Chocolate Macarons

The second I arrived home from Paris I was online searching for macaron recipes. Where had these little drops of heaven been hiding my entire life? I never expected to find a great macaron recipe in a book I already owned! How did I miss that? And in one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks no less!

This recipe really is brilliant however I have adapted the method somewhat in order to achieve, what I feel is a Paris worthy macaron. I have put all my adaptations/additions in italic.


Five days before I make macarons I separate my egg whites from the yolks and place the whites in an airtight container in the fridge. We always have Carbonara that night to use up some of those yolks.

Two days before the making of my macarons I remove the egg whites from the fridge and leave them on the counter to come to room temperature. This is an important part of the process and although Nigella leaves this stage out of her recipe it is the proper Parisian way.

Chocolate Macarons

Nigella Lawson - How to be a Domestic Goddess

Ingredients

For the macarons:

250 grams icing sugar
125 grams ground almonds
25g cocoa powder
4 large egg whites
25 grams caster sugar


2 baking sheets, lined with parchment paper
1cm plain icing nozzle and bag


For the Ganache:

90ml double cream
150 grams plain chocolate, chopped
45 grams unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 180 C (I think this is way to hot and always preheat to 150 C when making macarons). Sift together the icing sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder. Whisk the egg whites until fairly stiff, but not dry, sprinkle the sugar over and whisk until very stiff. Gradually fold in the sifted ingredients.

Pipe small 5cm rounds, a couple of cm apart onto your lined baking sheet, using a plain 1 cm nozzle. Let them sit for 15 minutes to form a skin. (I always leave mine for at least an hour, this ensures a much more pristine finish)

Rap the baking sheet hard on the counter top to flatten the batter before baking.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes: you want them dry on top but, but still chewy underneath. Remove from the oven and let cool on their sheets for a few minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack.

Make the ganache by melting all the ingredients together in a small saucepan. When the chocolate has fully melted remove from the heat and whisk until thick. When cool spread on the underside of one macaron and sandwich it with another.

Makes 36 rounds, 18 macarons



Happy macaron making x x x

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Chocolate Macarons