Spiced pumpkin macaron with peach tea and leatherwood honey filling

Methods and Directions

• Add water to a saucepan and then add 250g of castor sugar on top and food colouring and then boil without stirring until you reach the soft ball stage at 112C.
• Start whipping 100g of egg whites until you get soft peaks and then carefully pour in the syrup and whip until the temperature reaches 50C.
• Mix 100g of egg whites with the tant pour tant and mix the meringue mixture with the tant pour tant mixture, slapping it against the sides of the bowl to deflate it. It is ready when any peaks or lines do not hold. Using a plain 1cm tip, pipe 1-inch circles onto a lined baking sheet (ensure that the baking parchment sticks to the baking sheet by spraying it with non-stick spray). Allow to rest and form a skin.
• Preheat oven to 150C. Check that a skin has formed on the macaron shell so that when you touch it, it doesn’t stick to your fingers. Slide an additional baking sheet under the one with the macarons on it and bake in the oven for 18 minutes.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Then pair similarly sized macaron halves.

• Add the 6 tea bags to the simmering sugar syrup and let the tea infuse for 10 minutes.
• Add the diced pumpkin and simmer away until the pumpkin is completely cooked but maintaining its shape.
• Strain the cooking syrup and leave to cool in fridge while you pass the pumpkin through a very fine sieve and set aside to cool.

• Bring cream and vanilla bean to boil then pass cream through a fine sieve on to white chocolate and mix until the chocolate has completely melted.
• Add enough pumpkin purée to reach the desired colour and flavour then fill a piping bag fitted with a size 9 nozzle with half of the ganache and set aside to cool.

• Lightly spray with cooking spray a lamington tray then line with cling film.
• Mix the agar and the cold syrup together in a pot then bring to the boil and pour into lined tray.
• Leave to set in fridge for 20 minutes.
• Once set, cut out as many circles as possible using a 2cm round pastry cutter, and place the cut circles on a tray lined with cling film.