Chocolate Orange Macarons, or as I like to call them, Jaffarons

Chocolate and orange, I love the combination, and these chocolate shelled, orange ganache filled babies are the macaron of choice in our house at the moment.  I made them for my son's birthday, macarons and maccas, he has varied taste, and would have made them for my daughter's birthday had I not been swanning around in the US. Mr B and the now 11 year old Milly coped brilliantly without me, made red velvet cupcakes and a chocolate cake; she did well in the gift department too, lots of guilt shopping stateside :)

This is another birthday batch, simmer & boyle turned 1 this month, 12 months of slightly macaron biased blogging! It's been busy year, moving interstate, then moving again 3 months later, settling back into life in Sydney. I miss Melbourne but we're all happy to be home. The US trip was my first ever without the family, almost 17 years since the last; it took a week for that slightly panicked, omg I've forgotten something, feeling not to ambush me whenever I left a shop, restaurant or "restroom", or hopped off the subway. Without the kids I regressed, there were 3 of us, but I was squished in the doors of a subway train, in the lift at Saks and constantly needed bandaids for the worst blisters of my life! Hopefully this next year will be just as full, I'm hoping to post more often but not holding my breath...

Back to the macarons! The ganache softens the shells from the inside, but they maintain their crisp outer shell with an almost truffle like centre. They are so worth the effort, even if you end up with craparons they should taste delicious :)

macaron shells

75g egg white

90g ground almonds

90g icing sugar

20g cocoa powder

100g caster sugar

25ml water

• line 2 baking trays with baking paper

• combine the caster sugar and water in a small, heavy based pan and set aside

• put the ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a blender and blitz on the pulse setting for a minute or so • push the nut powder through a sieve into a large bowl, if you have a small amount that won't be pushed through the sieve just toss it out, any more than a teaspoon and it's worth repeating the blitzing stage

• divide the egg white in half, use scales for this stage, you may need to lightly beat the egg white with a fork to break it up • put half in the bowl of a stand mixer, set the other half aside

• over a low heat stir the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves • increase heat to high and bring the syrup to a boil, it's ok to swirl the pan but do not stir (!) • use a wet pastry brush to remove any crystals that form on the side of the pan • check the temperature with a sugar thermometer, you are aiming for 118ºC, but when the temperature reaches 110ºC whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form

• when the sugar syrup reaches 118ºC turn the mixer to low and slowly pour into the bowl, once all the syrup is in, turn the speed to high and whisk until cool

• pour the unbeaten egg white over the nut/sugar/cocoa powder, tip the meringue on top and using a spatula, mix together in a circular motion, lifting the batter from underneath • this method takes a bit of mixing, the batter is ready when a ribbon of batter falls from your spatula and disappears back into the mix within 20-30 seconds

• use a spot of batter under the corners of the baking paper to stick it to the trays

• fit a piping bag with a 10mm nozzle and fill with the batter • pipe 3cm rounds, about 2cm apart, onto the baking paper • tap the trays on the bench, turn through 90º and tap again

• preheat the oven to 150ºC while the macarons rest on the bench for half an hour or so

• bake for 18 minutes, lightly push a macaron from the side, if it moves away from the ruffled foot around the base put them back in the oven for another couple of minutes, then check again

• cool on the tray for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack

• pair each shell with a similar sized partner; pipe the ganache filling on the underside of one shell and gently press its partner on top

• store in an airtight container in the fridge overnight

• allow to come to room temperature to eat and enjoy!!

orange ganache

175g dark chocolate (or a 50/50 combination of milk and dark)
125ml cream
1-2 drops of orange oil (or a teaspoon of finely grated orange zest)

1 tbsp cointreau

• chop the chocolate into small pieces and put in a heat proof bowl 

• heat cream in a small pan until just simmering, allow to simmer for a minute then pour over the chocolate 

• leave for 5 minutes, do not stir! 

• stir cream and chocolate together until smooth and glossy, add the orange oil or zest and the cointreau, mix until just combined

• allow to cool at room temperature until it reaches a piping consistency, you can put it in the fridge to speed the process up, but the ganache will lose its gloss