Ok, I don’t want to say these are the best macarons I’ve ever made, but I’m not saying they’re not. If you ask my sister, she’d tell you these espresso dark chocolate macarons really are the best I’ve made. I think I personally prefer fruity macarons, but she isn’t wrong. These are really damn good!
Apparently I’m on some kind of espresso dark chocolate kick because I have a new cookie recipe coming later this week that also includes both of them.
I mean, can you blame me though? Espresso and chocolate just work together. It’s a caffeinated match made in heaven! This is the sort of thing I need to bring to work to keep me awake. I don’t sleep at night and I spend all day staring at two computer screen, so all I want to do is sleep.
Let’s talk some more about these espresso dark chocolate macarons.
We’ll start with the shells. This is where the espresso part of these macarons come in. For the shells we’re using our trusty egg whites, sugar, almond flour, powdered sugar and espresso powder. Originally, I was going to put espresso powder in the ganache, but honestly, that wouldn’t have given off the coffee flavour I was looking for so it went in the shells. You guys, that was a really great choice. You get both the coffee and chocolate flavours in one bite and it’s so, so good.
The filling is a very simple, but very delicious, dark chocolate ganache. All we need for this is heavy whipping cream and dark chocolate. Heat the cream, pour it over the chocolate, let it sit for a minute, then stir it all together. I like to leave mine out at room temperature until it reaches the right consistency, but you can definitely refrigerate it if you’re short on time.
So you bake the shells, and make the ganache. Then we pair up our similarly sized shells (no matter how hard I try, I never have every shell be the same size), pipe some ganache on, and sandwich them together. That’s it! I hope you all love these as much as my sister does!
Espresso Dark Chocolate Macarons
Ingredients
- Shells:
- 275g almond flour
- 245g powdered sugar
- 5g espresso powder
- 210g aged egg whites
- 210g sugar
- Filling:
- 250g dark chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
- 8oz. heavy whipping cream
Directions
- Step 1 Shells:
- Step 2 To start, put the almond flour, powdered sugar, and espresso powder 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. 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 Filling:
- Step 8 Place the chopped dark chocolate in a bowl.
- Step 9 In a small saucepan, heat the cream until just before it starts boiling. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir to combine. Leave the bowl at room temperature until it reaches the right consistency, or place in the fridge for about 1 hour.
- Step 10 Assembly
- Step 11 Match shells of the same size to form pairs. On one half of each pair, pipe the dark chocolate ganache, then sandwich together.
- Step 12 To store, keep in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to a week. Or, freeze for up to 3 months, thawing before eating.
