Chocolate Macarons

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It’s no secret that I have a mild obsession with these delicate confections. The first time I made these was in Paris when I registered for a one-day class on making macarons. One and a half years later, I finally made them for the second time during my first week of pastry school. These days, it’s a regular occurrence. This is the first recipe I’m posting, and it’s based off the one we made in school: Chocolate Macarons with a Dark Chocolate Ganache. Ok, the ganache at school was actually hazelnut, but I didn’t have the ingredients for that at home.

Macarons are actually not the easiest things to make. The ingredients are so simple! But it’s the technique that can make or break them. Undermix the batter and you’ll get lumpy, feet-less, cracked cookies. Overmix it and they’ll be flat as pancakes and likely uneven. I still have a hard time getting the batter just right, and more often than not I have to dump it out of my piping bag back into the bowl because I haven’t mixed it enough. It can be very frustrating.