leenie dear threw us a "french night" this past weekend, in preparation for our very near trip to france. i opted to bring dessert and decided to try and tackle the infamous french macaron. now don't get these confused with macaroons -- those are the coconut ones.
so here's what i did ... in a bowl mix together:
2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. almond flour
6 T. cocoa powder
in another bowl -- add the whites of 4 eggs -- that are at room temp.
beat the egg whites 'til they form soft peaks. then add to the whites 10 T. of granulated white sugar and beat that together for 2 minutes. it will start to get gooey and smooth in texture.
now carefully fold together the dry and egg white mixture until totally combined.
put your batter into a plastic bag and cut the tip off. pipe little blobs of the batter onto a baking sheet, that is covered in parchment paper. bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at 350*.
now it's time to make the ganache filling. chop up some dark chocolate -- as much as you want.
on the stove, heat up to a slow boil, about 1/2 a c. of heavy cream. turn off the cream and then add to it a dollop of butter and a few T. of cocoa powder. mix 'til combined.
then add in the chocolate chunks and mix 'til melted too. mix for a few minutes with a whisk. then place in a glass container and chill for at least 2 hours -- or overnight.
this is how the macarons looked right out of the oven. let them cool completely before taking them off the parchment -- otherwise they stick and fall apart (and then you have to eat the "mess-ups").
once they are totally cool -- and the ganache has firmed up -- slather the ganache on one cookie -- then find it a cookie buddy -- and you've just made a french macaron!
they were pretty awesome tasting -- and i even had a second batch that i made to take to a feast a liz's the next evening.
i still have a bunch of ganache leftover too ... what should i make it into??
happy baking.
hope you're all doing lovely!
kisses,
ariel
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