Macaron Madness - Part 3: Chocolate Macarons

No spoilers here.  You must read the entire post to see how the chocolate macarons came out.  Don't worry, it's not that long.

Please allow me to apologize for the photos in this post.  First, there are only three photos because I got tired, lazy and distracted.  Second, the photos were taken very late at night so they're very poorly lit.  Did I mention I made macarons for 12 straight hours?

The ingredients for the chocolate macarons were nearly identical to the vanilla and raspberry versions... almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites and granulated sugar.  Of course, cocoa powder is added to the mix to make them chocolatey and this recipe also has cream of tartar which helps the egg whites whip more easily.

Did you know that cocoa powder is full of moisture?  This makes adding it to macarons very tricky because too much moisture will cause them to crack but the recipe I used, in theory, adjusted for the additional moisture.

The preparation process for the chocolate macarons was very similar to the process used for the raspberry macarons.  The big difference here is that after piping the batter onto the sheet trays you have to let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes until the tops of the macarons dry out.  This is supposed to ensure that the macarons don't crack when you bake them.  What a joke!!!

THEY ALL CRACKED!!!  Every single one of them.  There was not a single macaron that didn't crack, so much for that method.  I was actually really optimistic about making the chocolate macarons because I made them in a class that I took at Sur La Table and they turned out just fine.  Sigh...

I intended to fill these with salted caramel buttercream which you should totally go make right now because it is freakin' delicious.  I would know because in my anger about the cracked chocolate macarons, I consumed quite a bit of it between the hours of midnight and 1:00 am.  I also used it to make cake balls which is another whole post.  Needless to say, frosting doesn't go to waste in my house.

So, after 12 hours and 3 recipes, what did I learn about macarons?
1.  Watch the temperature.  A hot oven, or an oven that cycles up and down can ruin your macarons.
2.  Drying the macarons before baking doesn't make any difference.
3.  Cooking the sugar or not cooking the sugar doesn't seem to make any difference either.
4.  Make a ton more batter than you think you'll need because you will ruin some macarons.
5.  Macarons taste good.
6.  Cracked macarons taste just as good as uncracked macarons.
7.  Macarons taste even better after a couple of days in the fridge.  The flavor matures and the shells get softer and chewier.
8.  Making macarons for 12 straight hours is just a recipe for being grumpy, tired and eating spoonfuls of frosting.

Don't worry, I'm not done with macarons.  I have to make two more varieties in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook and I am determined to figure these little nuggets out.  Stay tuned for Macaron Massacre Madness Part 4, but you're going to have to wait until my macaron exhaustion wears off.

Julie