French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

Macarons.

Do I need to say anymore?

Heaven. Pure heaven.

I had only had macarons once in my life before I made these. They were giving them out at a wedding I attended in the summer, and I wanted to try them again. I was reading all about how to make macarons before I attempted this recipe, and people were saying how it takes 2-3 times until you can perfect the makings of macarons, so I was quite worried.

Thankfully, they turned out pretty good for the first time!

A lot of recipes called for Almond flour and the kind at my grocery store was $16.00 and there was no way I was paying that much for a little bag of flour! Instead I bought ground almonds, and they were perfectly fine.

Ingredients

• 100g / 1 cup icing of powder sugar or icing sugar
• 100g / 1 cup of ground almonds
• 2 medium, free-range egg whites
• Small pinch of salt
• 55g / ¼ cup caster of fine sugar

Directions 

Preheat the oven to 140°C/300 °F/Gas for fan oven, 160 °C/ 325°F/gas 3 regular oven

1. Sieve the icing sugar, followed by the ground almonds, into a large mixing bowl and carefully mix together.
2. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites and salt until they form soft peaks. Add the caster / fine sugar, a little at a time and continue to whisk until the whites are very thick and glossy (ideally, you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the whites falling out – go on, I dare you !) Gently stir in the icing sugar and almond mix. The mixture will lose some air and become quite loose, don’t worry, this is the way it should be.
3. Using a piping bag with a 1cm / 1/3″ nozzle, fill with the macaron mixture. Place the silicon mat (see note in the introduction) or paper template onto a baking sheet. Pipe small blobs onto the sheet remembering that less is more at this stage because the mixture will settle and form into the allotted spaces.
4. Gently tap the baking sheet a few times on the work surface to help the macaron mixture to settle and to break any air bubbles, then leave to dry for 20 minutes – the surface of the macaron will become smooth and shiny
5. Bake the macarons in the preheated for 7 – 8 minutes minutes, open the door to release any steam, close the oven door and cook for a further 7 – 8 minutes. The macarons are cooked when they feel firm and are slightly risen.
6. Slide the mat or greaseproof paper onto a wire cooling rack and leave to cool completely Do not be tempted to remove the macarons from the mat until they are cold or you will break them.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
  3 1/2 ounces of dark chocolate, finely chopped (preferably 70 percent cacao)
  1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) of unsalted butter, softened

Directions

1. Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour cream over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add butter, then whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

Related articles

• Hazelnut Macarons with Hazelnut Chocolate Ganache (novicehousewife.com)
• Dark chocolate and pimenton macaron (jothetartqueen.wordpress.com)

Source: Martha Stewart

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