Say what you want about Valentine’s Day but it is easily one of my favorite holidays. Yes, it can get a bit sappy and overhyped with all the contrived romantic gestures, but there is so much more to romance than just the cheesy stuffed animals (or in my case, the cheesy stuffed pizzas). One of the most thoughtful things Jay does for me is constantly embrace my culture with open arms, especially when it comes to Vietnamese food. Not once has he turned his nose up at anything I’ve made or complained about having to use chopsticks or refused to try something my parents cooked or made any comments on the way Asian grocery stores smell. It may seem like avoiding all the above reactions is just having basic manners, but you’d be surprised how often my mother is greeted with a polite cringe anytime she serves a non Asian person anything that isn’t pho. The gestures are small but doing them consistently sends the most romantic message of all: I love you exactly the way you are and I love learning about where you came from. As an Asian American, or really any American who grew up with a different cultural background, you often feel like you always have to compromise between holding onto family traditions and growing into a more modern, Americanized version of yourself. It’s really wonderful to be with someone who lets you hold onto the things that not only remind you of home, but make you you.

All mushiness aside, in keeping with the theme of trying new things in the name of romance, I present to you: the dragonfruit. These vibrant hot pink tropical fruits have a contrastingly plain white, seedy flesh. (If only we all could be as sexy and exotic on the outside while sweet and smooth on the inside for VDay.) The simple tasting flesh inside offers a similar texture to kiwi while having a mild, fruity flavor like a melon. Its light flavor makes it an easy yet unique ingredient to any dessert. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to make French macarons featuring a dragonfruit buttercream frosting.

The macaron is such a lovely, delicate treat, but making it does take a bit of practice. Luckily, there are very few ingredients involved and the recipe yields a few dozen cookies so lots of opportunities for improvement!.

1. You want to start out by beating your egg whites until they are white and foamy. Add in your food coloring (I added 50 drops of red and 5 drops of blue to achieve my bubblegum pink shade) and white sugar and beat until soft peaks form. It took me so long to understand this whole “peaks” situation. First, there are different types of peaks you may want to achieve. For macarons, you want to make sure your peaks are soft, meaning when you flip your whisk upside down, they peaks their shape but slowly fold into themselves. Secondly, it can take more time than you expected to reach this texture. It takes me almost 10 minutes using an electric beater to get soft peaks so don’t stress yourself out after only a few minutes.

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2. Once your mixture yields soft peaks, add in confectioner’s sugar and ground almonds. I prefer to buy peeled, slivered almonds and grind them myself using a coffee a grinder for a fresher, almondier texture. Use a spatula to fold the sugar and ground almonds into the whipped eggs whites, stirring just enough to get an even mixture.

3. Then comes the fun part! Spoon your macaron batter into a ziploc or piping bag and pipe about 2.5 inch circles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pro tip: PARCHMENT PAPER AND WAX PAPER ARE NOT THE SAME THING. I had quite a duh moment when I realized that wax paper has well, wax and wax melts in the oven. Whoops! After you finish piping your macaron rounds, let them sit for 30 minutes before baking them at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

4. After your macarons have baked and cooled for at least 10 minutes. Sandwich them with some dragonfruit frosting. Just a basic buttercream recipe with dragonfruit mixed in will give you a tangy, delightful flavor.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dragonfruit Macarons

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

For the macarons

• 6 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups ground almonds
• 2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
• red and blue food coloring optional

For the dragonfruit frosting

• 2 dragonfruits
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 cup milk

Instructions

 

• Beat egg whites until white and foamy.
• Add in sugar and food coloring and beat until soft peaks form.
• Fold in ground almongs and confectioner's sugar.
• Spoon macaron batter into a plastic bag and pipe into 2.5 inch rounds onto a parchment paper lines baking sheet.
• Let piped macarons sit for 30 minutes then bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.
• To prepare frosting, whisk together confectioner's sugar, milk and scooped out dragonfruit.
• After macarons have cooled for at least 10 minutes, pipe a small round of frosting in the center of two macarons