Chocolate Macarons

I know it's been a long time. Far too long. While I was away I learned a devastating truth: I cannot make chocolate chip cookies. I can manage perfectly flaky croissants. I'm fine with pie crust. I can bake brioche. Biscotti: not a problem. Allow me to make you puff pastry. But good ol' chocolate chip cookies are apparently beyond me. To console myself, and although I always say my next post will be a savory, I got up this morning and made chocolate macarons. And they're divine.

They have a perfect meringue crust giving way to a pleasantly chewy center. The ganache is as ganache should be: rich beyond rich and like silk on the tongue. The points may not have smoothed out as much as I would have liked, but when I opened the oven and saw perfect collars around every macaron, I was elated.

Macarons were once near the top of my baking intimidation list. After two successful attempts, they have fallen off it. I hope you too can experience the euphoria these little cookies can offer when they work.

Chocolate Macarons

Makes 18 2-inch sandwiched macarons

• For the macarons:
• 200 g confectioners' sugar
• 95 g almond flour
• 40 g cocoa powder
• 130 g egg whites (about 4), room temp
• 130 g granulated sugar
• Blank
• For the ganache filling:
• 1/2 recipe basic ganache
• 1 Tbs. soft butter
• 1 1/2 Tbs. Cointreau

• For the macarons: Line several baking sheets with parchment and set aside. Alternately you can line one baking sheet with parchment and set three other sheets of parchment on your work surface. If you find it helpful, which I do, draw circles the diameter you desire your cookies to be on the parchment.
• Place the confectioners' sugar, almond flour, and cocoa in the bowl of a food processor and process until there are no lumps and the cocoa is evenly distributed. Set aside. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat the whites on low speed until they are frothy. Increase the speed to medium high and when whites start to hold shape, gradually add the granulated sugar. Continue to whip until whites hold stiff peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the almond-sugar-cocoa mixture into the whites in two parts until no streaks of white remain.
• Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a medium-large plain tip and pipe mounds of batter into the circles drawn on the parchment. Allow to stand for one hour. Half an hour before the first batch goes into the oven, preheat oven to 350°F. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer immediately to wire racks to cool. Allow the oven to reheat, transfer your second piece of parchment to the baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Repeat until all the macarons are baked.
• For the ganache filling: While the cookies are awaiting the oven, make the ganache. After the cream is fully incorporated, add the butter and process for a few seconds. Add the Cointreau and process a few seconds longer. Transfer ganache to a bowl and refrigerate until pipable, stirring occasionally to allow for even cooling and to prevent a skin from forming.
• To assemble: When the cookies are fully cooled and the ganache is thick enough to pipe, pipe a dollop of ganache onto the bums of half the macarons. Sandwich with the remaining cookies.

Serve with strong coffee or cold milk. Or both.

Lemon Macarons

If you made the cheesecake below, you might be wondering what to do with all those egg whites and all that leftover lemon curd. Maybe you already made lemon meringue tartlets. If not, you could try making macarons. I should warn you, though: if they work you'll be overcome with baking euphoria, if not... not. You decide whether it's worth the risk.

The first time I attempted to make macarons, it was a macaron massacre. I aged the egg whites like the recipe told me to and heated the syrup to so-many degrees before drizzling it down the side of the bowl while the whites were whipping and folded in the almonds and sugar just so and piped and waited and baked and then... they were lop-sided and hollow and just plain wrong. I was despondent for the rest of the day. This time I felt like I cheated somehow by making them with French meringue instead of Italian, but when I opened the oven and saw the perfectly shiny domes and frothy little collars, I didn't mind quite so much.

I hope your audience is as appreciative as mine was. I took my macarons to work with me and was positively regaled with praise. "They look like little hamburgers," S. said, "but taste like lemon meringue pie!" Another co-worker said, "I don't know what those are, but I want the recipe." Well, here it is.

Lemon Macarons

adapted from The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts

• 115 g almond flour
• 200 gconfectioners' sugar, sifted
• 90 g egg whites, room temp
• 8 g confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• lemon curd

• Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat and set aside.
• Place the almond flour and 200 g sugar in a food processor and process for about a minute. Set aside.
• Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on low until whites are foamy. Add the sugar and beat on high to the soft peak stage, being careful not to over-whip.
• Remove bowl from stand and fold in the almond mixture and almond extract using a rubber spatula. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip.
• Pipe rounds of batter onto the parchment lined baking sheet, leaving enough room between them for the batter to spread slightly. Make the rounds any size you want so long as they're all the same size. If it helps, you can even draw circles on the parchment as guides.
• Let the uncooked macarons sit for about an hour before baking. They will form a skin, which will help them keep their shape during baking. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until firm and just beginning to brown around the edges.
• Immediately transfer macarons to wire racks to cool. Once cool, pipe a mound of lemon curd on half the macarons and sandwich them with the other half, pressing them together to squeeze the filling to the edges.

Serve the same day.