French Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream Filling - G'day Soufflé

Step 1

1 Preparation: use a dark felt-tipped pen to draw circles 1 ½ inches in diameter on two large pieces of parchment paper to fit your baking trays (you will need about 24 circles). Space the circles at least two inches apart. Place the parchment paper on two large baking sheets, in preparation for piping the macaron batter. (You could possibly bake all 24 macarons on one baking tray but I prefer to spread them over two trays and bake them separately).

Step 2

2 Place the almond flour and confectioner’s sugar in a food processor and process for about 30-40 seconds. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl. Place the aged egg whites in a small bowl and beat with electric beaters on high until soft peaks form, then add the granulated sugar and continue to beat until still peaks form. (You should be able to hold the bowl upside down and the egg whites will still cling to the bowl).

Step 3

3 The ‘Macaronage’- blending the egg whites into the almond flour mixture

Step 4

4 Scrape the egg whites into the bowl containing the almond flour mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients; scrape the spatula along the side of the bowl using an outward motion, then bring the spatula into the middle of the mixture with a spiral motion. Occasionally bring the spatula up from the center bottom of the bowl and flip it over onto itself. Continue until the ingredients are fully combined, with the mixture still looking a bit grainy.

Step 5

5 Using a pastry scraper, continue mixing the macaron batter, pressing the flat edge of the scraper against the sides of the mixing bowl to release any air bubbles and to further incorporate the egg whites into the batter. Continue mixing until wide ‘ribbons’ begin to hang off of the edge of the scraper when you lift it (you should be able to draw a figure 8 in the batter). The batter should appear smooth and satiny- you are now ready to pipe the batter onto the prepared baking sheets.

Step 6

6 Use a rubber spatula to transfer the macaron batter into a 16 inch piping bag, fitted with a tip with a round 1/4 inch nozzle. Pipe the batter onto the prepared parchment paper with the piping bag and nozzle pointing straight down towards the baking tray. When you have finished piping each macaron, finish off by doing a little 1/4 turn ‘flick’ of the piping bag. When finished, tap the tray several times on top of the table to release any air bubbles (I tapped my tray gently on top of my tiled kitchen floor). Wait for 30-60 minutes until a skin begins to form on top of the macarons. When you touch the tops of the macarons, the batter should not stick to your finger.

Step 7

7 Place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 310 F (155 C) and bake for 12-13 minutes. After 10 minutes, open the oven door briefly and touch the top of a macaron to test for ‘doneness.’ If the macaron still feels a bit wobbly, bake for another 2-3 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and let cool before removing the macarons from the parchment paper. If necessary, use a sharp knife or spatula to gently scrape them from the paper. If the macarons still stick to the paper, this indicates they are under-done and require more baking in the oven.

Step 8

8 For the Chocolate Buttercream Filling:

Step 9

9 Combine the confectioner's sugar and butter together and mix together until creamy, using an electric mixer. Add the cocoa powder, heavy cream, vanilla extract and salt and continue to mix until smooth. If the mixture is still too dry, add a little more cream or milk. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a nozzle with a small round hole. Match pairs of macarons shells together according to their size. Pipe the butter cream icing onto the inside of one macaron shell, leaving a small margin on the outside. Press the other shell gently on top. Place the completed macarons in the fridge for 24 before serving (if you can stand to wait that long)!