Hazelnut Macarons

I've mentioned before how I love to make food gifts for friends, but recently I also discovered that baked goods could also be used as bargaining power.

As an incentive to give me some much-needed information for one of my uni assignments, I offered to make FeFiFoFum some macarons for her trouble. The bribe must have worked since she was very helpful and thanks to her I did pretty well on my assignment too!

I've been wanting to bake something with Nutella in it for a long time and I thought that it was time to tackle the humble macaron again. After a lot of false starts and a few stumbles along the way, I think I may be beginning to master the art of making macarons because this time I got them right first go! I don't think I will ever be as awesome as the macaron queen though :)

The Nutella is in the chocolate hazelnut ganache that's sandwiched by the macaron shells. I think I went a little crazy with the Nutella which made the ganache a little runnier than it should be but I was really happy with the flavour overall - definitely one for Nutella and hazelnut lovers out there! You can never have too much Nutella anyway I reckon...

And while you might want to dig straight into these macarons, it's best to leave these overnight in the fridge for the best flavour. Trust me, it's worth it!

Hazelnut Macarons
Recipe adapted from Trissalicious and Tartelette

For the macarons
100g egg whites (about 3), aged
125g almond meal
150g pure icing sugar
100g caster sugar
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Age your egg whites by leaving them out at room temperature for 24-48 hours, or for 3-5 days in the fridge. Process almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor and sift into a bowl. Process any remaining lumps again and sift again – discard any bits that do not fit through the sieve.

2. Beat egg whites until soft peaks, then gradually add the caster sugar whilst beating until stiff peaks form. Add the dry ingredients in two additions and mix quickly with a spatula a few times to get rid of any large air bubbles. Once the ingredients are starting to incorporate, slow down and fold the mixture until it flows like magma and falls in ribbons from the spatula. Pipe 3cm circles onto sheets lined with baking paper. Confidently rap the baking sheet onto the counter top to allow bubbles to come to the surface, pop these with a toothpick. Leave the shells out to dry for 30 minutes to an hour to allow a skin to develop on top – when you can touch the surface without any mixture sticking to your finger, they are ready. Sift a bit of cocoa powder on the macarons to decorate.

3. Preheat the oven to 140ºC. If you have thin baking sheets, place an overturned baking tray into the oven while it is preheating. When the macarons are ready, place the baking sheet on top of the overturned baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven. The macarons are usually ready when they peel back from the baking paper easily. When they have finished baking, carefully peel the macarons from the baking paper and place onto a wire rack to cool.

For the chocolate hazelnut ganache
125ml cream
140g dark chocolate
2 tablespoons Nutella

1. Heat the cream in a saucepan to boiling point. Remove from heat and stir in the dark chocolate and Nutella. Allow to stand for 2 minutes and then stir until well incorporated. Refrigerate until of spreadable consistency.

To assemble macarons: Match the macaron shells together to get the best fit (because mine are always of different sizes, clearly I need to work on my piping skillz...). Spoon or pipe the ganache onto one of the shells and place the other shell on top. Gently press downwards and twist the two shells in opposite directions to get an even spread of the ganache around the macaron. Store in an airtight container in the fridge overnight so the macarons can mature. Return to room temperature before serving.