Chocolate & Cranberry Macarons

Well, hello!

Here, as promised, is one of the chocolatey ways in which I used the tangy Cranberry & Clementine Curd from my last post.

Now, I LOVE to eat macarons, especially the Laduree ones when I’m in Paris. But making them tends to strike a baking fear into my heart. Still, I simply had to make these as I knew the softly yielding and nutty chocolate pillows would be heavenly with this lip puckering and puce hued curd.

And so, I approached the kitchen and a temperamental oven to which I am still getting to grips with ( we only moved in a couple of months ago ) with more that a little trepidation. I was right to be afraid as these two in the picture above were the best looking of the bunch! The others had some cracking issues, probably due to my dodgy oven and too short a drying out time.

It proves that we should never judge a book by its cover as, cracked or not they tasted crazy good and they were energetically snaffled up by some chums in a flash.

They tasted so good that I urge you to give these macarons a go, as a good friend of mine always says ” Feel the fear and do it anyway “.

Chocolate & Cranberry Macarons
250g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
25g good quality cocoa powder ( I used Green & Blacks )
4 large egg whites at room temperature
25g caster sugar

Cranberry & Clementine Curd to fill.

Preheat the oven to 150C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper. You can draw 3-4cm diameter circles onto the paper to help with piping the macarons evenly. Remember to put the paper pen/pencil side down before piping!
Grind the almond meal until it becomes a fine powder, then sift together with the icing sugar and the cocoa powder.
Whisk the egg whites in a spotlessly grease free bowl until soft peaks form. sprinkle over the sugar and continue to whisk until thick. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down and not get a face full of meringue.
Gradually fold in the dry ingredients. Sit your piping bag into a tall glass ( I use a vase ) creating a ‘cuff’ over the side of the glass and fill with macaron batter. Pipe your chosen size of round. Push down any peaks with the back if a spoon. Leave the macaron to ‘dry out’ for at least 30 mins. They should form a ‘skin’ and no longer be tacky to the touch.
Place in the centre of your oven for 10 -12 mins. They should easily come away from the paper, be crispy on top and chewy underneath.

Leave to cool.

Fill with a teaspoon of Cranberry & Clementine Curd.

BTW, these look adorable when served on a tiered cake stand.

Happy Baking!
Lemony x