic wrap pokes through the piping tip. Cut the tip off for the batter to flow through. Set it aside.
- 10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 for the green, blue and purple colors.
- 11. Trace 1 inch rounds with a pencil on two parchment papers that are an inch apart. Place parchment on the baking sheets, and place the silicone mat on the parchment paper. Pipe rounds within the circle on the parchment-silicone lined baking sheets. Gentle tap each sheet on the work surface to release trapped air. Do this step atleast 10 times. The batter will spread. Using a toothpick, pop any bubbles that may be on the surface of the macarons and blend the batter such that it smoothes out on the top of the macaron. Let stand at room temperature for 40 minutes atleast. Check for a slight crust to form on the macaron. The macarons should not stick to your finger when lightly touched.
- 12. Bake one sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 17 minutes.
- 13. Allow macarons to cool on the baking sheets for 30 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.
- Royal Icing
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the confectioner's sugar, meringue powder on low speed until combined.
- On low speed, slowly add the water and let it combine. Scrap the bowl.
- Continue to mix the icing on low speed until the icing is light in color and holds a stiff peak, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not overmix the icing.
- Use the stiff consistency as-is for the outline of the cookie. Put the icing in a 12 inch pastry bag with the #1 Wilton piping tip. Scrap the icing down with a bench scraper. Secure the top tight. Use the piping bag to decorate the macarons with royal icing.
- The bags can be kept in the refrigerator for 10 days. Keep the tips well secured (hydrated) so as not to dry out the icing.
- Assembly
- Remove the ganache, place it in a plastic bag, with a ¼ inch round piping tip. Seal from the top and set it aside.
- Cut the gulab jamuns into tiny squares, and set it aside.
- Match the macarons to ensure they are the same size. Pipe the ganache around the flat size of the macaron, leaving a tiny border at the tip. Place 3-4 tiny pieces of gulab jamun in the center. Using the macaron top, seal the macaron, and set it aside.
- Repeat for the remaining macarons.
- Store them in an airtight container and in the fridge for upto 10 days.
- Remove them about 20 minutes prior to eating.
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