Orange Dark Chocolate Macarons

• Refrigerated

  • 4 oz Egg whites, aged and room temp

• Baking & Spices

  • 4 oz Bob's red mill almond meal/flour, finely ground
  • 7 oz Confectioners' sugar
  • 1 Pinch Cream of tartar
  • 8 oz Dark chocolate
  • 3 1/2 oz Granulated sugar
  • 1 Vanilla bean, whole
  • 1/4 tsp Wilton orange food coloring

• Dairy

  • 6 oz Heavy cream

• Other

  • 1 tbsp Finely grated orange zest (1 large orange

Found on stephinthyme.com

Description

Ingredients

• 4 oz Bobs Red Mill finely ground almond meal/flour
• 7 oz confectioners sugar
• 4 oz egg whites, aged and room temp
• 3.5 oz granulated sugar
• Pinch cream of tartar
• ¼ tsp Wilton orange food coloring
• 1 whole vanilla bean, seeds removed
• 6 oz heavy cream
• 8 oz dark chocolate, 63% preferred
• 1 tbsp finely grated orange zest (1 large orange)

Directions

• In a small saucepan, combine the heavy cream and orange zest. Heat over medium, swirling the pot occasionally. Remove from heat just before it comes to a boil. Let cool for one hour, then strain through a fine sieve and discard the orange zest. Set the remaining cream aside.
• Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
• Add almond meal and ⅓ confectioners sugar to a food processor fixed with a metal blade. Run until a fine powder forms.
• Combine the ingredients from the food processor with the remaining confectioners sugar. Sift four times, discarding any tiny lumps or almond meal “pebbles” between sifting. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer fixed with the whisk attachment, whip the room temperature egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the granulated sugar one tablespoon at a time.
• Once the mixture thickens, stop the mixer. Add cream of tartar, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then turn the mixer back on, increasing speed to high.
• Whip the mixture for about 5-6 minutes until a peak at the end of the whisk attachment holds its form. (You can test this by turning off the mixer and checking to see if the mixture at the tip of the whisk attachment doesn’t drip).
• Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and set on a counter or table. Add ⅓ of the almond meal-confectioners sugar mixture and fold. Add another third of the almond meal-confectioners sugar mixture, then fold again. Once incorporated, add the final third as well as the vanilla bean seeds. Fold one final time. The batter that forms should be firm with a glossy shine.
• Add orange food coloring (gel food coloring only, not the liquid as it will dilute the batter) and fold into the rest of the batter. Test the batter by lifting the spatula–if the batter drips very slowly from the spatula, it’s ready. If not, continue to fold the batter for another 30 seconds.
• Affix a pastry bag with a ½-inch plain round tip. Fill the bag ¾ with batter. Pipe into 1.5-inch rounds on the lined baking sheets. You want to pipe so that the bag is perpendicular to the baking sheet, not at an angle. At the end, flick your wrist quickly to the side so that a point doesn’t form at the top of the macaron. (If a tip does form, no worries, you can smooth it out with a small spatula).
• Gently tap the baking sheet on your work surface to get rid of any air bubbles potentially stuck in the batter. Let the prepared baking sheets sit at room temperature until a dry shell forms on the macarons – test by touching the batter with your fingertip, if your fingertip doesn’t stick, they are ready for the oven. The “resting” phase can take 20 minutes to 40 minutes, depending on the humidity in the room.
• While the macarons are “resting,” complete the ganache. Fill a medium-sized bowl with the dark chocolate. Heat the small saucepan of heavy cream again over medium. Swirl the saucepan a few times, then remove from heat before it comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the dark chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth. Set aside and let cool as the macarons bake.
• Bake the macarons, one sheet at a time, in the lower third of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway through. When done, the tops will be firm to the touch.
• Remove macarons from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Gently peel the macarons off the parchment paper or silicone mat and transfer to a wire rack. Allow the macarons to cool completely before filling.
• Fill another piping bag affixed with ½-inch tip with the cooled ganache. Arrange the macarons by two’s, top side down, making sure to match sizes best you can. Depending on the size of the macaron, squeeze a nickel to quarter size amount of ganache onto the bottom of the macaron. Lay the second macaron on top, and very gently, press together so that the filling expands but doesn’t come out the sides. Repeat for all remaining macarons.