A friend sent this – green macarons, mint crème. It’s entirely possible this image is AI generated, but the idea was still intriguing to me. However, I don’t think I’d want to use pomegranate seeds here. What would you use instead? Something with a sweet-tart-fruity profile, but also that jewel-like visual quality. Is there a decent red-hued candied fruit you could substitute?
by amiechoke
27 Comments
Candied citrus peels would look like garland!
This is such a cute idea. Homemade gelatin drops or tapioca pearls? Pomegranate seeds look so great tho, but I get where you’re coming from. Personally I’d probably want something more like a sprinkle for taste & texture purposes but idk what sprinkle would compare
I’d make a chocolate agar-agar pearls. Choc syrup, heated with agar-agar, and dropped on cold water with a syringe. These are honey, but same concept. Balsamic pearls are GREAT on salads.
https://recipes.specialingredientseurope.com/en/honey-pearls-with-agar-agar/
There are bursting boba tapioca pearls that come in different flavors. I don’t know if it would be too big but it might be worth looking into 🙂
Red hots
Chopped candied cherries would have that jewel quality. I’m not too big on the mint-cherry combo, but, since cherry mojitos exist, that might just be me.
Diced dried cranberries
I do like the pomegranates! What about course pink sugar crystals?
Little cinnamon candies that look like this
Dried cranberries
Currants, if you get them
I’m pretty sure it’s AI generated. Otherwise physics would have something to say about those pomegranate seeds and the gold star staying perfectly balanced like that.
As I was scrolling, I thought “who posted this AI slop in the baking sub?” but then I read you were just looking for inspiration lol. Still, best to avoid the generative AI stuff cuz we don’t want more of it circulating on the internet. That said, I’d be using cranberries instead of pomegranates.
Candy.
Dry cranberries, or pull apart raspberry ( I know time-consuming), but the little individual little buds would work nicely.
Freeze dried raspberries!
Red sprinkles
This is 100% AI generated, you can immediately tell by the contrast. But anyways, you could make little fruit caviar out of any fruit. I don’t know how familiar you are with molecular kitchen, but there’s a way to turn any liquid (fruit juice) into little spheres with a membrane that pops when you bite it, with juice inside. It’s called spherification and you need sodium alginate, calcium lactate and a little pipette to make some droplets. I can tell you more if you’re interested
Raspberry jam
Mini M&Ms but just the red ones.
Looks like AI.
Edit: sorry that is not helpful I just really hate AI so when I saw it I wanted to point it out right away that whatever it is isn’t possible. With AI I mean you really have no idea that it’s mint creme or what flavors are really in it. Sounds like a nice idea though. Mint is usually pretty good on its own, maybe it could be mint flavored macaroon with white chocolate inside or vice versa. Then the pomegranate could be little pieces of crunched candy cane. Check out the candy aisle for ideas. Lately these freeze dried candies are really popular (expensive though), lots of cool sprinkles you can get even metallic ball ones. Red will be hard as a fruit item that goes with mint I feel like. Blood orange? Tapioca pearls? Maraschino cherries?
this is 100% A.I and it hurts my heart to see dozens of images like these on facebook but the middled aged moms on there not knowing any better are absolutely enamoured by them 😭
Possibly some lil red edible pearl type sprinkles?
Even if AI generated, it’s probably based on a pistachio macaron with pomegranate which is a good flavor pairing.
If it were mint, I would expect chocolate, not pomegranate.
Pieces of raspberries
What about those colored edible metallic pearl-like “sprinkles” or some Christmas-y nonpareils? I know neither are very tasty nor ruby-like, but it could also be cute to vary them up
Diced glacé fruit, raspberries if available, or make a very stiff jello/jelly in port wine , raspberry or strawberry flavour and dice it up small and use the tiny cubes.