I normally do plain ones, but decided to push the boat out, and go double-chocolate! I used my normal macaron recipe, ratio'ed the ingredients to the weight of egg whites, and replace some of the icing sugar with cocoa powder.
The results were really good. The cooking bit of it was once again tricky (I have an eternal problem of them sticking to the paper...they came off this time, but not easily), and took longer than expected (24 minutes, rather than 16-20), but otherwise they were fine. I also did them a little smaller than normal, and I think this helped them come out a bit shinier and smoother (possibly a slightly slacker mix than normal as well, which wasn't a bad thing).
Chocolate Macarons - makes 15 small (about 1¼ inch diameter)
- Pre-heat oven to 140'C
- Line a large baking tray with baking parchment
Ingredients
- 85g egg white (2 large egg whites)
- 25g caster sugar
- 100g ground almonds
- 150g icing sugar
- 20g cocoa powder
- ½tsp cream of tartar
1) Place the egg whites in a sand mixer with the whisk attachment2) Whisk the whites until they start to froth, then add in the caster sugar and cream of tartar a teaspoon at a time.
3) Whisk until the whites form stiff, glossy peaks
4) Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder together. Stir in the ground almonds (you can sieve it if you want, however it's a massive hassle)
5) Fold the sugar and almond mixture into the egg whites, one third at a time. Once it's all combined, do 4-5 more folds and you're done. The mixture should be glossy, thick and viscous.6) Using a spatula, scrape the mixture into a piping bag with a medium round nozzle attached
7) Pipe 30 50p sized blobs on the baking parchment, leaving enough gaps for it to spread slightly.
8) Bang the tray on the work surface 3-4 times to remove the air bubbles
9) Leave to dry slightly for 30 minutes. It's this drying that lets the foot form when you bake them. The surface should be slightly tacky to the tough.
10) Place them in the oven for 20-24 minutes, turning them halfway. Crack the door open slightly with a tea towel, which should help the temperature stay consistent. They are done once they no longer move on the foot if you poke them gently with your finger11) Remove from the oven, and allow them to cool completely.
12) Carefully peel the shells from the paper, and place on a wire rack.
Ganache
I used left-over ganache from the marjolaine cake. This was made with 50% chocolate, and a cream:chocolate ratio of 4:5. You won't need too much here, so probably 100g of chocolate and 80ml of double cream. You can always make more, and store it in the fridge (when you want to use it, carefully warm it over a bain-marie)13) Pipe the ganache onto one shell, and gently press another shell on top to form a sandwich. Repeat for the other shells.