I never had a single macaron until a few years ago. I suppose they were never really big in the States until recently, so that’s probably why I had never seen the little sandwich cookies in bakeries while growing up. At first, I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, it’s just a couple of cookies with stuff sandwiched in between right?
Well, it sort of is. But the shells are so airy while having this nice crunch, and an appropriately-chosen filling can really complement the flavor of the shells. I also love just seeing a rainbow of macarons in a display case.
Sadly, I don’t have the baking skills to make professional-looking, uniform macarons. But I started trying to make them at home late last year, and I made another attempt for the bake sale last Saturday. Since the coffee macarons at Payard were so delicious, I tried making some coffee ones again. The recipe I use is generally derived from this one at Italian Food Forever, except I scaled it up a bit.
The ingredients for the shells:
120 grams egg whites (that’s about 3.5 to 4 egg whites)
40 grams sugar
270 grams powdered sugar
150 grams almond flour (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)
1 tablespoon instant coffee
I first whipped the egg whites and the sugar to a stiff peak.
Then I folded in the powdered sugar, almond flour, and instant coffee. You’re supposed to do this very gently, so that you don’t deflate the egg whites too much. I probably folded a bit too much this time, though…
I use a large glass to stand the pastry bag up, so I can put the macaron batter in without needing an extra pair of hands. Nifty trick I learned on the internet.
Then I piped some circles onto some parchment paper. They spread out a bit, because I think the batter might have gotten too thin from me stirring too much. I also sprinkled some instant coffee onto the shells. I got that idea from this post on Macaron Fetish.
After 9 minutes in the oven at 300F, they’re done. Mine always seem to crack, though. Baking them for 8-10 minutes seems to work best for me. I got that timing from this post on Tartelette.
The chocolate ganache filling is
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee
3/4 cup dark chocolate
3 tablespoons Nutella
I chopped up the dark chocolate. I love eating dark chocolate chunks. But it’s hard to measure 3/4 of a cup when it’s a bunch of chunks. I ended up using about 150 grams.
I brought the cream and the coffee up to almost a boil, and then turned the heat off.
I stirred in the dark chocolate and Nutella, and then it was done.
After letting the ganache cool, I put a spoonful between the macaron shells to make the sandwiches.
The macarons were a bit flat this time. And they cracked even more than usual. Probably overmixed. And the ganache didn’t spread very easily, probably because I let it chill too much.
So they turned out OK, but not great. I wonder how the professionals manage to get them so perfect every time…