Chocolate French Macarons with Rum Ganache

Recipe:

Prepare ganache. Chop the chocolate finely and put to a bowl. Bring cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Let set for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth.

Add rum and stir. Add soft butter and grind with a blender. Put a plastic film on a surface of ganache and leave in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

This is how it looks after chilling:

Make macaronage.

Sift almond flour with powdered sugar. Add caster sugar, the first 55 g of egg white and cocoa powder. Do not mix, just set aside.

Put sugar in a saucepan and pour in water.

Put on medium heat, bring to a boil and cook until the mixture reaches a temperature of 118°C (244°F) (you need a thermometer to measure).

You can take a chance and catch the desired consistency by testing on a soft ball: if you drop the syrup into a cup of cold water, it will solidify into a drop that you can knead with your fingers. But I don’t advise you to do this.

Beat the remaining 55 g of egg whites with a mixer until foamy.

Remove the syrup from the heat. Keep whisking the egg whites and pour in the hot syrup in a thin stream. Beat until dense and shiny consistency – you need to get stiff peaks meringue.

Stir flour, cocoa and egg whites in a bowl.

Add a third of the meringue and mix.

Stir in the remaining meringue with movements from bottom to top, turning the bowl in a circle. The almond flour and meringue should combine, but the mixture shouldn’t be completely runny. To test for consistency, take a spoonful of the mixture, put it on a plate and look – the traces from the spoon should gradually smooth out.

Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag with 5-6 mm piping tip. Line the baking sheet with a silicone mat. Pipe an almond batter circles about 3-4 cm diameter.

Leave at room temperature for at least an hour to let a noticeable crust appears on surface.

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 11-12 minutes.

Remove macarons from the baking sheet together with silicone mat and let cool completely. Remove from mat only when cooled down!

Assemble the macarons.

Put the ganache into a pastry bag with 5-6 mm piping tip. Pipe on a half of macarons shells.

Cover with the second half of shells.

Put it into container and chill in the fridge for 6-8 hours.

Before serving, let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature.

Bon appetit!