chocolate macarons

recipe:

• 1/2 cup (50g) almond meal/flour
• 1/4 cup (20g) cocoa powder
• 1 cup (130g) icing sugar
• 2 tbsp (30g) caster sugar
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (60g) dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup (62ml) heavy cream

method:

1. Preheat oven to 140 degrees Celcius and prepare baking sheet with baking paper.
2. Sift together the almond meal, cocoa powder, and icing sugar. The more times you sift it, the smoother the shells will turn out. You can also put these through a food processor to get them extra fine. You can set the dry ingredients aside for now.
3. Start using an electric mixer to whisk the egg whites — make sure your bowl is as clean as possible and try to use a glass or metal bowl, as any oils or fat will affect how stiff your egg whites get. Plastic bowls sometimes absorb and retain oils.
4. Once the egg white start to foam up, start to gradually add the caster sugar. Beat the egg whites still stiff peaks form (they should look stiff and shiny, and when you turn the bowl upside down it doesn’t fall out).
5. In three batches, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using a spatula. The first two batches you can be rough with it, but once you’re folding in the final batch take care not to over beat or else the shells will be flat. You’re looking for the kind of texture that when you lift your spatula out of the batter, the batter should sink back slowly into itself.
6. Transfer batter into a piping bag and pipe into small circles onto your baking sheet you prepared earlier, then wait for around 30 minutes for the shells to develop a skin (when you lightly touch the top of the shells the batter doesn’t stick to your finger). Then put them in the oven for 13-14 minutes, then take them out and let cool.
7. The filling is simple, just melt together your dark chocolate and heavy cream, then let cool until it’s piping consistency.
8. You’re done!