These delightful little morsels have almost become the new cupcake. There are lot of people who find making this treat intimidating. But, they are surprisingly simple. To a brand new baker, there are some "tricks of the trade" that you will want to know before taking on macaroons.
Staying true to food blogger style, I took pictures of my process. I must warn you, though, I am not a photographer and I don't currently have a good camera on me and lighting in this kitchen is not ideal for great pics (Oddly enough my phone camera is better than my other camera). Hopefully the pictures are good enough to get you through the process yourselves.
The recipe I have been using is Martha Stewart's French Macaroons recipe. Don't tell the South Dakota Family though, here name is almost a swear word in this house. :)
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Macaroons
1 Cup confectioners sugar
1/2 almond flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, room temperature
pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 Cup superfine sugar
Ganache Filling
1 1/3 Cup of chocolate chips
1/3 Cup of heavy cream
Macaroons
Step 1:
We are adjusting this recipe slightly because Martha's original recipe is for almond macaroons and we are making chocolate. First we will mix the Almond flour, confectioner's sugar, and cocoa. The original recipe says to sift those ingredients together. I just put them in a bowl and use a whisk to separate clumps and add a little air. I have done this many times and the end result is just fine. So sift or whisk. Whichever you want. :) Set this mixture aside for now.
We purchased pre-ground almonds at the store. You can find almond meal/flour/powder in the baking aisle or in the health food/gluten free section of the grocery store. If you can't find it, dont be afraid to grind up your own. Just buy some blanched and sliced almonds and pulse them in a food processor or blender. *Cooking Tip* Don't just turn the appliance on and let it go, PULSE the almonds. They are a oily nut and if you just let the appliance run or even pulse too long, you will end up with almond butter (similar to peanut butter).
This is the kind that we bought. Note the course texture of the stuff in the bag. If you buy something that looks like regular flour, its the wrong stuff.
Step 2:
The eggs should be at room temperature when you use them. Room temperature eggs whisk better than cold. Separate the egg yolk from the whites. Using a standing mixer or a hand mixer, start beating the whites until the eggs start to look foamy.
This is what I would consider foamy eggs. There may be various definitions out there, regardless this is the point at which I add a pinch of cream of tarter (I've never had a problem with it). Continue to whisk (mix) the eggs until soft peaks form.
This would be along the lines of a soft peak. At this point add the sugar and continue whisking at high speed until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
Again, sorry about the bad pictures, but this is more like a stiff peak. I'm not saying certainly on each of them, but these are the standards I go by and it works for me. :) You'll notice that after the sugar the mixture becomes much whiter. When the peaks are stiff, they will be fairly stable and stand pretty well. It should be about the consistency of whipped cream out of a tub.
Step 3:
Fold in the almond mixture, about 1/3 at a time. When I say fold, I really mean gently. The most common method for folding is drawing a figure 8 in the mixture. You can watch the video at this link if you are more of a visual person. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOQIu7x_kVo
Make sure you are gentle and you don't rush this process. If you deflate your egg whites, then your cookies will not rise as much.
It may start out looking like this, don't panic! Just keep patiently folding in.
Continue to add in the almond mixture and continue to fold it in.
Eventually it will start to come together like this. I'm not going to tell you to eat raw eggs, but sometimes I lick my fingers at this point.
Step 4:
Put the mixture in a pastry bag (or a zip lock if you prefer). I like to use a pastry bag with a tip, it's easier to control. However if you want to use a zip lock bag and cut a corner off, feel free to (make sure you use regular tape around the place where you cut the hole to support the bag). The mixture will settle after you pipe it out, so if it doesn't look perfect, it will settle into an ok shape. :)
Step 5:
I pre-heat my oven at this point. These little darlings need to sit and wait for about 15 minutes before you put them in the oven. Go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Waiting is probably the hardest part! When you do put them in the oven, turn the temperature down to 325 and cook them for about 10 minutes. *Cooking Tip* USE PARCHMENT PAPER!!!!!!!!! Parchment has been my favorite thing in the whole world!!!! And it is NOT the same as wax paper. Parchment saves you from cleaning up you pan and is totally worth the bit of money you will spend on it.
According to Martha, you are supposed to do one pan at a time and in between pans, heat the oven back up to 375 and turn it back down again. This probably will give you better results, however, if you aren't patient enough for that, you can put both in at the same time. I have done it that way many times and it hasn't ruined them.
Make sure they are pretty firm before you pull them out. If you lightly touch the top and it sinks down a little, leave it in a little longer. They should no longer look wet and should dry looking.
Notice that I can just pull the parchment sheet off of my pan and let them cool. NO CLEANING MY PAN!!!! Woo!
Let the cookies cool completely. If you try to peel them off early, this will happen:
The little brown spot that is. Also, can you imagine trying to scrape that off of your pan? UGH! I love parchment paper. I just threw it away. :)
The Ganache Filling:
Ganache sounds intimidating and looks intimidating, but again, super simple! Take the chocolate and add the heavy cream and microwave it (in a microwave safe bowl of course) for 30 seconds.
Don't do more than 30 seconds at a time! You may scorch your chocolate and make a mess. :)
Take the chocolate out and start to mix. Stick your finger in it and if it feels warm stick it back in the microwave for about 15 seconds and continue to stir. If it feels cool, stick it back in for another 30 seconds. If it is hot DON'T put it back in! Just stir. The temperature at which chocolate melts is low so if the chocolate is hot, then it may scorch quickly. Just keep stirring it.
It may look like this at first, don't get scared.
Keep stirring
You want it to be thick enough that it slowly oozes back into place when you move it. WARNING!!!!! DON'T add cold liquid (or even room temperature liquid) to warm chocolate! It will make it curdle up. You know when you are in a warm house and then you go outside and it's like -10 degrees out and you hold yourself tight to stay warm? That's what the chocolate will do. It will clump up. If your mixture is too thick, warm up some cream and add a little at a time. If it is too runny, add more chocolate chips.
Let the ganache sit and set up.
After it's set up, use a spoon and scoop ganache filling onto a cookie (the flat side) and put another cookie on top.
*Note - the ganache is thick enough that it looks like this after you have been scooping out of it for a little bit.
Let them set up (the ganache should be thick enough that it won't run sitting out, however if it runs a little, throw them in the fridge for a little while).
Wow, this blog post turned out to be long for how simple these are. I just wanted to be thorough, though. :) If you have questions, let me know! I hope you try this recipe and love these Macaroons! Yum, yum, yum.
