Introduction: How To: Chocolate French Macarons (Recipe and Tips!)

Making French macarons is a sweet yet complicated science. These delicate cookies require lots of attention and some special kitchen know-how, but with a little help from our video, you'll feel like a Parisian pastry chef in no time. And if you don't, well, we still encourage you to eat any and all mistakes.

-- Video by Beryl Shereshewsky, Allegra Scarano and Vivek Kemp

Chocolate Macarons


Ingredients:


1 cup confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup almond flour

2 large egg whites, room temperature (this is very important!)

Pinch of cream of tartar

1/4 cup superfine sugar (you can take normal sugar and grind it if you do not have superfine sugar)

1/4 cup cacao powder

Chocolate buttercream for filling


Directions:


In a blender, combine confectioners’ sugar and almond flour and then sift.

Whisk the egg whites on low speed until they become foamy and add a pinch of cream of tartar.

When the egg whites form soft peaks, add, in increments, the 1/4 cup of superfine sugar and whisk on a low speed.

Once sugar is added and whisked, add the cacao powder.

Whisk on high again until hard peaks form; this should take around 6 minutes. The egg whites should stick inside the whisk, even if shaken.

Once hard peaks have formed, slowly add your sifted flour mixture. This is called the macronage. Make sure you thoroughly mix all the flour and egg whites. We recommend about 50 strokes. This will make or break your macarons. The mixture should move like lava, slowly and thickly.

Using parchment or baking pads, pipe macarons using a rosette swipe, making a small circle (it’s OK if you have little peaks).

Hit the baking tray on the counter a few times to get any extra air out and smooth any leftover peaks with your fingers.

Let them rest for 15-20 minutes; they will form a hard shell. (When you touch them, they shouldn’t leave batter on your fingers.)

Bake at 300 degrees for 15-17 minutes, then let cool for 20 minutes before filling with chocolate buttercream.

If your macarons come out of the oven flat, that means the egg whites were over-whipped. If they come out hollow, they didn’t rest long enough or were under-whipped.