When I saw that the ‘We should Cocoa’ blog challenge was to combine chocolate and almonds, I knew that it was time to overcome my fear and make chocolate macarons! I decided to tweet my intention just to make sure I didn’t back out and Sue, from A little bit of heaven on a plate, tweeted right back that she would make them if I would! And so the Great Macaron Challenge had begun.
I am fortunate enough to own a copy of ‘Mad about Macarons!’ by Jill Colonna and used the technique and recipe in there for the Dark Chocolate Macarons. Everything was very precise and very clearly explained with text and step-by-step photographs.
This is the mixture or macaronnage with all the air pushed out of the beaten egg whites and the ground almonds, cocoa and icing sugar.
The mixture was then piped onto baking sheets covered with baking paper. If I’m going to be making many of these I will invest in a macaron mat to make it easy to make them all the same size.
Yes, they are rather flat (more practice required) but at least there is an obvious ‘foot’ which pleased me no end.
The filling is a chocolate/coffee ganache, and I was pleased that when they were put together, the macarons looked more like they should.
Sadly, Sue’s macarons did not work out, not even enough to show on her blog. I hope she will have another go, I definitely will be making more.
We should Cocoa is being hosted this month by Laura at How to Cook Good Food full details of the challenge are available on Choclette’s Chocolate Log Blog the other founding member of this challenge is Chele at Chocolate Teapot who is taking a bit of a break just now.
Lauralovescakes says
Ooooo well done…your macaroons look fab…you've tamed the beast! I've never tried making chocolate macaroons before! 🙂
Choclette says
Can't believe those are your first attempt Janice, they look amazing. Very well done you. Thanks for a great contribution to WSC.
[email protected] says
I am so impressed with your first attempt Janice, and not surprised that you will be making more! So would I if they turned out as well as yours.
This is such a good entry for We Should Cocoa. Thanks so much and i hope you enjoyed the challenge greatly!
Karen S Booth says
VERY well done Janice, it is hard to believe that this is your first attempt at macarons, they are FAB! I am total awe! Karen
Esther says
Very impressive!
I am yet to overcome my fear of making macaroons! LOL
Well done on your great effort 🙂
Dave @ Baking Beats says
I feel like we lived in parallel universe for a while here lol. I did my first ones for We Should Cocoa 🙂 Yours definitely look like a big fat success to me. All the scare stories about them, were we lucky to succeed on the first attempt? Was it the recipes we used? Something else? Who knows lol. You did really well with uniformity and once you start piping 1000s they're gonna be nanometre perfect 😉
Jill @ MadAboutMacarons says
Janice, your macarons are wonderful. Bravo! Thanks for the shout-out. Doing the macaron dance with you. There's no stopping you now – sounds like you'll be hooked!
Hannah says
Oh well done! My macarons never work out that well. I have pretty much given up on them but now I've seen yours I'm wondering if I'm just making them too big.
Traceyr says
OOO Macaroons Janice you are brave. 🙂
Susie @ Fold in the Flour says
These do look fab – and chocolate Macarons are delish! I found Jill Colconna's method pretty easy for making them and – touches wood – I haven't had a problem yet! 🙂
Working london mummy says
lovely – well done they are great for a first attempt. I find the macaronage step the hardest to get right and mine end up to full of air these days. Must try harder I guess!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake says
Bravo! They look amazing! We'll see you joining in with Mactweets.blogspot.com yet!
Jacqueline Meldrum says
They look wonderful Janice. I could happily tuck in right now!