Dark Chocolate Macarons

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to show her how to make macarons.  She came over to my place last week and we made chocolate macarons.  However, they came out pretty bad.  I felt embarrassed and disappointing.

The first tray was a complete failure.  I think that was because the oven temperature was too low.  I have a double oven; but since the light in the top oven was out of order, I had to used the bottom oven (which is conventional, not fan-forced) to do the baking.  I baked the first tray of macarons at 130C for 15 mins.  They were all cracked while they were still in the oven baking.  It was the first time that I've ever had this problem.  I then baked the other trays at around 145C, they came out "alright" (at least they were not cracked and the little "feet" came up).  Well, I think they were just "alright" because they were not up to my usual standard.  Since I haven't made macarons for almost one year due to my busy lifestyle, I seemed to forget the correct consistency of macaronage (i.e. the combining of meringue & the almond mixture).  They were way "under-fold".  The macaron shells didn't come out flat & smooth, but rather with some "pointy" shape on the top.  They were edible of course, but not very nice looking. 

When it comes to baking, I'm kind of a perfectionist.  Since I was still feeling embarrassed by the "bad macaron baking experience", I decided to give it a go again a few days later.

This time I made sure I fold the batter just enough.  They came out pretty good.  Look at the photo below.  You can see how they should look like when you get the batter just right - no under or over-fold.  When you pipe them on the baking sheet, they'll naturally spread to a perfect shape and they should look shiny.

This is how macarons should look like after baking.  See those lovely little "feet" came up?  They look so nice :-)

Aren't they look beautiful when they have some ganache put in the middle?  Umm... yummy.....

So here is the recipe for these lovely dark chocolate macarons.

Ingredients for Macarons:  
egg white, almond meal, pure icing sugar (sifted), coco powder, caster sugar, water

Quantity of Ingredients: 
1 part of egg white, 1.33 parts of almond meal, 1.33 parts of pure icing sugar, 0.15 parts of coco powder, 1.33 parts of caster sugar, 0.33 parts of water

This is the basic formula for making macarons.  It's difficult to tell you how many egg white you need as you really need to weigh them.  The exact quantity of other ingredients depends on the amount of egg white you use.  For example, if you use 150g of egg white, you'll have to use 200g of almond meal, etc.

Method:

Generally, there are 3 parts.

Part 1:  Preparing the Almond Meal mixture

Put the almond meal, sifted icing sugar & coco powder together into a large bowl, mix well.  Then add in HALF of the egg white (remember to weigh it to get the exact or close to exact half quantity), combine well.  The mixture should become very thick & sticky.

Part 2:  Making the Italian Meringue

Put the caster sugar & water into a small saucepan, boil them on high heat, put the candy thermometer in the pan to keep an eye on the temperature.  Meanwhile, put the rest of the egg white into a large clean bowl (make sure it's super clean, no grease at all), sprinkle with a little bit of salt.  When the sugar syrup reaches 115C, turn on the electric mixer to start whipping the egg white.  Once the sugar syrup reaches 118C, take it away from the heat and pour it very slowly (in a thin stream) into the whipping egg white (pour from the side of the bowl, be careful or you'll get burnt by the hot sugar syrup).  Continue the whipping until the meringue reaches stiff peak stage.

Part 3:  Making the Macaronage

Now it's time to combine the almond meal mixture & the Italian Meringue.  Take about 1/3 of the meringue and mix it into the almond meal mixture.  You'll need to "beat the hell out of it" to loosen the thick & sticky mixture.  Once it is loosen, take another 1/3 of the meringue and start folding them into the mixture until it's JUST combined.  Finally, take the rest of the meringue and fold into the mixture again.  Be very careful and watch the consistency.  Do NOT over-fold.  The right consistency should be flowing like lava and look shinny.

Once part 3 is done.  Fill the piping bag with the mixture and pipe them onto baking paper.  Let them sit for 10 to 15 mins before putting them into the oven.

Oven should be preheated to around 145C (fan forced).  Bake the macarons for about 19 mins.

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache:  

1 part of premium quality dark cooking chocolate, 1 part of thickened cream (e.g. if you're using 200g of dark chocolate, you need to use 200g of thickened cream)

Method:

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a medium bowl.

Put the cream into a small saucepan to boil.

When the cream is hot, take them out from the heat.  Pour 1/3 of the hot cream into the chocolate, mix well. Then pour another 1/3 of it into the chocolate mixture, mix well.  Finally pour the rest of the cream to the mixture and mix well.  Simple!

Put the ganache in the fridge for 1 hour to firm it up before pipping them onto the macarons.

Good luck & hope you enjoy the challenge!  Expect to have lots of wastage as you'll need to try a few times before you get it right.  It's not easy to get the right consistency of macaronage.  But it's worth trying though! As long as you've the passion to do it, you'll get it right eventually!  I tried a few times and did lots of research before I could get it right :-)

Happy Baking!