Double Chocolate French Macarons

These pretty, light brown cookies are filled with rich and dense chocolate ganache for a contrast of textures as well as intensity of chocolate flavors.

Yield: 2 dozen

Active time: 25 minutes

Start to finish: 1 hour

1¹/₂ cups confectioners’ sugar

³/₄ cup almond meal

¹/₃ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

¹/₄ teaspoon cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

¹/₂ cup superfine granulated sugar

4 to 6 drops food coloring (optional)

¹/₂ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.

2. Combine confectioners’ sugar, almond meal, and cocoa in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until smooth. Shake mixture through a fine sieve into a mixing bowl. Use bits of almond remaining in the strainer for another use.

3. Place egg whites in a grease-free mixing bowl and beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and salt, raise the speed to high, and beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue to beat until stiff peaks form and meringue is glossy. Beat in food coloring, if using.

4. Fold meringue into almond cocoa mixture. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a ¹/₂-inch plain tip with meringue. Pipe out 2-inch circles, spacing them 1 inch apart. Tap the baking sheet on the counter and allow meringues to sit for 10 minutes.

5. Bake meringues for 13 to 15 minutes or until tops are dry. Allow macarons to cool completely on the baking sheets on top of a wire rack, then transfer to the cooling rack.

6. While meringues cool, prepare chocolate. Combine cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan, and stir over medium heat until cream begins to simmer. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Let cool until thickened before using.

7. Spread 1 heaping teaspoon chocolate on the flat side of one cookie, and sandwich with a second cookie.

Note: Keep cookies in an airtight container, refrigerated, layered between sheets of waxed paper or parchment for up to 3 days.

Variations

Add ¹/₂ teaspoon rum or orange extract to chocolate filling.

Substitute white chocolate for bittersweet chocolate in the filling.

To fill a pastry bag: Place the tip into the bag, and then use a few heavy paper clips to shut the bag above the top of the tip. Place the pastry bag in a beaker with the top tucked over the sides, and then fill it. Remove the bag from the beaker, remove the paper clips, and use the clips to keep the top firmly closed as you pipe.