Halloween Macarons (Swiss Meringue)
Ingredients
Macaron cookies
42g icing sugar
42g ground almond
33g egg white
42g white sugar
optional orange food colour
Chocolate ganache
60g dark chocolate chips, 60%
50g fresh cream, warm
10g butter, room temperature
Method
Sift icing sugar. Mix icing sugar and ground almond.
In a clean mixing bowl, place egg white and white sugar.
Place the mixing bowl over hot simmering water (80-90C). Mix the egg white and sugar, with a hand whisk, continuously until the mixture reach 62C.
Remove the mixing bowl from hot water. Use a handheld mixer, beat the egg white and sugar until it reaches stiff peaks.
Pour icing and almond mixture into the mixing bowl. Add food colour. Fold and stir the mixture until it reaches necessary consistency.
Scope the mixture into piping bag. Pipe the mixture on a baking tray with parchment paper
Tap the baking tray, to remove air bubbles in the cookie mixture.
Preheat oven to 140C.
Let the mixture rest in room temperature for 15-30 minutes, until a fine skin is form over the cookie surface.
Bake the cookie mixture for 14 minutes. Turn off the oven, and let the baking tray sit in the heated oven for another 5 minutes.
Take the baking tray out. Cool macaron cookies in room temperature.
Put dark chocolate in a bowl. Place the bowl over hot water bath to melt the chocolate. Remove the bowl of chocolate from hot water bath.
Warm fresh cream to 50C, over stove or microwave.
Pour warm cream into bowl of melted chocolate. Stir the mixture in a circular motion, until the mixture is smooth and consistent.
Put soft butter into the mixture, bit by bit, and stir until the mixture is smooth and consistent.
Scope the chocolate ganache into a piping bag.
Pipe chocolate ganache into a macaron cookie. Place another macaron cookie over.
Chill macaron cookies in the fridge overnight.
Decorate macaron cookies for special occasions.