24 May, 2015
Chocolate macarons
Most of the things I cook are easy and quick to do. I actually look for simpler and quicker solutions by eliminating unnecessary steps. This one is not at all like this. Making macarons is not an easy task and takes time to figure out how much folding is enough and how long they should stay in the over. The learning curve is very slow. The macarons are unforgiving and moody. Often you are not sure why they turn out well one time, and why they didn’t the other time. And it’s so difficult to make them as pretty as the ones you can get in the store.
But there is something addicting about making these tiny, precious balls of sweetness. So beware before you start your first batch!
Ingredients
Chocolate macarons
45g almond flour
80g powder/icing sugar
10g coco powder
1 egg white (40 grams, yes ideally do weigh it), it is best to separate the egg whites 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge in the meantime
10g sugar
2 drops of red colorant
Directions
First of all don’t try to get creative with this recipe. Follow the steps and the measurements from the recipe very closely. The macarons are not forgiving and changing even a small element may ruin the whole batch.
Place the almond flour, powder sugar and coco powder in one bowl, mix with a spoon.
Sift this mix twice, getting rid of any almond lumps that are too big to get through the sieve.
Place egg white in a bowl and mix with electric mixer until it gets stiff, add the sugar slowly while still mixing. Mix until it gets really stiff. Add colorant and mix again until 20 seconds.
Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture using rubber spatula. Don’t overdo it!
Pipe onto trays covered with baking paper, or even better on special macaron silicon sheets. This will help not to stick and have the macarons in similar sizes.
Leave the macarons to rest for around an hour.
Heat the oven to 150°C with the fan on. While heating the over keep a metal tray inside.
When the oven is hot, take the hot tray outside and slid the sheet with macarons on it carefully.
Put the tray in the oven and stay in front of your oven watching what is going on. It is very easy to overbake them if you are not watching closely, 30 seconds may make a large difference!
Depending on the side they should stay in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
When they seem ready take them out of the oven and wait until they are cold. Don’t try to take them out of the sheet while they are still warm!
The best filling for chocolate macarons is chocolate ganache, but this time I only used Nutella and it works very good too.
Put the macarons in a plastic box. Separate layers with paper towels. Leave in the fridge for the night. They will be best in the morning.