Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Triple Chocolate Macarons: Double Baking Challenge Success

As you’ve probably noticed, this blog hasn’t been chronicling my kitchen adventures at a very high rate recently. That’s because there haven’t been many kitchen adventures, which is hopefully understandable for those of you who read about what has been going on with my line of work in the past month or so. Though there’s still a good deal of work to do, the workload has become a bit more manageable, and I recently found myself contemplating another challenge.

Just contemplating. Until I saw that the MacTweets Mac Attack challenge theme for this month was decadently chocolate.

It was calling to me. It would be a tragedy to skip this one. And do you know what else was calling to me? The April “We Should Cocoa” Challenge, which was hosted by Chocolette and dared us to create something with marzipan.

Still being a woman short on time, I decided to conquer these challenges with one recipe. Yes. But how?

Answer: Triple chocolate macarons.

I happen to believe that “triple chocolate macarons” is the answer to more questions than most of us realize. If the answer isn’t Scharffen Berger cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, and bittersweet chocolate mixed with almonds, I may not even want to know what the question is.

Triple Chocolate Macarons – Shells (as adapted from Tartelette)

3 egg whites
50 grams sugar
185 grams powdered sugar
110 grams blanched almonds
15 grams cocoa powder (Scharffen Berger)

Blend the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and almonds in a food processor until very finely ground, set aside. Whip the egg whites until foamy, then continue whipping while slowly adding the granulated sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form. Carefully fold the meringues and almond-powdered sugar mixture in fewer than 50 strokes, taking care to scrape the bottom of the bowl on the strokes. Pipe the mixture in rounds about 1 ½” in diameter on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Let the piped rounds sit for 30 minutes, then bake at 280° F, for 18 minutes.

Feet! Success! Nevermind that I actually threw out the first batch of shells because I drastically overbeat my meringue. You never fail until you fail to try, right?

Right.

Now along to incorporate marzipan. I felt like experimenting, so I decided to free-form a marzipan-based filling without a base recipe. Oh boy.

Chocolate Marzipan Filling

4 ounces marzipan

4 tablespoons butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (Scharffen Berger 99% cocoa), melted

Put all ingredients in a mini food processor.

Blend away, and hope that the product turns out.

And turn out it will. The unsweetened chocolate cuts back on the super-sweet character of marzipan that some criticize.

Silly people.

After allowing the chocolate marzipan to cool to room temperature, begin filling the macarons by placing a half-tablespoon of the marzipan on half of the shells.

Looks a little light on the filling, no? Luckily, we still have one form of chocolate to incorporate.

Chocolate Ganache Filling

3 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate (Scharffen Berger

1/3 cup heavy cream

Simply melt the above ingredients together, allow to cool slightly, and then drizzle around the marzipan filling.

Join up the macaron shells, and enjoy the beauty of your work.

You know what? I need more beauty in my life these days. Let’s see these from another angle.

Have you cooked with marzipan before?

21 comments:

  1. Yuum!!! I don't usually like marzipan, but this I would DEFINITELY try! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I tend to think macarons are more trouble than their worth, but that filling. THAT FILLING. Oh, how I want, Victoria!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! I love the fillings and it does make for one decadent killer mac! The shells are gorgeous! The whole thing is perfection itself! So glad you baked with us at Mactweets this month and gave us these macs. Now if I could only taste one...

    ReplyDelete
  4. The photo of the baked shells is great as it shows a smooth surface. Sometimes, the surface may be bumpy due to trapped air bubble when mixing the meringue with the sugared almond mixture. It's good to use a pastry scrapper to press down gently the whole mixture a dozen times in order to release the air prior to pipping it out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Killer macs, bro! That filling looks thrashin'!

    Honestly though, looks delicious. I'm never made macs before (shhhh, don't tell anyone), but a triple chocolate threat may be just the impetus I need!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your macarons always turn out so perfect-looking; every time you make them I always think "I could do that!". Beautiful, and very delicious-looking...especially now that I'm gaining a deeper appreciation for Scharffen Berger. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow a triple treat mac. Lov it! The chocolate marzipan filling (+ the ganache) sounds amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is it. I'm coming to DC and I'll make you pancakes for breakfast and you make the desserts for lunch. Deal? OKAY good because this is making me starving just looking at it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your macarons look perfect and delicious! I still haven't made my own but it is something I'd like to try soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gorgeous! And they sound amazing. That was a brilliant idea with the marzipan/unsweetened chocolate! I'm going to make ice cream again soon which means I'll have egg whites left over...sounds like there's no excuse to get back on the mac train.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, you've sure made it on the beauty stakes and on the sheer indulgence factor. Fantastic macaroons and love the double filling. What, I'm wondering is in the remaining 1% of the unsweetened chocolate? So pleased you entered the challenge, marzipan is not proving to be a very popular ingredient :(

    ReplyDelete
  12. @Choclette Europe has actually outlawed claims of 100% cocoa solids! Most 99% bars have just a tiny bit of whole vanilla beans added, which is the extra <1% here.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fantastic idea using marzipan and chocolate. Your macarons look really yummy and I also love your high feet!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi, your macarons look delicious, so high on their feet! Triple chocolate, just what a chocoholic needs :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love Marzipan and I use it very often but never thought of using it as a filling! Very original! Thanks for the recipe!
    Cheers
    Mamatkamal

    ReplyDelete
  16. You hit the ball out of the park with that marzipan idea...wow! These are some divine macarons. Thanks for bringing these beauties to MacTweets!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! I just love your combo of marzipan and chocolate - TRIPLE chocolate. Just brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  18. You can never have enough chocolate! Your triple choc macs are so perfect for your blog. I'd like to try something with marzipan but have not yet. Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing your choc mac ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  19. These look so perfect, I am jealous! Macarons are my nemesis but I'm determined to conquer them. Love the flavour combination too :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh, my! Soooo delicious looking. Someone needs to invent a scratch and taste computer screen...ASAP.

    ReplyDelete