Chocolate Orange French Macarons

Print Recipe

Chocolate Orange French Macarons

Course:

Dessert, Macarons, Cookies

Cuisine:

French

Macarons:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together using a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl.
3. In a clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, gently whisk the 90 grams of egg white until foamy. Add a third of the sugar and whisk for about 1 minute until dissolved. Add another third of the remaining sugar and continue whisking for another minute. Add the rest of the sugar and a few drops (3 to 6 depending on your desired color) of gel food coloring. Whisk until firm, glossy peaks form. You should be able to turn the bowl full of whisked egg white’s upside down without any movement.
4. Remove whisk attachment from the stand mixer and replace with the paddle attachment. Add the ground almond/powdered sugar mixture to the whisked egg whites. Turn mixer to medium speed and mix to combine. Then turn the mixer off and on in rapid succession, checking consistency of your batter after each time. You want the batter to look like thick lava and to flow off the paddle in a thick ribbon. Be very careful not to over- or under- mix the batter as this will affect the texture of the final macaron shell. Add the remaining 8 grams of egg whites and mix quickly.
5. Spoon the batter in a piping bag fitted with an ATECO 804 piping tip and pipe small rounds of batter onto it. You should be able to fit 12 to 16 shells on each baking sheet. Lightly tap baking sheet on the counter to spread the rounds and remove any large air bubbles. Set trays aside, uncovered for approximately 10 to 15 minutes and the top of the shells are dry to the touch. Bake the shells for 12 to 14 minutes, opening the oven half-way through the baking to release steam from the oven. When the shells are baked, they will be dry and firm on the top and will have the characteristic macaron “foot”. Allow to cool completely before removing from parchment paper.
6. Pair up two, equally sized macaron shells. Pipe 1 teaspoon of filling on one shell and sandwich with the second shell. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. This step is critical in creating the perfect macaron as it allows the flavors to meld and the texture of the shell to soften slightly.

Filling :

1. Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.
2. Bring the orange zest and heavy cream to just below a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan.
3. Pour the infused heavy cream over the chocolate and allow to sit for 2 - 3 minutes.
4. Whisk into a smooth ganache. Add butter and whisk into ganache until smooth and well incorporated.
5. Pour ganache into a flat casserole dish and refrigerate until cooled and ganache thickens, best made 12 to 24 hours ahead of using.

* Added Note: Macarons can be a bit finicky, but by weighing the ingredients with a little scale in grams, anyone can get perfect results every time! When you convert the recipes, it can come out differently every time.

Try out this recipe for Passionfruit Macarons