It’s been a while since I made macarons so I thought it was time to try again. My husband got me the Ladurée cookbook a few years ago and I’ve been slowly trying to make stuff in it, but french baking can be a little fussy. I was going to make the almond ones, but realized I didn’t have a few ingredients so I opted for the chocolate ones.

You start by making the ganache, which is pretty easy since you can microwave the cream. Once it’s hot (but not scalding) pour that over the chocolate and gently stir until it’s mixed thoroughly. Be sure to put plastic wrap over the top once it’s cooled a little and then when it’s at room temperature you can put it into the fridge.

Next you’ll move on to the shells and pulse the almond flour, cocoa powder, and confectioners’ sugar until it’s super fine. I got this ready and then shifted my attention to the egg whites. Whip those until they’re a little foamy and then you can start slowly adding the granulated sugar. Let this whip up but don’t over whip. Once it’s ready then you can slowly add the melted chocolate (I just melted mine in the microwave) and then start sifting in the flour/sugar/cocoa powder mixture.

I realized as I was piping them my tip might have been a little smaller than it should and I’m way out of practice trying to pipe nice little near macaron shells. There is definitely an art to this and I feel like I was close to getting there the last time I made these but that’s been about three years. I tried to keep the size consistent, but let’s just say some are “rustic.” After letting them rest for 10 minutes, into the oven they went.

Ironically, the prettiest looking ones weren’t as dried out as they should have been and ended up looking worse (and holding up worse) than the broken ones. It was pretty disappointing and definitely I think my worst batch of macarons. I did not try the water steaming trick to help keep them from sticking (mainly because I was worried I would mess them all up) so maybe that would have helped?

Not much I could do at this point other than just keep going so I let my ganache sit out until it was a pipe-able (is that a word?) consistency. It was a little thick and I could tell once the ganache hit the shells and they sagged that they weren’t going to look super pretty. I got it done though and took a picture of the prettiest ones.

I know you’re supposed to wait 12 hours before eating one, but I tried one that was super cracked just to see what it tasted like. It was very good and had a nice chocolate flavor, but they just didn’t stand up well like the last batch I made (these Hot Cocoa Macarons). They were also super good taste was the next day too.

I’m not quite sure what happened and that’s the thing about macarons is they’re a little finicky so it could have been one or more things. This recipe isn’t much different from previous ones so it’s possible the humidity inside made a difference. I’ll certainly keep trying but a little sad these didn’t quite turn out as hoped.

Baking Ease	7
Time Spent	8
Taste	10
Visual	8

Recipe Used: Ladurée p. 16