Cupcakes are soooo last year...

That is all I have been hearing, cupcakes are over, ca-put, finished, washed up. I took this news as any food enthusiast would, I sat in my room and cried while shoving delicious Crumbs cupcakes into my mouth, and we are not talking the mini ones my friends. For months I have been refusing to acknowledge the new trend, macarons. They seemed too little and airy to be delicious and dessert worthy. But after reading countless recipes and seeing them EVERYWHERE I figured I owed it to you and to my belly to see what all the fuss is about.

I must admit after doing a little macaron research I was a little intimidated. Almost every post I read about the little guys said I had no hope of getting them right on the first try. There were so many rules to follow exactly or my little puffs wouldn't get the feet they need to be considered true macarons.  I found a recipe that seemed relatively easy and followed it exactly as Annie's Eats said.  The only change I made was to make sure that the egg whites were aged for 48 hours before using.



And look at these babies! After baking and tasting the final product, I have to admit cupcakes are so last year...

Chocolate Macarons with Espresso Ganache Filling

from: Annie's Eats



Ingredients:
For the macarons:
110 gm blanched slivered almonds
200 gm minus 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder (Dutch-process preferred)
100 gm egg whites (from about 3 eggs), aged at room temperature for 12-24 hours
50 gm granulated sugar

For the espresso ganache:
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
4 tbsp. bittersweet chocolate
1½ tsp. espresso powder

Directions:

Pulse the almonds in the bowl of a food processor until finely ground. This takes longer than you would think. You want to make sure the almonds and the confectioner's sugar blend well. Add the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder to the bowl and process until blended. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy.

Gradually add the granulated sugar and continue beating until a smooth, shiny meringue with stiff peaks forms.
Add the almond mixture to the bowl with the meringue and  gently fold together until no streaks remain.  The batter will be on the thick side, but it should still flow off the end of the spatula.

Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or greased parchment paper.  Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round tip.  Pipe into  rounds on the prepared baking sheets, you can make these guys any size you want I made some big ones and some babies just make sure you have a match for each cookie.  Let sit at room temperature for about an hour to develop a shell.

Preheat the oven to 300˚F.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on size.  Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before moving the cookies. It took my cookies about an hour before I was able to move them.

While the cookies are cooling, make the ganache.  Combine the cream, butter and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.   Bring the cream mixture to a simmer, remove from the heat and add chocolate.  Let stand 2 minutes, then whisk gently until the ganache forms.  Blend in the espresso powder.  Stick the bowl to the freezer or refrigerator and let cool, stirring every 10 minutes until thickened.

Once the cookies are totally cooled, match them up by size.  Pipe a layer of ganache onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair.  Sandwich together with the remaining cookie, pushing the filling to the edges.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge if they last that long!