Cocoa Almond Macaroons (with video)

Warning: not a clean-eating recipe. =D …but SUPER delicious.

I’ve always wanted to try making macaroons, but was too intimidated by just the sound of the name. haha. After my first attempt, with help from a friend, it actually wasn’t too bad. Turns out that it really only requires four basic ingredients:  egg whites, powdered sugar, regular sugar, and almond meal. What?! The ingredients are simple, but the technique is tricky and requires some skill. Once you get the technique down, they are quite fun to make. Will have to try different flavors eventually. What is your favorite flavor? Please post in comments below.

Makes about 20-30 Macaroons (depending on how you squeeze them out)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 large egg whites (room temperature)
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, mix almond flour, cocoa powder, and confectioner’s sugar together. Sift mixture into a large bowl.
3. Using a stand mixer, add the egg whites and sugar. Turn on mixer on power level 4 and whisk for 3 minutes. Next, turn it up to power 7 and whisk additional 3 minutes. Lastly, turn power to 8 for two additional minutes. Now, it should look like stiff meringue.
4. In a large bowl, put meringue mixture and almond mixture together. (Here comes the tricky part).
5. Use both a folding and smearing motion to deflate the meringue against the side of the bowl. After about 50 turns, it’ll look about just right. Make sure it doesn’t look too lumpy, you want to get air out of mixture, but also not over mix. It might look closer to pancake batter than cake batter.
6. Fill a pastry bag with the batter, using a tip. Pipe the shells onto the parchment paper about an inch a part.
7. When you’re done piping all the shells, pick up the baking tray and bang it straight down against the counter. This helps get the air out. Rotate the pan and do another time. Do this a couple times till you see the shells with no bubbles.
8. Then, put in oven for 15 minutes (can rotate in between).
9. Take out of oven to cool down before putting the filling in between the shells.
10. Fill your macarons with the chocolate ganache (recipe below). You can use a spoon to do so or pastry bag.

Chocolate Ganache recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick), at room temperature and cut into cubes

Instructions:

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl.
2. Warm the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just starts to boil.
3. Stir it into the chocolate without creating bubbles. Let sit for 1 minute. Add the butter and stir until smooth.
4. Chill in the refrigerator until thickened but still spreadable, about 30 minutes.

Now, you can match the shells according to size and fill with the ganache. Press gently (kinda making it look like a mini hamburger). The filling should not come out the edges.

Refrigerate, covered, for about 24 hours before serving.

Great tutorial video on how it’s done:

Lastly, ENJOY and be HAPPY! =D