Chocolate macarons are light, chocolatey, and sweet. Macarons are versatile, cute little dessert sandwiches. I love making them! They're definitely tricky but have a sweet outcome :)
The recipe is here and pictures for how to make plain macarons (very similar to chocolate macarons) are below:
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup minus 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder (replaces the 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar)
3/4 cup very finely ground almond flour
2 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
food coloring (optional)
Filling:
6 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate (Ghirardelli is good)
1-2 Tbsp. milk or heavy cream
Directions:
Chocolate Filling:
Melt chocolate chips and cream until smooth. You can do this over a double boiler or in the microwave for 20-60 seconds. Let stand at room temperature to thicken while making cookies.
Cookies:
Optional step: Cut two pieces of parchment paper to the size of your baking pans. Use a cylindrical object (I use spice container lid) to draw 1 ¼ inch wide circles about 1/2 inch apart in pencil. The pencil side will sit face side down in the pan.
In a medium bowl whisk cocoa powder, almond flour, and powdered sugar together. Then, sift them into another bowl. If there's a little coarse almond flour remaining, toss it in.
Separate egg whites and add them to the mixer with a whisk attachment. Mix about 30 seconds to 1 minute on medium speed, until the eggs become frothy (white and bubbly). Add in ½ the sugar and whisk on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add in the rest of the sugar. Then turn on high speed and mix until soft peaks form (2-3 minutes). During this time you can add the food coloring until it’s a few shades darker than the desired color (they lighten when baking). Mix egg whites until stiff peaks form (stick straight up, not flopping over).
Then, take the mixing bowl off of the mixer and add ½ the almond flour mixture. Slowly (and carefully) fold the almond mixture in, making sure to scrape down the sides and spatula occasionally. Once mostly incorporated, add in the rest of the flour mix and repeat.
As you are carefully mixing, you want to get to a perfect consistency, which is not very lumpy or bubbly, but still thick, and when you take the spatula out, the mix should slowly come off in “blobs” or ribbons. Stop mixing.
Prepare a piping bag with 1/4 to ½ inch wide hole and carefully spoon the mix in. If using parchment paper, pipe 4 little blobs on the four corners of the pan before putting parchment paper down. This acts like a glue to prevents movement.
Pipe circles of mix onto the parchment paper (using stencil circles if desired). Hole the piping bag straight up and squeeze, forming a blob that then widens into a disk (DO NOT TILT THE PIPING BAG). When the circle is about 1 1/4 inch wide, stop piping and flick the piping bag off to avoid too much of a tip forming at the top of the mixture.
When done piping all cookies, lift pans up about 5 inches, and bang them on the table 5-6 times. Try not to move the parchment paper or tilt the pan in the process. This slamming helps release trapped air bubbles. Let them rest 45-60 minutes before baking. This allows them to develop a skin. You can tell when they're ready to bake if you can tap them with you're finger and they're not sticky.
Put the oven rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat oven to 300*F. Bake 1 pan of cookies at a time on the middle rack for 14-18 minutes. They should not brown a lot and to test if they're ready check if one of the cookies easily comes (it will stick if it isn't ready). Let them cool about half an hour.
When cooled, pair the macarons matching in size. Then place the chocolate filling in a piping bag with a 1/4 inch round tip and pipe about 1-2 teaspoons onto each cookie half and put the cookies together in a sandwich shape.
Recipe makes 30 1 inch macarons, ~15 1 1/4 inch macarons, or 12 1 3/4 inch macarons.
The filling:
First we add the chocolate and cream to a bowl.
After microwaving 30-60 seconds. Now we'll want to cover with a plate.
Cover the chocolate and cream with a plate for about 1-5 minutes so it can melt more.
Then stir the chocolate mixture until smooth (delicious!) Set aside at room temperature until the cookies are done.
The Cookies:
Optional step, use a circular item to draw out circles (in pencil) on the underside of the parchment paper. This can make them easier to pipe and easier to get the right shape.
the stenciled parchment paper, placed pencil side down on the baking sheet.
Use a sieve to sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder
After sifting the cocoa powder, almond flour, and sugar together and then mixing together.
In a mixing bowl place your egg white (NO EGG YOLK OR THIS MAY NOT WORK)
Then mix the egg whites on medium speed for 30-60 seconds until frothy and bubbly. Then add in 1/2 the sugar (left side).
Whisk again on medium speed for 1 minute. Then add in the rest of the sugar.
Then whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form (don't flop over). This can take about 2-3 minutes.
The egg whites should look like this before adding the almond flour mixture.
Before gently folding in the first half of the almond mixture into the whipped egg whites.
After mixing in the first half of the almond mixture.
After mixing in the 2nd half of the almond mixture. Consistency is key here! You want to make sure the batter falls off the spatula in slow ribbons (it shouldn't resist falling off but it shouldn't just glide off either!) The next picture may help you visualize it.
Slow ribbon consistency you want.
Now time to pipe! Place the mixture in a bag fitted with a 1/4 or 1/2 inch tip. Use a real piping bag, not a ziplock one like shown here.
Place 4 little dabs of macaron mixture on the corners before fixing the parchment paper down (this helps with the tapping part later).
Place the parchment paper on top, sticking it down in the corners.
Then pipe out your macarons from the bottom up. When done piping, try to "flick" the piping tip away, so as to avoid large tips on your macarons. Then, lift up the pan 6-8 inches, and slam it down on the table 5-6 times to cause air bubbles to rise out of the macarons. Be careful not to tilt the pan during this process, as it may mess up the macaron shape. Finally, dip your finger in water, gently smoosh down the tip of a macaron, and repeat. This picture was taken after the "smooshing" and tapping.
After "slamming" the air bubbles out of the macarons, let them rest 45-60 minutes.
You can tell they are done resting when you can tap them with your finger and your finger doesn't stick.
After baking, let cool and fill with the thickened chocolate filling. Enjoy!
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