French Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Ganache Recipe
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I love watching people stare at macarons in shops like Pierre Hermé and Ladurée in Paris and Chantal Guillon and Miette in San Francisco. The little sandwich cookies in myriad pastel colors turn perfectly sophisticated adults into eager children.
Macarons are not difficult to make, but they can be so finicky that they have a reputation for turning bakers’ hair gray. They often spread into odd shapes or form dark stains on top. But don’t be scared to try these, because even if they don’t turn out as beautiful as the ones in the shop windows, they’ll still taste delicious. Some tips: Let the raw macaron rounds sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, don’t overmix the meringue or batter, and, when possible, use older egg whites.
Special equipment: You will need a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip. If you don’t have one, you can either spoon round dollops of batter onto the baking sheet or make a pastry bag by snipping off one corner of a large resealable plastic freezer bag.
What to buy: You will need almond meal or almond flour, which are the same ingredient—raw blanched whole almonds that have been ground into a fine powder. If you cannot find almond flour/meal, you can grind blanched almonds until very fine.
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For the macarons:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup almond flour or almond meal
- 3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- Pinch cream of tartar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
For the ganache filling:
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick), at room temperature and cut into cubes
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Fit a large pastry bag with a 1/2-inch plain tip; set aside.
- Place the powdered sugar, almond flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and pulse several times to aerate. Process until fine and combined, about 30 seconds. Sift through a flour sifter into a large bowl; set aside.
- Make a meringue by placing the egg whites in the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed until opaque and foamy, about 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium high, and beat until the egg whites are white in color and hold the line of the whisk, about 1 minute. Continue to beat, slowly adding the granulated sugar, until the sugar is combined, the peaks are stiff, and the whites are shiny, about 1 minute more. (Do not overwhip.) Transfer the meringue to a large bowl.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the dry mixture into the egg whites in four batches until the dry ingredients are just combined. (The meringue will deflate.)
With the final addition, stop folding when there are no traces of egg whites, the mixture runs like slow-moving lava, and it looks like cake batter. (Do not overmix.) 
- Transfer the batter to the pastry bag. Pipe out 1-1/4-inch rounds about 1 inch apart onto the baking sheets, about 25 per sheet. Pick up the baking sheets and bang them against the work surface to help create the macaron base, or foot. Let the rounds sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to dry the tops and ensure even cooking.
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Bake the macarons one sheet at a time for 7 minutes. Rotate the sheet and cook for 7 minutes more. Transfer the sheet to a rack to cool completely.
For the ganache filling:
- Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl.
- Warm the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just starts to boil. Stir it into the chocolate without creating bubbles. Let sit for 1 minute. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until thickened but still spreadable, about 30 minutes.
To assemble:
- Pair macarons of similar size. Remove the ganache from the refrigerator. If you choose to pipe the ganache, transfer it to a resealable plastic bag and snip about a 1/2 inch off a bottom corner. Squeeze or scoop the ganache to about the size of a cherry (about 1 teaspoon) onto the center of a macaron half.
Top with another half and press gently so that it looks like a mini hamburger. The filling should not ooze out the edges. Refrigerate, covered, at least 24 hours before serving. 
will it effect the outcome of the cookies if i don't have parchment paper and a silicone baking mat? is there any substitutions?
A good tip: spray some water on the baking sheet before laying down the parchment. When the macarons bake, the water turns into steam; this helps prevent the cookies from sticking to the paper. Trying to remove a macaron that's glued to the baking sheet usually results in damage.
I just tried making these today and they were wonderful! They didn't look quite as pretty as the picture but I was surprised how much they still looked like macarons, especially after they were assembled. I used the 85% bittersweet Valrhona from Trader Joe's (got the almond meal/flour from there too), and the ganache turned out to be perfectly bittersweet, especially with the sweeter cookie, everything went together really well. I left the eggs out for a couple days before using them, maybe that helped too.
Thanks Chow for such a great recipe!
Dear Manju hi ! i have been making macaroon since i have come at least 50 times but my problem is that they r sticky o un cooked from the bottom i have tried by increasing baking time it is overcooked i will tell u how i make
45 gm almond powder
38 gm egg white
18 gm Castor sugar
75 gm icing sugar
pinch of cream of tater
sift almond powder and icing sugar keep a side
start beating after little foam add pinch of cream of tarter when half way start adding caster sugar slowly
when it is stiff then start folding almond and icing sugar when it is shining and thick mixture not flowy pipe on silicon mat
keep it for 30 min when i touch it is not sticky
now on double tray i bake it on 140 c for 16 min my oven is convection oven fan oven
now the problem is if i increase the temp it is volcano if i bake for little more time it is crispy and hard
believe me manju i am so disappointed i have studied all the web site for macaroons next month we have to start selling them
with piping i have become better
i hope u under stand my problem
take care lal
IMG00185-20100622-1725.jpg
Is it ok if I seperate the egg white from eggs that just from refrigerator and after I have seperated them,I just leave the egg white at room temperature for a day?I am wondering whether the egg white will become spoilt..
Presencegirl -- no, it will not work without almond meal. It would be a bit like trying to make chocolate chip cookies without flour.
I don't have almond powder. Does it work without it??
sifting is to break up the dry ingredients, not to filter out anything, so the bigger parts are added back in to keep the quantities correct.
ttoommyy: You make a great point. We sifted the flours to make it really fine and to fluff the flours. I used a fine sieve and I couldn't get it all through. Normally you would use a flour sifter, so you wouldn't have this problem. It makes sense to just remove that from the instructions. Will do so now. Thanks for letting us know.
Jill (from CHOW.com test kitchen)
"Place the powdered sugar, almond flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and pulse several times to aerate. Process until fine and combined, about 30 seconds. Sift through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing on any large pieces to force them through. Add any remaining pieces in the strainer to the dry mixture; set aside."
Why on earth would one want to add the remaining pieces in the strainer back to the dry mixture? Isn't that why the mixture is strained to begin with; to get rid of the unwanted bits? I don't get it.
I'm looking for a Sarno's Bakery - "French Chocolate Rum Cake" recipe or someplace around the Los Angeles area where one can be purchased.