Macarons with Ganache!!

So, I'm bringing something special your lovely way! These are Macarons! And yes, I did spell that right, it isn't macaroon.

A Macaron, is what I'm making. These are french cookies, that have a foot and are small and chewy.

A Macaroon, are those coconut, semicircle shaped desserts. You would often find them at the Christmas Continental Market every year! They are so yummy. But they are not what I am making ):

These Macarons, are made with love, a lot of upper arm exercise and some slamming on the counter tops. I remember the first time I made them, disaster! We were having a friend round for dinner, and the evening was great, as Toffee somehow ended up on the dining room table, (which is our fancy table I guess, as we only eat in there if we have family and friends round, or it is Christmas.) Eating expensive cheese, bought for human consumption, not little porky pooches. But, I will admit, I fed her the most. Anyway, these were more like green and pink pancakes by their appearance.

These aren't easy to make and I still have trouble making them sometimes. They are the kind of dessert, you need to keep making as they are tricky and fickle with their love. Sometimes the cookies aren't happy as the day is too cold, or too warm or too humid. Sometimes they don't like your oven, not because of the temperature, but they decide they aren't going to play ball. Sometimes they decide to make life really enjoyable and crack. They are an emotional roller coaster! But I rather enjoy making them.

What you need to do is pre-heat your oven to 170C in a fan assisted oven. Then layer your Macaron mat, or some parchment on a tray and fit your piping or sandwich bag with a plain nozzel tip for piping.

This recipe is from Lorraine Pascal.

The ingredients you'll need are;

- 125g Ground Almonds
- 125g Icing Sugar

Combine these two ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

- 90g of Egg Whites, again see how they like to be difficult, even before they are formed. They make you work for their love! Macarons are quite clearly people to me, lol!

- 110g Caster Sugar with 1 tbsp of water.



Crack the egg whites into a clean, dry and completely free of fat bowl that you're whisking in. Heat the sugar and water on the hob until bubbling. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks, so they keep their shape when you lift the whisk up, but not firmly. They have a droop. Whilst whisking, add the sugar syrup until all in. Whisk this on a high speed until cool and then stiff and glossy- this is an Italian Meringue. Essentially the eggs will be cooked twice, as they are cooked from the hot sugar syrup and then again in the oven.

At this stage, I add the colour. Use concentrated colour, as it will fade when you add the almond and icing sugar mix and when baking slightly.

Combine the almonds and icing sugar into the bowl of meringue and with a spatula, carefully fold it in. Once all the mix is combined together, go completely bonkers. You want to whisk and beat this mixture quickly until it comes to dropping consistency. So it won't pour off the spatula, but it will drop and be more loose.

Put these into a piping bag and then pipe them onto the baking sheet, lined with your baking mat or parchment.

Bang them on the counter to knock all the air pockets out. This will ensure that when their protective skin, they don't lock in any air bubbles that would burst when baking.

Bring them into a cool room and allow them a hour to sit and form a protective skin. This is crucial, as if they didn't form their skin now they never will, creating a Macaron with a crack on the top and not where it should be which is the bottom. This is known as the foot. Macarons have little feet!

Once they have developed their skin, pop them into the pre-heated oven and bake for around 15 minutes. You'll know they are done when you can smell them, they have a foot and when you touch them, the top is set and doesn't wobble.

Take them out of the oven and allow to cool completely before moving them. Then fill them with whatever you like. I'm doing these ones with chocolate ganache. But I have also made lemon ones, filled with a lemon curd cream. Yum!

These are my lemon curd ones;

You could make any kind you like, chocolate, just add cocoa to the mix. The thing with these is you don't want to add moisture if you can as that will break down the mix and consistency and it won't be a Macaron or look like a Macaron anymore. Try using zests, concentrates or powders.

This was an extremely humid day, which Macarons don't like, so I will have a comparison blog post up soon. This is where I am going to vary my recipe and technique, on hopefully not quite as humid a day to see the difference. But I would definitely call these a success.

Hope you liked these! Thanks!