macarons au café

Enjoy these soft and bittersweet Macarons, filled with dark chocolate and coffee, like a delicious cup of coffee. 

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Makes about 40 Macarons

For the shells:

• 200 g ground almonds
• 200 g confectioners sugar
• 50 ml water
• 200 g sugar
• 2 x 75 g egg white (about 5 eggs)
• 1 teaspoon chocolate powder

Sift the ground almonds the confectioners sugar and the chocolate powder together through a fine sieve or put it in the bowl of a food processor. Process for about 1 minute until the mixture finely ground, almost like a powder.

Pour 75 g of the egg white into the almond-confectioners sugar-chocolate mixture and set aside.

Place the another 75 g of the egg white into a mixing bowl and whip the egg white to the soft peak.

Put the water and sugar in a heavy-base saucepan over medium-high heat.

When the syrup reaches 117°C, take if off the heat and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl with the whipped egg white.

Continue mixing for about 10 minutes, until the meringue cool down. The whipped egg white will be very stiff and glossy.

Mix a third of the whipped egg white into the almond mixture and combine them well. Fold the rest of whipped egg white into the mixture and mix gently, until the batter is smooth and thick.

Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 0,8-cm plain tip. Pipe the staggering rows of rounds of the size of a walnut onto baking trays, lined with parchment papers or baking sheets. Tap the underside of the baking sheet to remove air bubbles.

Let the piped shells stand at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes to let the crust forms. When the piped shells are dry to touch without it sticking to your finger, they are good to go into the oven.

Preheat the oven to 170°C and bake the Macarons for about 10 – 12 minutes on the lowest part of the oven.

Remove the tray from the oven and put the Macarons (still on the baking paper) onto a cool bench top. This shocks them and makes them easier to remove from the paper.

For the filling:

• 300 g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 dl cream
• 20 g instant coffee
• 60 g sugar

Stir the cream, the sugar and the instant coffee in a pan over low heat.

Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it over the chocolate.

Let the chocolate begin to melt, and then stir it gently with a spatula. Set it aside and let it cool completely in the refrigerator, for about 2 hours.

Give the filling on one shell and place the other shell on, slightly twist as you push down so the filling evenly spreads between the two halves.

Store the Macarons in an airtight container in the refrigerator for least 12 hours. Macarons will taste better after they are chilled overnight as the filling flavour will blend in and shells will be less dry.

Happy baking!