French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache
 
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
  • 200 g (a skimpy 2 cups) powdered sugar
  • 100 g (1 cup) almond flour/meal
  • 100 g (3 large eggs) egg whites, room temperature*
  • pinch of salt
  • 50 g (about ¼ cup) granulated sugar
  • food coloring (optional)
For the Ganache:
  • 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons salted butter, cut into cubes
Instructions
For the Cookies:
  1. Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together twice, throwing the leftover almond pebbles out.
  2. In a separate bowl and with a mixer, beat the room temperature egg whites and salt on medium speed until they are white and frothy.
  3. Add granulated sugar and beat until you have soft peaks.
  4. Beat in food coloring and then continue mixing until you have stiff peaks. Do not over beat.
  5. Fold all of the powdered sugar and almond mixture into the meringue. Fold until the batter is no longer gritty and runs off the spatula like lava would, about 30-50 turns.
  6. Let the batter sit for 10-25 minutes.
  7. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. If you want to use a pattern to help you pipe uniform circles, slip that under the parchment paper that you are piping on.
  8. Using a pastry bag (or a ziplock) and a ½ inch tip, pipe out the batter into uniform 1.5 inch diameter circles.
  9. Tap the pan on the counter to get rid of air bubbles and any peaks from piping.
  10. Let the cookies rest for about 30 - 60 minutes on the counter so that the cookies are tacky to the touch. Larger cookies will need more towards 45 - 60 minutes while 1 inch cookies will need less time. If the cookies have not sat out long enough, they will crack on the top and will not form feet.
  11. Preheat oven to 300°F.
  12. Bake one sheet at a time for about 15-20 minutes, until they are lightly golden brown. They should easily peel off the parchment paper. It is better for the cookies to be slightly overdone rather than underdone. Overdone cookies will soften up over time in the refrigerator whereas underdone cookies end up hollow.
  13. Let cool on the pan on a wire rack.
For the Ganache:
  1. Finely chop the bittersweet chocolate.
  2. Heat the cream on medium-low heat until it just starts to boil.
  3. Add the cream to the chocolate and stir until it is completely consistent and smooth.
  4. Add the butter and stir until it’s completely melted and incorporated.
  5. Refrigerate the ganache for at least 30 minutes to help it thicken up.
For Assembly:
  1. Pair similar sized cookies together
  2. Smear or pipe one cookie with ganache and sandwich it with the other.
Yield: ~35-40 sandwich cookies
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The cookies will be very crunchy and dry for the first day. As the cookies mature in the refrigerator, they will soften and get that nice chewy texture. Thus, these cookies are best eaten after 1 or 2 days in the fridge.
Recipe by Birch Tree Baking at https://www.birchtreebaking.com/french-macarons-with-chocolate-ganache/