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Ok I’m back in San Francisco for more than just a few days! Woohoo! Life’s been pretty crazy lately with all my traveling! Luckily I’m home for a few weeks before I’m off on our next adventure! This means I actually have time to get in the kitchen and whip up some recipes! This week I made some french macarons for my birthday! I’m the big 3-0!
For my birthday, I went to a wine and food event in Napa at the Culinary Institute of America. It was lots of fun, although I seem to get really awkward at these type of events because I hate approaching booths. Half the time I end up just walking up the booth and smile like an idiot and weakly attempt to have some small talk until I get my food bite or drink. Am I the only one that’s like that?
Any way, on the way we passed Bouchon Bakery. They make these gigantic chocolate covered macarons that are to die for! Sadly, they were closed when we were driving by, so my craving was never satisfied. After looking at Bouchon foodporn all night on Instagram, I decided to just make them for myself the next morning while Elara napped.
I made the filling with Recchiuti’s Burnt Caramel Sauce ( I won it at my building’s holiday dessert contest!), cookie butter, and toasted sesame sugar. I picked up a bag of toasted sesame sugar in Kyoto, but you can easily make your own! I love the nutty-ness it adds to the caramel! I picked up so many ingredients from all my travels – I’m so excited to use them all!
My biggest tip for making french macarons would be to let them rest in the fridge overnight! Macaron shells are hard when they are done baking, but when you let them sit in the fridge, the filling softened them, giving them the perfect soft texture! It makes all the difference!
All this traveling has made me appreciate home, but to be honest, I can’t wait to get back on the road! My husband has a goal to see all 50 states before he turns 30 and we still have 4 more states to go! Last week we went to Oklahoma and now we’re planning a road trip to Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota! Any suggestions on where we should go or eat?!
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Chocolate Covered French Macarons
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 french macarons 1x
Ingredients
Macaron
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 egg white, room temperature
- pinch of cream of tartar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- food coloring
Filling
- 3 tbsp Burnt Caramel*
- 2 tbsp cookie butter
- 1 tbsp sesame sugar**
Chocolate
- 4 oz dark chocolate, melted
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut oil
- sprinkles
Instructions
Macaron
- Pre-heat oven to 325 F
- Sift almond flour and powdered sugar into a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add egg white and a pinch of cream of tartar. Whisk until the egg whites are frothy, then gradually and the sugar and continue whisking. I use a hand mixer for this step. Whisk on high until you get stiff peaks and the meringue stays in the bowl if you flip the bowl upside down!
- Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar into the meringue bowl. Add a few drops of gel food coloring if you like. Use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. Continue folding until the meringue falls off the spatula in a ribbon. Don’t overfold, otherwise the batter with spread a lot!
- Spoon macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe 1 inch circles about 2 inches apart onto a Silpat or parchment-line baking sheet. Give the baking sheet a few taps on the table to get ride of any air bubbles. Rest the macarons on your counter for 30 minutes to an hour, until a skin has formed and the tops are dry to the touch.
- Lower the oven temperature to 315 F and bake for 9 minutes. Then quickly open and close the oven door. Lower the temperature to 300 F and bake for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely before filling.
Filling
- Mix burnt caramel, cookie butter and sesame sugar in a small bowl until well incorporated. Spoon into a small piping bag or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe the filling onto half of the macaron shells and top with the rest of the shells. Place on a plate and freeze for 15 minutes.
Chocolate
- Line a tray with foil.
- Add chocolate and coconut oil to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 15 seconds increments, stirring in between, until all the chocolate has melted.
- Dip each macaron into the chocolate with a fork. Tap off any excess chocolate and place onto the foil- lined tray. Sprinkle on some more toasted sesame sugar and colored sprinkles. Once you’ve dipped all the macarons, place the tray in the freezer until the chocolate sets.
- Move the tray to the fridge and rest overnight in the fridge! This will help the macarons get the perfect soft texture! Store the french macarons in a air-tight container for up to one week.
Notes
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
