I’m a big believer that delicious desserts conjure good feelings. When was the last time you had a intensely chocolaty hot chocolate with a rich taste, smooth texture and exquisite aroma? This is my twist of the classic wintertime staple in cookie form. The hot chocolate macaron. A crispy yet chewy cookie with a rich, bold chocolate flavor filled with an intense, smooth and spicy ganache filling. Chocoholics, this one is for you.
Aged egg whites make a world’s a difference with French macarons – the batter will have a perfect consistency and the macaron baked evenly, producing lovely ruffled “feet’. I recommend using Valrhona cocoa powder.
Our most popular macaron kicks up with a little spice. Filled with a creamy melt-in-you-mouth chocolate ganache.
Ingredients
- 100 g Egg whites
- 90 g Almond meal
- 180 g Powdered sugar
- 3.6 Tbsp Granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp Cocoa powder
Instructions
- Beat egg whites until foamy and add in one tablespoon of granulated sugar one by one. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg and food coloring. Beat until stiff peaks form.
- Sift almond meal, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar together in a separate bowl.
- Fold in almond meal and powdered sugar into the stiff egg whites until you get a lava-like batter. Use a rubber spatula for this step. Note: It's important to not undermix and overmix the batter.
- Transfer batter to a piping bag with Wilton 12 round tip and pipe circles onto a Silpat. Note: If your batter is more on the runny side, leave plenty of room between the circles because the batter will spread.
- Allow a hard crust to form on the freshly piped macarons. This will take anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour depending on the humidity in your kitchen.
- Preheat oven to 305F. Bake macarons for 7 minutes on each side to ensure even baking.
- Allow macarons to cool before removing from Silpat. Store in an air-tight container up to one week.
The inspiration for these hot chocolate macarons comes from GREEN & BLACK’s Spiced Chilli chocolate bar. Pink pepper and juniper berries enhance the fruity notes in the spices whilst chilli provides warmth, all leading up to a lovely burst of heat; just enough to leave you wanting more. The spicy ganache for the hot chocolate macarons is made from melting the bar with whipped cream and whipping it into a creamy and smooth ganache.
It’s the 12 Days of Giveaways! On the 9th day, A Taste of Koko is giving away a GREEN & BLACK’S gift basket. The gift basket includes 1 set of a mixed assortment of GREEN & BLACK’S chocolate bars, a GREEN & BLACK’S tote bag and 2 GREEN & BLACK’S $1 off full-sized product coupons.
Enter to win a GREEN & BLACK gift basket.
To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below with your name and email, and tell me: What GREEN & BLACK chocolate bar would you like to try?
You can earn up to 5 extra entries by:
– Tweet about the giveaway (it’s easy, just click here!) and leave the link to your Tweet in the comments.
– Fan A Taste of Koko on Facebook. Leave a separate comment below that you have done so.
- Follow A Taste of Koko on Twitter. Leave a separate comment below that you have done so with your Twitter handle so I can follow you back!
- Follow A Taste of Koko on Pinterest.
- Pin any images from this blog post!
(Extra entries can only be counted if left as a separate comment – your comment # is your entry.)
Good luck!
The fine print:
- Giveaway ends at 12:01am (Texas time!) on January 15, 2013
– Winner will be selected by random number generator.
– Winners will receive a GREEN & BLACK’s gift basket.
– Prize must be claimed within 7 days or it will be forfeited.
– Winning “extra entry” comments can be subject to verification.
– Prize can only be shipped to a U.S. address.
-Mondelez International, LLC is providing the prizes for this program at no cost to me. This program is not administered or sponsored by Mondelez International, LLC or its affiliates, but solely by A Taste of Koko.
Love to try espresso
I’m all over that 70% dark chocolate, yo!
Oh, so I guess these macarons are really for me!
Almond for sure! Also, your recipe looks incredible…I might have to make those this weekend!
All if them! But espresso and ginger both sound particularly delicious
Espresso sounds divine! But really, looking forward to trying your macaron recipe
(Twitter handle – wgfoodie)
Thanks for entering! You are the winner of the Green & Black giveaway, please send me an email at jane@atasteofkoko.com with your mailing information.
Normally I’d be all up on the espresso bar, but the Mayan gold sounds interesting too!
The recipe instructions call for items not listed in the ingredients list, so we don’t know how much.
I think the ginger sounds amazing, but the hazelnut piques my interest, too
Fanned you on Facebook, thanks for the chance at winning!
I would try the dark, hazelnut/currant.
I like you on FB.
I’d love to try the ginger!! I’m all over ginger lately…
Also fanned you on FB! =D
I would like to try the toffee!
I like you on facebook
I Follow A Taste of Koko on Twitter @mermont84
I Follow A Taste of Koko on Pinterest.
tweeted https://twitter.com/mermont84/status/290610682406256640
I follow you on twitter.
Toffee, please!
espresso!!
fan on facebook!
I would love to try Mayan Gold.
tweeted! https://twitter.com/IntoRainbowz/status/291401901080182784
Following on facebook!
Following on twitter @intorainbowz
Almond all the way! Please and THANK YOU.
I want to try mint!
I would like to try toffee ! Thanks for this giveaway