Mini Mocha Macarons & a Giveaway
Crisp shells and melt in your mouth ganache paired with espresso make these mini mocha macarons a decadently delicious treat! This is a LONG post... but it's going to be worth it, I PROMISE! So sit back and enjoy... cause there's lots of fun stuff in here including a recipe, DIY printables, super fun pictures,...
Crisp shells and melt in your mouth ganache paired with espresso make these mini mocha macarons a decadently delicious treat!
This is a LONG post... but it's going to be worth it, I PROMISE! So sit back and enjoy... cause there's lots of fun stuff in here including a recipe, DIY printables, super fun pictures, and a great giveaway at the end!!
I made my first macaron in October of last year and it was a big success. The Macaron has always been a dessert that has kinda scared me. It is super fancy and I've really only seen them in bakeries since I've lived in Europe. So when Rachel of Glitter & Bow and I started talking about doing a collaborate post together, we both instantly thought that this decant Parisian dessert should be included!
Rachel is a fashion, lifestyle and DIY blogger at Glitter & Bow. She's also an Army Wife, lives about 30 minutes from me and has become a good friend here in Europe. We come from two completely different worlds, but our love of food (more me), fashion (more her) and blogging has brought us together.
Rachel has helped to me to be able to be more confident in my own skin. She's taken me shopping for new clothes and make-up as well as give me make-overs and help me with my fashion styling! She even did my hair for this photo shoot and helped to put my super cute outfit together! I really value our friendship because she inspires me to do more than just throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, but to really try to look my best. And after having a baby in my 30's that's not always easy to do!
I had so much fun the day we got together to take the photos of the macarons and the prizes for the giveaway. Rachel's design aesthetic and my photography skill joined together produced some amazing pictures. There were really so many more great shots... too many actually that it made it hard to choose which to include in this post!
The macarons I made for this collaboration were inspired by a recipe I saw on Diary of a Mad Hausfrau. Lora has so many amazing macaron recipes on her blog that I knew which ever one I chose to make, it'd be a winner! And boy was I right. These mocha macarons are so incredibly good!
If you love espresso, you'll love these macarons. They have a very strong espresso flavor, but are not bitter at all. They are sweet and the dark chocolate mocha ganache in the filling is a perfect pairing.
Decadent.
Delicious.
A must make.
Rachel has outdone herself with these super cute boxes & gift-tags for our macarons! Head on over to Glitter & Bow for a FULL TUTORIAL on how to make these boxes and tags and get the FREE PRINTABLES to make them yourself!
Photo by: Glitter & Bow
Mini Mocha Macarons
Ingredients
Tools Needed
- Stand mixer with whisk attachment - both very clean and dry
- Medium mixing bowl
- Mesh sifter
- Wire whisk
- Rubber Spatula
- Disposable piping bag
- ½in round piping tip (Wilton 1A)
- Small round piping tip (Wilton 12)
- 3.5cm piping template Click HERE for the template
Mocha Macarons
- 90g egg whites (left out overnight at room temperature)
- 50g sugar
- 200g powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon espresso powder
- 110g blanched almond flour
Mocha Ganache
- 120g semi-sweet chocolate - I used Lindt 70% Schokolade
- 120ml or ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- ½ T unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Mini Mocha Macarons
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Place the racks on the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 2 templates per baking sheet under parchment paper.
- In the medium bowl, sift together the powdered sugar, espresso powder and almond flour. Sift three times. You may have a few lump of almond flour left in the sifter, discard it. Stir the whisk around 5-10 stokes to ensure everything is combined. Set aside.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites. Start the mixer on low and gradually bring it to high speed. Once the eggs have become foamy, add the granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix for 20 seconds after each addition. After all the sugar has been added, continue to mix on high until stiff peaks form. This entire process should take 6-10 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and tap off any extra meringue from the whisk into the bowl.
- Gently pour half the almond/sugar mix into the meringue and fold with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. Take care to fold VERY gently, about 10-15 strokes, scraping the bottom and sides occasionally. Add the remaining almond/sugar mix and repeat another 10-15 strokes, again occasionally scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl (top photo below).
- Continue to slowly fold the batter another 15-30 strokes or until the surface is smooth and shiny and the batter is thick. When you lift and drop the batter back on itself, after waiting for about 30 seconds, the ridges should slowly ooze back into the batter (bottom photo above).
- Attach a ½in wide, round piping tip to a disposable bag and fill it with batter. Holding the bag upright, slowly squeeze dollops of batter onto the prepared baking sheet using the template as a guide. NOTE: To make these mini, make sure the batter goes just to the edge of the template circle and not to the edge or outside of it. Read [THIS TUTORIAL | http://bakeitoff.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/macarons-tips-tricks-and-how-to.html} for more details on this process.
- Tap the pan on the counter several times to release any air holes in the macarons.
- Allow macarons to rest on the counter for 20-30 minutes or until a crust has formed and is stiff to the touch. Remove template before baking.
- When ready to bake, place one baking sheet on each rack of the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Rotate pans 180 degrees and switch racks moving the pan on top to the bottom and the pan on the bottom to the top. Bake another 3-5 minutes or until firm with the slightest amount of give when gently touched.
- Remove from the oven and cool for about 5 minutes on the pans. The macarons should then gently pop off the pan when lifted. Set them on a wire rack to cool completely before filling. BE CAREFUL, they are FRAGILE!
Mocha Ganache
- Chop the chocolate into very fine pieces and place in a medium glass bowl.
- In a small sauce pan, whisk the espresso powder and the heavy cream together until incorporated. Add the butter and bring it all to a boil.
- Immediately pour the hot espresso milk & butter over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 1 minute.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently and slowly stir the ganache until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
- Allow the ganache to come to room temperature and be completely cool before piping onto the macarons.
Assembly
- Fit a piping bag with the Wilton 12 tip and fill with ganache.
- Match up macaron shells so that they are equal in size and shape. Lay them open face on your work surface.
- Squeeze about a teaspoon of ganache onto one macaroon.
- Holding the macaron by it's sides and NOT the tops, gently place the matching shell on top of the ganache and wiggle it down gently until the ganache reaches the sides.
Storage & Serving
- Macarons will last up to 5 days. If serving the day they are made, leave them out at room temperature.
- If not serving the same day, store them in an air-tight container on the lowest shelf of your refrigerator. Allow the macarons to come to room temperature before serving, about 30 minutes.
Notes
Macaron Recipe from Diary of a Mad Hausfrau
Ganache Recipe from Java Cupcake
As a sweet THANK YOU to our readers for being so great and because macaron and all things fashion are just to sweet not to giveaway, Rachel & I have put together this sweet giveaway for you!
One lucky reader will win:
Macaron Bakery tea towel by H&M (retail $5)
Treats tea towel by Home Goods (retail $5)
Macaron lip balm in 'Lychee flower' by MOR Cosmetics (retail $10)
1 set of 48 Capacity Macarons Mat and Decorating Flower Tools (retail $13)
Gourmet French Macarons: Over 75 Unique Flavors and Festive Shapes (CD Included) by Mindy Cone (retail $20)
Pave link bracelet by J.Crew (retail $125)
Mindy Cone, the author of Gourmet French Macarons & blogger at Creative Juice, will personally send you a copy of her new book! This book is so amazing! It's full of easy to follow recipes and has a CD included that has a template for each macaron in her book. This is probably one of my most favorite new cookbooks of 2013!
I have had my eye on this J. Crew pave link bracelet since I saw Rachel wearing it once when she came to my house to get some cupcakes. I fell in love. It really was one of the things that inspired me to want to do a collaborative post with her! Her style and love of fashion has truly inspired me to invest more time and effort into making myself feel better... both inside and out. My hope is that wearing this bracelet will do the same for you!
Rachel is a lover of every thing make up. So when she told me she found macaron lip balm I knew that this giveaway was going to be super special! I opened up and took a quick sniff of this lip balm and oh my gosh it smells so good!
We really hope that you've enjoyed our collaboration post as much as we enjoyed putting it together! To win all of these great prizes, simply fill out the Rafflecopter widget below!
Contest ends Feb. 14, 2014 at 11:59 PST. One winner will be chosen by random on Feb. 15, 2014 and will have 24 hours to respond to an email from Betsy. A new winner will be chosen if there is no response.
Contest is open to those with USA mailing addresses and Europe addresses only.
Good luck!
Just starting to see macarons in the Seattle area. First tried one last December and I am now hooked.
Try making them yourself, Kim. They're not as difficult as they seem! Once you get the technique down... it's really a simple recipe!
J.Crew bracelet is gorgeous, thanks for the opportunity!
I love these macarons, they are so perfectly shaped and baked to perfection! I am not sure if my baking time in my own oven will be the same as yours though; I may have to rotate the pans beyond the five minute mark, or before that. What should the macarons look like when tney are rotated in the oven?
It's not necessary to always rotate the macarons. If your oven heats evenly and you feel as though they are baked evenly, don't rotate the pan. I typically let them bake for at least half to two-thirds of the baking time before rotation the pan. Hope this helps!