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Turquoise French Macarons With Chocolate Ganache Recipe – delicate almond meal cookie shells filled with rich chocolate ganache.
French Macarons – I’ve definitely had more fails than hits with these. They do require practice and some skill and they can go wrong anytime. These Turquoise French Macarons aren’t perfect, but they are close to what I was planning to make.
These delicate cookies are some of my favorite. Even though the very first time I tried macarons I was not sure if they were what I was expecting! I expected a different taste, but I do love them now!
I usually use the French Meringue method, but I’ve tried the Italian one, too. I would say the Italian one produces a more-stable meringue, but I don’t always feel like looking for my candy thermometer.
I’ll share my tips and tricks for making good macarons at home.
I’m pretty sure this is not all and things can always go wrong. There are so many important details to create a good macaron and I don’t even know everything. Plus every baker has their own little secrets/ways of making macarons.
Here is what I usually do and what I don’t do: (If you decide to try these Turquoise French Macarons).
- I don’t age my egg whites. I’ve done it in the past and see no difference.
- Believe it or not, humidity affects baking and you can really “feel it”, when making macarons. If you live in an extra humid place like me (Chicagoland) macaron shells may require extra time to dry, so they can get nice “feet” when baking. If it is an extremely humid day, I just don’t bake macarons.
- I either open a new bag of almond meal or keep an open one inside a zip lock bag in the freezer.
- Egg whites need to be beaten until “STIFF PEAKS”, this will ensure stable meringue and stable cookie shells.
- I usually bake macaron shells on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, but I’ve recently discovered these Silicone Baking Mats and I loved the results. The cookies did not stick to them and I like that you can also make shells in two sizes and also make ears.
- I usually don’t add flavors to the shells, I just color them and make a filling with rich flavor.
- I use gel food coloring and add it when I add the almond meal/sugar mixture to the egg whites.
- I add the almond meal/sugar mixture all at once to the meringue. Then I fold it into the meringue roughly, then I press down to get the right consistency. I don’t count the strokes as some other recipes suggest.
- The technique where you fold the almond meal into the egg whites is called “macaronnage”. This is where you can really get it wrong! It requires practice! It is very important not to over mix the batter, it needs to be on the thick side (my opinion). I’ll try to give more details – when you pick the batter up with a spatula and let it fall into the bowl, a “ribbon” forms and slowly gathers in a pile below. The batter should slowly fall down, not speedily. The time for which the ribbon of batter sinks into the batter should be around 30 seconds.
- If you follow a recipe and your macaron shells start to brown too quickly, you might need to bring the oven temperature down. Every oven and baking sheet are different, so keep an eye on the shells while baking. (The cookies in today’s recipe have slightly browned tops, because I was not paying attention!)
I hope this helps! Again, these cookies require practice, but it is not impossible for the average home cook to make them. Mine could have looked a little better!
If you’d like to try some other macaron recipes, check these out:Â Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate Peppermint Ganache, Tiramisu Macarons or Strawberry Macarons.
Turquoise French Macarons With Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Ingredients
For the macaron cookie shells:
- 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1Â cup almond flour
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 drops Americolor Turquoise food coloring
For the chocolate ganache:
- 5 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
For the macaron shells:
- Line 2 large baking sheets with silicone baking sheets or parchment paper. Draw 1 1/2 inch circles over the paper, 1 inch apart.
- Process powdered sugar and almond flour in a food processor until finely ground. Sift through a sieve. If you have more that 2 tbsp of the mixture in the sieve, process it and sift again. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until frothy. Add sugar 1 tbsp at a time and beat on high for 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form.
- Sift the almond meal/sugar mixture over the egg whites. Add gel food coloring. Using a rubber spatula gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg white mixture. Fold until the batter falls into a ribbon from the spatula and takes 20 seconds to spread into the batter.
- Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch round tip with batter. Pipe shells onto the circles.
- Gently tap the sheets on your work surface, to release any bubbles. Let the cookies stay at room temperature to dry for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until set but not browned. If they start to brown, very early, this means your oven is too hot and you need to bring the temperature down.
- Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack and let cookies cool down completely.
- Peel cookies off the parchment paper (silicone mats) and turn upside down. Be careful not to break them.
- Fill cookies with chocolate ganache.
For the chocolate ganache:
- Place chocolate chips in a bowl.
- In a small saucepan bring heavy cream to a boil and remove from heat immediately. Pour over chocolate chips. Whisk until combined. Set aside and let it cool for 1 hour before piping into cookies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These gorgeous gorgeous macarons look like the fragile eggs sitting in a nest in my back yard… such a perfect color complemented by the chocolate ganache. This is a stunner, Mira! Pinned!
I have a fondness for miniature food. Top that off with that beautiful color and I’m pretty much making those high pitch squealing sounds usually reserved for puppies. So cute!!!
These are incredible Mira, and you really have perfected the macaron. I have never made them myself, as I have only ever had them in Paris and I don’t want to ruin how good that was. But, these are really tempting me.
Omigosh, Mira, these macarons are just perfect! I’m especially impressed because I know how difficult they are to make. You did an incredible job, plus, hello: turquoise? Such a gorgeous color. Also, the chocolate ganache in the center just takes these macarons to the next level. Thanks for sharing your tips too! Pinning. 🙂
Mira – these are adorable and look pretty near perfect to me!
I am bookmarking this page so I have it to refernece the next time I try my hand at them!
my favorite, they look perfect Mira 🙂
I have never seen a more strikingly pretty macaron and I want to eat them all.
I’ve tried a few times to make macarons but none of my attempts have been successful! They usually end of tasting good thankfully but they don’t develop those pretty feet! I’ll have to give it another shot next time with your tips!!
These are absolutely gorgeous, and I’ve pinned and plan to make them soon…maybe for Mother’s Day! I’ve made macarons before, and I’ve found that parchment paper always works great. I tried baking macarons without parchment once, and it was a disaster. Silicon mats vastly vary in quality. The silicone mats I tried didn’t work, and again, the macarons were a disaster. Generally, I’ve had the most success with parchment for macarons. Thanks for sharing what looks like a rockin’ recipe!
–G
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