Chocolate Macaron Shells

Ingredients:

240g almond meal
225g pure icing sugar
60g cocoa
100g egg whites (a)
300g caster sugar
100g water
100g egg whites (b)

Method:

For this recipe I have used older egg whites for an improved texture. Start with a larger quantity than you need (almost double), allow to come to room temperature then pour them through a strainer. Allow to strain for about 15 minutes, you’ll notice they don’t all want to go through. Discard the thicker whites left in the strainer. Weigh up your quantity of required egg whites using only the watery strained ones.

Use a food processor to blend the almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa powder together, just enough to remove lumps. If you have a crappy food processor like I do you can sieve them too. Now fold egg white (a) into these dry ingredients, cover with cling film and set aside.

Now we’ll make our Italian meringue. Get a small saucepan and add the water and sugar. Place it on a low-medium heat and have a digital thermometer handy. Now place egg white (b) into the bowl of your stand mixer with a whisk attachment. When your sugar is visibly all boiling turn your mixer on to medium speed and start monitoring the temperature of the sugar. Once the sugar reaches 122C immediately remove from heat and start slowly pouring it into the mixer while it’s mixing on medium speed. Once all your sugar is in crank it up to high speed and let it go for about 8-10 minutes or until the bowl feels at body temperature.

Grab your bowl of chocolate macaronage, dollop a big blob of meringue into it and fold it through. This should loosen the consistency. Now add the rest of the meringue in and fold it through very gently. It’s super important to get the consistency right. To check this one method is stop mixing and see if you can draw a figure 8 that holds its shape for 2 minutes. If the batter doesn’t fall from the spatula it’s not done mixing but if the figure 8 disappears into the batter within 2 minutes it’s over mixed. If in doubt aim to under mix rather than over mix as the act of piping will mix it further.

Preheat your oven to 150C if possible we want no fan or light. Use a Wilton 2A tip to pipe little dollops onto a flat tray lined with baking paper or a silpat. Immediately place into the preheated oven and bake for 14 minutes. In my oven I can only bake 1 tray at a time so about 5 minutes before the previous tray is due to come out I start piping another tray. This recipe will make about 8 trays so it is great if you have a second oven or one with even heat distribution otherwise you’ll be working for a long time. When they are baked well they should come away from the baking paper clean. If they are sticking pop them back in the oven for a couple more minutes.

Once they are baked and cooled they can chill out in the freezer in an airtight container for a week or two until you’re ready to prepare the filling.