Swiss Macarons with Chocolate Ganache (shells best eaten on the same day)

I adapted this recipe from Joconde's Baking Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/Tmg8q1ZCcRk?si=YKTdofOCGxjSryIG. I really recommend watching her video I've only adapted the recipie to my oven and doubled the recipe. I'm looking forward to trying out her other recipies. I can't remember where the ganache recipie came from but I find it's much better than buttercream as that's just a sugar overload.

NOTE: Even though most recipies recommend putting the shells in the fridge to eat the next day, I find for this recipie it's best eaten on the same day. It got a bit soft in the fridge the next day but that also could be becuase my container wasn't air tight enough.

MAKES 48 shells which is 24 macarons.

Utensilts

Electric weighing scale

blender

sift

metal bowl on top of a pot for double boiling

hand whisk

sugar thermemeter

powerful electric mixer with whisk

rubber or plastic spatula

baking paper

trays with low rims

piping bags and largish round tip

template for 4cm rounds

towel cloth to bang trays on table with (so it does not scratch your table)

Ingredients

vinegar for wiping utensils

150g almond flour AFTER PULSING AND SIFTING (not almond meal that is too coarse)

150g pure icing sugar (not soft icing sugar that has been mixed with cornflour, it might affect the texture)

132g egg whites at room temp

120g caster sugar

a few drops of gel food colouring (not liquid as that affects the mixture)

Method

1. Wipe all utensils and bowls with vinegar as they need to be dry and grease free.

Line all the lowsided trays with baking paper.

Prepare your piping tip into your piping bag, rememer to throw away the snipped bit straight away so it does not fall into the food.

2. You need to exactly 150g almond flour but often it's still not fine enough. So pulse the almond flour in 3 sec pulses (not too much or oil comes out) the sift it. 

3. Combine your icing sugar and almond flour and then sift it AGAIN. Now your macaron shells won't have lumps in it.

NOTE: There are so few ingrediens in macarons make sure you're exact with measurments and don't leave bits behind in the bowl.

4. Place your room temperature egg whites and caster sugar in double boiler over high heat.

5. Whisk at all times so they eggs don't cook until thermometer says 50C.

6. Take it off and pour into centre of mixing bowl (if it's down the sides you'll have to scrub it off).

7. Whisk on medium to high till eggs are smooth (see youtube video) then add food colouring gel. The colour dosen't fade from what you see.

8. Whisk on high till you get a soft beak. 

NOTE: This took ages using a weak handmixer but swift using a big stand mixer.

9. Fold in half the dry ingredients till just combined.

10. Fold in other half of dry ingredients till just combined.

11. Now keep folding and apply a thin layer to the edge of the bowl then recombine (see youtube video). This macaraonge prevents empty macaroon shells with a huge air pocket. You want tiny areaton but air bubbles. 

12. Repeat about 8 times or stop when the mixture is shiny and falls off in a consistent ribbon. If you were to put a tiny peaked blob on a plate after a little while it would fold back into itself, not leave a peak.  BE GENTLE.

13. Scoop mixture into piping bag, don't fill it too full as it's hard to pipe. Just refil the bag as needed, that also prevents the mixure from melting into soft goo.

NOTE: For the instructions below work tray by tray as if you wait to remove bubbles all at the end the shell would have formed and you'll get cracked shells.

13. Preheat the oven to 150C. NO FAN.

14. Use the template beneath the baking paper and pipe 4cm rounds, very spaced out. Most templates are too close together.

15. The piping bag must be 90degrees vertical, place your nozzel in position and don't move just squeeze out the mixture, then stop squeezing, do a little twist and lift the nozzel out. Hold the bag nozzel side up between rounds so it does not drip out.

NOTE: REMOVE YOUR TEMPLATE so it can be reused, some templates are laminated in plastic you wouldn't want to bake that!

16. Tap the tray our your towel on all 4 sides. So facing you tap, twist 90 degrees, tap and repeat etc. These two steps are to ensure you get even 'feet'.

17. Then use a toothpick to remove bubbles the tapping brought to the surface. This is just to prevent big bubbles from popping up and cracking the shell, little bubbles don't matter.

18. Set aside to form a skin.

19. Repeat for all the other trays but keep the other trays in mind as you go, you may need to start cooking the first macarons as you are still piping the last ones.

20. At 22C using the aircon, it took 40mins to form a skin, which means when it was touched it wasn't wet, no residue on your fingers. 

NOTE: This is very important, a skin makes the steam escape down the bottom of the macaron forming the 'feet'. Without the skin, the steam cracks through the top.

21. I have a mini oven so I need to place it on the bottom rack for 13 mins. Otherwise it browned becuase it was too close to the top. If you have a normal sized oven maybe you could use the middle rack. 

22. Test that it's done by giving the macaron a soft twist, if the top twists while the feet stays put it's not done yet. 

23. I found cooking 1 tray at a time worked in my min oven, 2 trays didn't seem to cook well. But that might be becuase it's a mini oven.

24. Take out of oven when done, and slide baking paper off onto table so the heat from the tray does not keep cooking it. 

25. Let cool before assmbling with the filling. It took 20mins in 22C aircon.

Ganache ingredients

140g heavy cream (at least 35% fat, more is better)

150g dark choc, chopped

60g butter, chopped (I'm not sure if it matters if it's cold or room temp)

Method

1. Double boil dark choc and heavy cream while whisking

2. Take off heat, whisk in butter.

3. Cool down till thick, you can leave it in the fridge overnight or I put mine in the freezer for a short time.

4. Whisk to buttercream texture (I did this by hand with a form as I didn't have much).

PS I'm still experimenting wtih how much ganache is needed for this quantity of macarons as I also had bluberry buttercream on hand. I also want to try colouring white chocolate to be more colourful.

Assemble by piping ganache using a fun tip to get texture. I went around the edges then put a bit in the middle with a blueberry. That way when I pressed down the ganache looked pretty around the edges and the middle ganache blob spread out. I don't think that much ganache is needed it's all pretty sweet already. It just needs enough to look pretty.

This recipie is fool proof for my mini oven. The next challenge is to try making shaped macarons.