Vanilla is the second most valuable spice in the world (after saffron), and here's another fun factoid: the Vanilla Bean pod is actually the only edible fruit of an orchid plant. When my husband was in Papua New Guinea and saw countless vanilla pods growing wild, the local farmer was unaware of the value of the pods, saying it was 'just fruit of the orchids'. Flavored with the whole vanilla bean pod, using the seeds in the shell and the pod skin in the ganache, these macarons have the truest taste of vanilla. Nothing plain about vanilla at Anges!

Ingredients

• 1 batch of Macaron shells
• 3 Vanilla bean pods split and scraped
• 225g High-grade quality white chocolate, chips, or grated
• 175g Double cream

Method

25 portions

1. Follow the macaron shell technique adding 1 vanilla bean pod’s seeds in at the first step
2. Place the remaining vanilla bean pod seeds and the 3 vanilla bean pod skins in a small saucepan with the cream and bring to a soft simmer over medium heat.
3. Once the cream and vanilla reach a simmer, remove from heat, cover lightly with cling film, and let infuse for 30 minutes
4. Place the chocolate in a double-boiler/bain-marie, melt slowly over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once melted, pour into a mixing bowl
5. As the vanilla pods have infused, remove the pods from the cream and scrape the skins with the back of a table knife (this is where all those aromatic oils are!) and place the scraped oils and seeds back into the cream
6. Pour the cream into the melted chocolate in a steady stream and gently stir till uniform and glossy
7. Let the ganache cool to ambient before covering with cling film and placing in the fridge to set slightly
8. Prepare a piping bag with a 1cm round nozzle
9. Peel the macaron shells off the baking parchment gently and pair up for sizes
10. Using a spatula fill the piping bag with the ganache and pipe dollops on half of the shells and then lightly sandwich with another shell