Raspberry Chocolate French Macaroons Food

CHOCOLATE FRENCH MACARONS WITH RASPBERRY FILLING

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 325F. Use an oven thermometer to be sure your oven temperature is exact. Slight variances will cause large changes in your results.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy with an electric hand mixer fitted with wire whipping beaters and set to medium high speed. (You're looking for the consistency of bath tub bubbles.)
• Add the cream of tartar and beat for a few seconds more.
• While beating, slowly add the granulated sugar. Continue to beat until you have nearly stiff peaks, 1-2 minutes. (To tell if you have nearly stiff peaks, stop beating, and lightly dip the beaters into the meringue. When you pull the beaters out of the meringue, the peaks that form should stand up, with the tips folding over only slightly.)
• Sift half of the almond flour mixture into the bowl with the meringue. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the meringue for a few strokes, using a circular motion around the bowl and under the batter. Sift in the remaining almond flour mixture and continue to fold, until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the meringue. The batter should be smooth and glossy. It should slowly shift if you tip the bowl, but it should not be too runny or liquidy.
• Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a ½ inch tip with the batter. (If you don't have a pastry bag, you can use a quart Ziploc bag with one corner snipped to create a ½ inch hole.)
• Gently pipe the batter into 2 inch circles spaced 1 inch apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. To pipe, hover your tip a 1/2 inch above the cookie sheet and squeeze the bag gently. The meringue should flow in an even circle outward from your tip. Stop piping when you have a 2 inch diameter circle. Gently lift your tip. The batter should flatten into itself after a few seconds, but if it forms a small beak, that's ok. We'll take care of those in a minute.
• After piping your cookies, if they still have a small beak, dip your finger in a bowl of cool water to slightly dampen it. Gently pat the piped meringue to flatten the beaks and create a smooth top.
• Let the piped cookies rest until a dry film forms on the macaron, the batter should lose its shininess and become dull in color. You should be able to lightly touch the cookies and the batter shouldn't stick to your finger. This could take anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depending on the batter and the moisture level of your kitchen.
• Bake the rested macarons at 325F for 14-15 minutes until crisp on the outside and dry to the touch. (The foot should not squish or wiggle when you lightly touch them.)
• Remove the macarons form the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes before gently removing them from the parchment paper to cool on a wire rack completely before filling.
• While the cookies are cooling, make the filing. Beat butter and jam with an electric hand mixer fitted with wire whisk beaters on medium speed until the butter is fluffy and the two are combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar until a thick and fluffy frosting forms. It should be spreadable but firm.
• When cookies are completely cool, spread about 1 tsp of filling on the bottom of one cookie. Gently sandwich the filling with a second cookie, pressing until the filling nearly reaches the edges of the cookies.
• Store the filled macarons in a sealed container on the counter for up to a week or in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
• We recommend filling the sandwiches no more than 1 day before you plan to serve them. If you want to make your cookies ahead of time, keep the cookies, unfilled, in a sealed, dry container, until you are ready to fill them.

RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE FRENCH MACAROONS

Steps:

• Make macaroons:
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Pulse almonds with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar in a food processor until very finely ground, 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a bowl. Sift in remaining cup confectioners sugar, stirring to combine.
• Beat egg whites with salt in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add granulated sugar, a little at a time, beating, then increase speed to high and continue to beat until whites just hold stiff, glossy peaks. Add drops of food coloring to reach desired shade and mix at low speed until evenly combined. Stir almond mixture into meringue with a rubber spatula until completely incorporated. (Meringue will deflate.)
• Spoon batter into bag, pressing out excess air, and snip off 1 corner of plastic bag to create a 1/4-inch opening. Twist bag firmly just above batter, then pipe peaked mounds of batter (the size of a chocolate kiss) onto lined sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Let cookies stand, uncovered, at room temperature until tops are no longer sticky and a light crust forms, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 300°F.
• Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until crisp and edges are just slightly darker, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on sheets on racks, about 30 minutes.
• Make ganache while macaroons bake:
• Melt chocolate with cream in a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. (Bowl should not touch water.) Remove bowl from heat, then add butter and raspberry extract, stirring until butter is melted. Let stand at room temperature until cooled completely and slightly thickened.
• Assemble cookies:
• Carefully peel cookies from parchment (they will be fragile). Sandwich a thin layer of ganache (about 1/2 teaspoon) between flat sides of cookies.

RASPBERRY MACARONS

Steps:

• For the macaroon: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (preferably convection). Make an Italian meringue by combining sugar and water in a saucepan over high heat until it's 110 C (230 degrees F). At the same time, beat all the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment on medium speed. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the macaroon ingredients by combining almond flour and powdered sugar together. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add all the egg whites. Mix by starting in the center and mixing towards the outside. Set aside. Finish the Italian meringue when the egg whites are at "soft peak" stage in the mixer by adding 1 teaspoon sugar and mixing 15 more seconds. Pour the heated sugar mixture into the beating egg whites, slowly to make the meringue. Continue beating until it's at room temperature, 5 more minutes.
• When the meringue is at room temperature, combine it with the almond paste mixture, a third at a time. Continue to add meringue until the batter forms ribbons. The mixture shouldn't be too stiff or too loose and you may not need all of the meringue. Using the tip of a knife, add a small amount of food coloring, a little at a time. Place macaroon mixture into a piping bag and squeeze a little into the bowl to remove air at the tip. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, then draw rings on the paper to use as guides for the macaroon size. Pipe onto the baking sheet by starting in the center and pushing up, staying inside the ring. Repeat until all of the rings are filled. Bake 12 minutes until shiny with a little "neck" on the outside.
• For the buttercream: In a saucepan over high heat, add sugar and water and bring to a boil until thermometer reaches 120 degrees C. Meanwhile, place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on high. When egg whites are firm and sugar syrup has reached 120 degrees C, slowly pour the sugar mixture into the egg whites and continue beating until it cools down to room temperature, 5 minutes. Slow down the mixer and add butter, a little at a time. If at any point the mixture looks broken, increase the speed and beat to re-emulsify it, then reduce the speed and continue adding the butter. Continue whipping until it's the texture of butter cream. If the buttercream is too loose to hold it's shape, it should be refrigerated for up to a few hours to harden, then beaten again to return to the proper consistency. Place 1 cup of butter cream into a bowl and fold in the jam. Place the buttercream into a piping bag with tip and pipe the cream onto the center of a macaroon (using the same technique as the macaroons). Sandwich together and enjoy. Note: The buttercream can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 1 month; defrost frozen buttercream in the refrigerator before using. Thirty minutes before using the buttercream, place it in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and allow to soften. Then mix on low speed to return the buttercream to the proper consistency.