Wednesday 13 February 2013

Chocolate Orange Macaroons




Wow- What a way to commence my food blogging journey. Considering this was my first attempt at macaroons, I am over the moon with the turnout. I have only just recently fallen in love with these treats and insisted in giving it a try myself. I decided to make these today as tomorrow is Valentines day, and what a better way to treat my Valentine than giving him homemade treats.

This macaroon recipe is the French meringue method, which involves mixing fine sugar whilst whipping egg whites. The other method that is commonly used (and a little more technical) is the Italian method. In the Italian method, hot sugar syrup replaces the fine sugar. I am yet still to attempt this method, though will definitely try and compare very soon.


 Chocolate Orange Macaroon Recipe

For this recipe the following ingredients will be needed;
  • 3 large egg whites (preferably left to age for at least 24 hours)
  • 100 grams of almond meal
  • 165 grams of pure icing sugar (not icing sugar mixture)
  • 60 grams of caster sugar
  • colouring gel of your choice (I used wiltons food gel colours Rose and Orange
Ganache-
  • 100 grams of dark chocolate
  • 100 mls of cream
  • grated rind of 1 orange
  • a squeeze of orange juice















Once you have collected all of your ingredients:

Sift together almond meal and icing sugar into a large bowl twice, this ensures the ingredients are fine to end up with the smoothest macaroon shell possible.

Beat the egg whites until it is foamy. Whilst beating, add one tablespoon of the caster sugar at a time until the egg whites are almost a stiff peak. (You should be able to turn the bowl upside down and nothing falls out). Now add the gel colouring of your choice and mix to combine. (Keep in mind, once mixed with other ingredients the colour will fade, so ensure to put enough gel in to obtain brightness as desired).








Put egg whites into the almond, icing sugar mixture and fold through. Continue to fold mixture until dry ingredients are dissolved and the mixture is glossy. The texture should resemble a very thick cake batter consistency. Be careful not to over mix your egg whites as it can cause macaroons to become very flat.


The oven should be preheated 15 minutes prior to macaroon shells going in to bake. For conventional ovens, preheat to 180 degrees celsius.

Transfer mixture into piping bag fitted with a circular tip and then proceed to pipe the mixture onto lined baking trays. Once shells are piped, bang the trays on the bench to flatten the piped shells. (This also helps to prevent the shells from cracking when baking).



Stand the trays to rest for 30-60 minutes before baking. During this time we are waiting for a dry crust to be formed, you will know when this has occurred as when you touch the shells they should not stick to your fingers. This will help to increase the strength of the shells and also give better rise to the macaroon feet.

Before putting trays into the oven, decrease oven temperature to 160 degrees celsius and place trays on middle shelfs. Baking time depends on the size of the macaroon shells you have piped (and your oven. I found mine were ready at the 15 minute mark, though make sure to check them at about 13 minutes.

Once ready, remove shells from oven and leave to cool on trays. Now its time to make the ganache filling.



Break the chocolate up and place into medium bowl. Bring cream and rind of orange to a boil in a small saucepan. Once boiled, remove saucepan from heat and leave to sit for 30 minutes so orange infuses into the cream.

Bring cream back to a boil then pour through a sieve onto broken chocolate. The cream will act to melt the chocolate, ensure to continuously stir. Either let chocolate stand, or place in the fridge (keeping an eye on it so it does not become to solid). 

Once chocolate has reached your desired consistency, pipe a generous amount onto a macaroon shell and sandwich a similar sized shell on top of ganache.




Voi La! There you have a quick and simple recipe for macaroons to please everyone!

Lets hope my Valentine enjoys them.......