Orange-Chocolate Macarons!

Orange-Chocolate Macarons!

White EVA platter. Available on our webshop or at www.etsy.com/shop/MaiaMingDesigns

Happy Holidays! May your 2017 be sweet and satisfying!

I'm still on my macaron mission to find and create interesting macaron combinations. These are made with orange zest and a chocolate filling, which is a wonderful combination.

I've refined the instructions slightly since my last macaron batch, but with macarons you need to practice and fine tune the process to your own particular oven, macarons are very finicky!

This time I added a little food coloring in the batter, but they are not very orange, and although they taste very different than my previous Hazelnut-Nutella macarons, visually they are very similar... so if you want really cute, colorful macarons, you need to add more food coloring. I will add more next time I bake. Also, the color fades in baking, so the batter color should be more intense than the final color desired.

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup almond flour

1 cup confectioners' sugar (117 grams)

2 large egg whites, room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar (53 grams)

1 tsp. orange zest

4-5 drops food coloring (more if you want colorful macarons, I used red and yellow coloring)

FILLING

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Sift the almond flour and confectioners sugar together through a fine-mesh sieve.

2. Whisk egg whites and granulated sugar while the egg whites are still clear.

3. Beat the egg whites into stiff, glossy peaks. Add the orange zest and food coloring and beat until mixed into the batter.

4. Add dry ingredients all at once. Fold with a spatula from bottom of bowl upward, then press flat side of spatula firmly through middle of mixture.

(This process is called "macaronage" and reduces air bubbles in the batter.)

Repeat just until batter is glossy and flows.

5. Rest a pastry bag inside a vertical cylinder to transfer the batter into the bag, then close the

top. Cut a small hole in the bottom tip of the pastry bag.

(You don't want the batter to come out too quickly, I cut my hole to less than 1 cm in diameter.)

6. Either onto a parchment sheet or a macaron mat, pipe batter into 3/4-inch round cookies.

(A macaron mat helps to make the cookies uniformly round and the same size, I also found the raised rims helpful to contain the batter from spreading out on the sheets)

*Important! Let the macaron sheets sit for 30-40 minutes to dry and create a slight crust on the surface. Tap sheets firmly against counter 2 or 3 times to release air bubbles. I popped some of the air bubbles with a toothpick before they rested and then smoothed out the surface, but you have to do this before the crust forms or you get holes in your macarons.

7. Preheat oven to 170ºC.

8. Place the macarons in the oven and turn the heat down to 160ºC. Bake macarons for 13-15 minutes. It's a good idea to take the tray out half way through and face the front to the back, this way both ends of the tray get equally baked.

(Martha says 13 minutes, mine were undercooked at 13 and took a couple of minutes extra)

9. Filling: Heat heavy cream in a saucepan until bubbles begin to form. Add chocolate and butter; stir to

combine. Refrigerate until thick and spreadable.

10. Only bake 1 sheet at a time.

My macaron mat holds 48 round halves, which makes 24 sandwiched macarons.

Use a spatula to spread filling on flat sides of half of cookies and then top with remaining half.

Store macarons in the refrigerator in a closed storage tin.

#lifestyleceramics #beautytexturewhimsy #simplepleasures #maiamingdesigns

 

 
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