Let me be completely honest by how much I struggled with making the macaron shells yesterday. One tray came out perfectly, the next all looked like volcanoes erupting and another ended up lopsided. These were all made from the exact same batch of meringue and were baked on the same shelf, at the same temperature, for the same amount of time.
Macarons are fickle. I’m trying to figure out my oven’s sweet spot for baking these bad boys – temperature, rack location, baking time. Maybe I need a new recipe, one that produces a more consistent result, even if they do look lopsided or like they’re exploding ?
These do taste good though and they celebrate my beloved Portland Trail Blazers so I’m gonna say the kitchen struggle was worth it.
Another disclaimer for you guys: these were originally all supposed to have red shells, but I ran out of red food coloring, so… I told you yesterday was a struggle. Someone on my instagram page even said they looked like a pokeball. I didn’t know what that was so I had to look it up, but they were right, the white and red is very pokeball-esque!
In much more positive news, the Blazers are in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row! It wasn’t looking great for my guys up until the all-star break in February when we traded one of our players for Jusuf Nurkic. The change in our team was dramatic and they basically played like a completely different team when he joined. It was incredible.
So now we’re in the playoffs and playing Golden State. We lost the first game on Sunday but the game was a lot closer than the score indicates. We were all tied up at the end of the third quarter, then some good defense was played by our opponents and that was that. Game two is tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that. Especially because I have these macarons to enjoy while I watch it!
Dark Chocolate Trail Blazer Macarons
Ingredients
- Macaron Shells:
- 275g almond flour
- 250g powdered sugar
- 210g sugar
- 210g egg whites
- Food colouring (optional)
- Dark Chocolate Ganache:
- 250g dark chocolate (chips or chopped)
- 7 fl. oz. heavy whipping cream
- 15g sugar
- 50g unsalted butter
Directions
- Step 1 Shells:
- Step 2 To start, put the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and blend thoroughly. Sift into a bowl to ensure there are no lumps.
- Step 3 In the bowl of a stand mixer (make sure it’s clean and dry), beat the egg whites until foamy. Slowly add the sugar, about 2 tbsp at a time, beating on a medium speed. Once the sugar has dissolved, increase speed to medium high and beat until a thick glossy meringue forms. Add food colouring, if using, and beat to combine. The mixture should form stiff peaks and you should be able to tip the bowl over your head with none of the mixture coming out.
- Step 4 With a large, flat rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of almond flour/powdered sugar mixture into egg whites until combined. Repeat until all of the almond mixture has been added. Fold to combine until you see no streaks of almond flour in the batter. The batter should be pretty fluid, a lot of people describe as a lava-like consistency. It should run smoothly off the spatula when you pull it out. This part comes with practice. Once you know the consistency, you’ll just be able to feel when it’s ready.
- Step 5 Pipe the batter into circles onto parchment or silicone lined baking sheets. Bang the tray a few times on a table to remove air bubbles and allow to sit for about 30 minutes before baking. To see if they’re ready for baking, touch your finger to them. If you get batter on your finger, they need to rest longer.
- Step 6 While resting, preheat your oven to 300°F with a rack placed in the lower third of the oven. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 15-18 minutes (this depends on your oven, my old one was fine at 15 minutes, this one needs 17-18). The shells should cool completely before you remove them from the parchment/silicone.
- Step 7 Dark Chocolate Ganache:
- Step 8 Put chocolate pieces/chips into a mixing bowl.
- Step 9 Heat cream and sugar over medium heat until hot. Pour cream over chocolate and gently combine.
- Step 10 Incorporate butter until smooth. Cool to room temp. and refrigerate 1 hr. before using.
- Step 11 Assembly:
- Step 12 Match up shells of the same size. On one half of each pair, pipe/spread the ganache, then place the other shell on top and sandwich together.
