Chocolate Espresso Macarons

For a long time now, I have passively perused through a countless amount of recipes for macarons - not to be confused with coconut macaroons. I have only read how difficult they are to make and how temperamental they could be. Not only did I read about its difficulty, but I also read about a ridiculous number of failures. In short, I was a little nervous about making these little desserts.

But everyone's gotta get over their fears someday, right? Right. On top of that, I purchased my first scale for baking. Now, all the recipes that call for measurements by weight, I have no problem going for it! So off I went to Trader Joes to buy all the necessary ingredients.

Call it beginner's luck, but my first time was quite enjoyable and, more importantly, successful!

Here are the egg whites ready to be whisked into soft peaks.


Combining the sugar, almond flour, and cocoa.


This was the tricky part, folding the whites into the dry ingredients until it looks something like "magma".


And the little shells right out of the oven. Look! Little feet!


Final product - dark chocolate shells with chocolate espresso ganache filling.


Chocolate Macarons adapted from Annie's Eats
Ingredients:
For the macarons:
110 gm almond flour
200 gm minus 2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
100 gm egg whites (from about 3 eggs), room temperature
50 gm granulated sugar

For the espresso ganache:
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tbsp. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1½ tsp. espresso powder

Directions:
Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa in a bowl. Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar and continue beating until a smooth, shiny meringue with stiff peaks forms. Add the ground almond mixture to the bowl with the meringue and quickly but gently fold together using a wide rubber spatula until no streaks remain. You want to achieve a thick batter that ribbons or flows from the spatula when lifted.

Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round tip. Pipe into small rounds on the prepared baking sheets (each round should be about 1-1½ inches in diameter), spaced about 1 inch apart. Let sit at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes to develop a hard shell.

Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on size and your oven. Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before moving the cookies.

While the cookies are cooling, make the ganache. Combine the cream, butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring the cream mixture to a simmer, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes, then whisk gently in small circular motions until the ganache forms. Blend in the espresso powder. Let the mixture cool until it is thick enough to pipe. (To speed chilling, transfer the bowl to the freezer or refrigerator and let cool, stirring every 10 minutes, until thickened.)

Once the cookies are totally cooled, match them up by size. Pipe a layer of ganache onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair. Sandwich together with the remaining cookie, pushing the filling to the edges. Store in an airtight container.