MILLED NUT FLOUR MACARONS WITH DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

“Memphis: Whatcha doin’ there, boy?

Baby Mumble: [tap dancing] I’m happy, Pa!
Memphis: Whatcha doin’ with your feet?
Baby Mumble: [looks down] They’re happy, too!”

Happy Feet, the movie

Time to ring in the new year, and what better way to ring it in than with ‘FEET‘. Yes indeed, in our little macobssessed world, it’s still all about finding our feet! We’re down to our next MacAttack #3 at our other blog MacTweets.

Jamie and I had rung out the theme and rules for the January 2010 challenge some time back. Can you hear the bells peeling? It’s time to RING OUT THE OLD, AND BRING IN THE NEW! Yes indeed, with a brand new year staring us in the face, we thought up something for the next challenge…

Something about your macs should be NEW.

DO SOMETHING OR ADD SOMETHING YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE BUT HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY!

I did just that. Jumped into the fray of things on morning in a sudden gust of excitement. Figured I was suffering from macamania and just had to have a go at an idea that suddenly grabbed my fancy. I was looking at this bag of milled nut flour from Linswood UK, part of the goodie bag giveaway from gorgeous Beth at the Food Blogger Connect ’09 in London in November, and suddenly wondered if I could use some to make macarons. Not an easy exercise for me, one who has suffered many mac failures in the past, but was still game to have another go. You never know, one day I might just get them right on the first attempt.

Milled Nut Flour = NEW!
Mom had got me a lovely digital scale from the US recently = NEW
Hilda @ Saffronberry gave me the awesome Ottolenghi, The Cookbook in November = NEW
Ottolenghi had a recipe for macarons which I wanted to try = NEW!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR… I giggled at all the NEW I was ringing in with my macs in the new year, and soon set off. Weighing on a digital scale after so many years of a regular hit and miss scale brought alive the kid in me. I was tickled pink and weighed to the last gram…even added a drop of egg white for the scale to hit 60gms…amazing!

The story of my macs of course is something good and something not. I found feet on some of the macs, and some cracked on top, others were smooth, but look ‘NO FEET’!! I have no idea how one lot of macs on the same cookie sheet can have different results individually; a bit like siblings and nature I figured!

Anyway, I was happy to have baked out of the preciously exciting book where the authors, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi refer to their recipe for macarons as one that makes homely macaroons (that’s what they call them). To quote them from the book, “As such, they don’t have the same dazzling effect but they are still wonderfully tasty – soft, with a slight crunch, richly flavoured and stunning to look at.” Mine were absolutely delicious, even though they didn’t all have FEET!

As usual 170C didn’t suit my macs one bit on my test batch of 2 ( I have learnt from past experience that with any new recipe try a set of 2 macs to see how they react to oven temperature). So the next batch was baked at 140C, but no feet still. Batch nbr 3 was baked at 170C for 1 minute, and then at 140C for the remaining 12-13 minutes, and funnily enough I saw the teeniest of feet. My heart skipped a beat as I had just about given it up as a failed batch! New Year surprise… and I am happy to show off my few feet. Experiment is the name of the game!

Milled+Nut+Flour+Macarons+with+Dark+Chocolate+Ganache+%282%29

I have begun collecting and aging egg whites again as the flavour combinations are infinite and these fiddly finicky creatures are a source of constant intrigue for moi! Mr PAB loved this batch of macarons, and I have to say I did too. They are growing on me, and this combination wasn’t too sweet! The texture was awesome too, and seemed to become better and better as they matured in the fridge. I experimented with keeping 2 for 10 days in the fridge…still fab!!

Do you want to join us making MACARONS?? If you do, you are most welcome to join the challenge. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. The rules for Mac Attack #3 can be found here. You still have until the 15th of January to join us with happy feet!

Milled Nut Flour Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from Ottolenghi – The Cookbook
110gm icing sugar
60gm nut flour
60gm egg whites (of 2 eggs)
40gm Castor sugar
10gms nut flour for sprinkling on top
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
100gm dark chocolate
2-3 tbsps low fat cream

Whiz the nut flour and icing sugar in the coffee grinder and sift 2-3 times

Whisk the egg whites and Castor sugar till it forms a thick aerated meringue, firm but not too dry.

Turn the nut mixture into the bowl, and fold gently to get a lava type batter.

Hold the tray firmly and tap the underside firmly. This should help to spread and smooth out the macarons.

Leave out, uncovered for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 140C (the original recipe has 170C).

Bake in preheated oven for about 12-13 minutes. They are ready when they readily leave the paper when lifted with a palette knife. Remove from oven as soon as this happens, and leave to cool completely.

Ganache

Melt half the chocolate and the cream on simmer in a pan, stirring constantly. Once melted and bubbling, take off heat, and add the rest of the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has melted. Coo.

To assemble

Match equal halves of macarons, and keep together.

Use a small spoon or piping bag, deposit a tiny amount of ganache on the flat side of the macaron, and sandwich with another of the same size. sandwich them, squeezing gently. Leave to set in fridge. Note: They taste much better after maturing for 24 hours, and I am happy to say that the two I kept for over 1 week in the fridge tasted brilliant too!

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

Some handy help……

Chef Nini’s You-tube video if in doubt as to how to fold in

View Jamie’s meringue tutorial @ MacTweets for more help.

Turn the batter into a pastry bag and pipe round circles onto parchment paper. You can use this macaron template as a guide if you like

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