Chocolate Macarons

My second attempt to bake this tricky French cookies. And failed, again. Still there was no feet formed. I did weight the egg whites as the recipe ask and rested my shell until they did not stick when I lightly touch them. Is it because I was under mixed the batter? Probably.

You can read here for troubleshooting guide in macaron making.

I definitely will try to make it the third time, but craving for tangy flavor for my next macaron. Lemon or strawberry maybe?

But, beside its failed, I like this better than red velvet macarons. It less sweet and the texture is chewy just like how Macarons texture should be.

I won’t babbling any furthere. Here are the ingredients you need:

For macarons shells:

• 100 gr almond flour
• 100 gr powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
• 75 gr egg whites, at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 50 gr sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, optional (I skipped it)

For chocolate ganache filling (I changed it to my version):

• 100 gr dark cooking chocolate, melted
• 50 gr instan whipped cream
• pinch of ground coffee

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder twice. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until hard peaks form.
3. Sift the almond flour mixture over the whipped egg whites. Gently fold the mixture running the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half. The batter will look very thick at first, but it will get thinner as you fold. Be careful not to over mix it though. Every so often test the batter to see if it reached the right consistency. To test the batter, drop a small amount of the batter and count to ten. If the edges of the ribbon are dissolved within ten seconds, then the batter is ready. I repeat, do NOT mix again. If you still see edges, fold the batter couple more times and test again. This step is so crucial, so please make sure to test often to ensure not to over mix the batter.
4. Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip.
5. Pipe out 1.5-inch rounds about an inch apart on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. I got about 40 shells. Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. If you don’t release the air bubbles, they will expand during baking and crack the beautiful macarons shells.
6. Let the macarons rest and dry for 30 minutes. I turn on my Air con to fasten this process. Then lightly touch it. If the batter doesn’t stick to your finger, then it’s ready. Preheat the oven to 150°C.
7. Bake the macarons for 18-20 minutes. To check the doneness, remove one macaron. If the bottom does not stick, they are done.
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, and then remove from the baking sheets.
9. While macarons are cooling, prepare the ganache filling. Combine whipped cream with melter chocolate and also add the coffee ground. Mix until the ingredients combine completely. Cool the ganache in the fridge to thicken.
10. Transfer the ganache filling into a pastry bag and fill the macarons.
11. Store the filled macarons in airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze the filled macarons in airtight container for up to 5 months.