Baked in Birmingham

Mocha Spice French Macarons

Made these for my supper club last night. A hit! Erin, Cara, Tris, Ruth, Liza, Tiff, and Brandar….love all you ladies!

Macarons:
3 egg whites
3 tbs granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup almonds
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Filling:
1 1/2 cups Swiss meringue buttercream
1/4 cup chocolate ganache (chocolate chips, heavy cream, dash of vanilla extract melted over a double boiler)
3 tbs heavy cream
1/4 tsp instant coffee granules

Zap eggwhites in the microwave for about 20 seconds. (This mimics the aging process of the egg whites. You’re supposed to leave them out on your countertop for 48 hours, but personally I don’t have the forthought to do such a thing.) With the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites to a foam, then slowly add the granulated sugar until your meringue is nice and glossy. In the meantime, pulse the almonds in your food processor till they are finely ground. Add in the powdered sugar and spices and pulse until combined. Fold the powdered sugar/almond mixture into the meringue until just combined, which shouldn’t be more than 40 or 50 strokes.

Now the (kinda) tricky part: Let the “batter” hang out in the mixing bowl for about 15 minutes. This will stabilize it a little bit so it won’t run too much when you pipe your perfect little meringue circles. Fill a piping bag fitted with a medium-sized round tip. (I used a Wilton #12.) Pipe 3/4-inch circles onto parchment paper; they will spread out a little bit more. Important: let them stand on the baking sheet for at least 30 minutes so they can set up. If you immediately put them in the oven, they won’t get that cute textured side we all love so much. Go ahead and preheat the oven to 280F. Pop those suckas in and bake for 20 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes; if you have trouble getting them off the parchment, add a little bit of cold water under the parchment and they should pop right off.

Now just fill ‘em up with that delectable mocha filling and enjoy!

Mocha Filling:

This couldn’t be easier. Take about a cup and a half of the swiss meringue buttercream and combine it with the ganache. Zap the heavy cream in the mic for about 15 seconds and dissolve the instant coffee granules in it. Add that into the buttercream, and you’re in business.

Now wasn’t that fun?