Chocolate Dipped American Macaroons

Compared to French Macarons these American Macaroons were a piece of cake! They took all of 15 minutes to make.  On top of that this recipe is almost guilt free for me.  The nutrient content in the ingredients is quite high, and makes me actually feel good about what I am consuming. Imagine that! That being said I don't recommend going crazy with them, eat a few not the whole batch, it is a dessert after all! :D Get ready for the super simple:

Dark Chocolate Dipped American Macaroons:

Ingredients:

 

1 heaping Cup finely Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)

6 Tbsp. Almond Flour
1/4 Cup warmed Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp. (real) Maple Syrup or raw honey
1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method:


In a large bowl mix together the coconut, and almond flour. Add the coconut oil (should be liquid), syrup or honey and vanilla.  Mix until well combined. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Use a small scooper or you hands to make 24 equal sized balls, and set each one on the prepared cookie sheet.  Put in the freezer for a few minutes so the oil can firm up in them.  Meanwhile in a sauce pan on a low heat, warm up chocolate, stirring occasionally until smooth.  Remove macaroons from the freezer, and dip each one quickly into the chocolate, and put it immediately back onto the cookie sheet. When all the macaroons have chocolate bottoms, drizzle them all with the remaining chocolate.  You can pipe the chocolate onto them, or use a spoon. Put them in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens and keep them cold until ready to eat.

Blueberry Muffin Macarons (and more!)

Yes...more macarons :) This time we made delicious blueberry muffin macarons, and chocolate peanut butter!  We are working on coloring the shells naturally and it is proving to be quite difficult.  The middle of our macarons have beautiful colors to them, but we will get the shells right, eventually.  We have the flavor down that's for sure.

Blueberry Muffin Macarons:

I love the beautiful speckled shells

And for the Peanut Butter Chocolate:

We used chunky peanut butter in the filling recipe, great texture!

I hope you have fun experimenting with your own fun macaron flavors, just follow the recipes for the chocolate and vanilla shells on the two posts before this, and mix things into it! The filling is where you can really go nuts! Happy baking :)

Perfect for afternoon tea!

Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Espresso Bean Macarons

Today I had a party all by myself in the kitchen.  I had so much fun creating the first successful batch of French Raspberry Cream Macarons that I had to do it again.  So Hillary (my baking partner in crime) came over and we tried again with slightly different ingredients; well it was somewhat of a disaster, a delicious but ugly disaster.  So today I avoided doing my last bit of homework to satisfy my obnoxious need to prevail.  And what do you know, I whipped up a great batch of chocolate macarons.  The filling is really where you can get creative with these cute cookies.  Yesterday Hillary made a vanilla bean creme filling that was simply amazing.  Today I made a slue of fillings, but the chocolate espresso bean filling with the chocolate shells was my favorite.  Okay, now for the recipe:

Chocolate Espresso Bean Macarons

Macarons:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
 
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar

Espresso Chocolate Creme:

2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp finely ground espresso/coffee beans (I used a French Roast)
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp water plus more if needed

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 275-300 degrees F

Beat egg whites and sugar for 8-10 mins. 

TIP: #1 egg white should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.

Whip until they form a peak that stands upright.

TIP#2 Sift almond flour, powdered sugar (confectioners), and cocoa powder. Add salt. You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.

Fold flour/sugar/cocoa mixture into the egg white mixture.

TIP#3 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macarons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macarons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.

TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20--30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!

Bake for 18-20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.

Meanwhile mix the filling. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar ground beans and cocoa powder. Add water until a thick but creamy consistency is achieved.
 

Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)

Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell.

If not eating right away, keep refrigerated. 

Bon Appetit!

French Raspberry Cream Macarons

Delicate, adorable, and delicious, these French Raspberry Cream Macarons were fun, and somewhat simple to make.  There were a lot of steps, but if followed closely, you too can make these beautiful macarons on the first try (like I did, yay!). I adapted the recipe from Entertaining with Beth, a great Vlogger on Youtube. You can play he video below to see her methods.  I did things a bit differently for mine, which the written recipe will reflect.
 

We love our local farmer's market, but one thing it's missing is a great bakery booth.  One of my wonderful and most endearing friends Hillary and I, will be attempting to start producing and selling pretty little desserts that use organic, local, fresh, healthful ingredients.  We want to use many ingredients that are being sold at other booths around the market.  What a fun way to use our passion for cooking, baking, and health, while bringing in a little extra cash.

French Raspberry Cream Macarons

*makes 24 completed cookies* 

Raspberry buttercream with a hint of orange

INGREDIENTS
3 Egg Whites (free range eggs)¼ tsp cream of tartar (2 ml) * You can omit if needed, just may take a bit longer to reach stiff peaks but the recipe will still work)
¼ cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar) (50 g)
 
2 cups organic confectioners sugar (200 g)
1 cup almond flour (120 g)
pinch of salt


RASPBERRY BUTTER CREAM
½ cup salted butter (120 g)
1 cup organic confectioners sugar (75 g)
1 cup (150 g) fresh raspberries, worked through a sieve to extract 3 tbsp of juice

5 drops orange extract

Berries from a wonderful organic farm down the road!

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 275-300 degrees F

Beat egg whites and sugar for 8-10 mins. 

TIP: #1 eggwhite should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.

Whip until they form a peak that stands upright.

TIP#2 Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on :) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.

Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture. 

TIP#3 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macaroons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.

TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20--30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!

Bake for 18-20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.

Pretty brown eggs

Meanwhile mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Then place sieve (if you do not want seeds) on top of a bowl the same size. Work raspberries through the sieve with a spatula, pushing them through, mashing them around until you extract their juice. You want 3 tablespoons of juice.

Add juice to buttercream, along with the orange extract, and whip until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)

Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell.

If not eating right away, keep refrigerated. 

This beautiful plate came straight from Paris, thanks Hillary!

Bon Appetit!