Chocolate Almond Macaroons Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Finely grind the almonds, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a food processor.
• Separate one of the eggs and add the white, the other egg, and almond extract and process until the mixture holds together. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chocolate.
• Moisten hands and roll mixture into 1-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Flatten to 1/3-inch thick rounds.
• Bake until tops puff and centers are still soft, about 12 minutes. Remove to a rack and cool completely. Replace parchment paper for next round of cookies.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place eggs in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until egg whites are stiff. Then add sugar slowly, and continue beating until egg whites are very thick, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Beat in cocoa until combined. Stir in almonds, and mix until completely blended. The batter should be quite thick and sticky.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Dampen hands, and shape about 1 heaping teaspoonful of dough into a 1-inch ball. Pinch the ball with your fingers to form a teardrop shape, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue process, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart, until all the dough is used.
• Bake until cookies are slightly cracked, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool on sheet for several minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Combine shortening and melted chocolate. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate onto the flat side of a cooled cookie, and place another cookie on top. Press together gently so chocolate oozes out slightly. Return cookie to rack, and let chocolate harden. Repeat process with remaining cookies.

Steps:

• Set oven to 350 degrees.
• Butter generously a large cookie sheet.
• Beat egg whites and salt until stiff, but not dry.
• Beat in sugar, a little at a time; beat until mixture is thick and glossy (mixture should stand in peaks).
• Fold in almonds, vanilla and melted chocolate.
• Drop macaroons by teaspoonfuls, onto a well-greased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Careful not to overbake, as the cookies will lose their texture.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment or preferably silicon pad.
• Mix egg whites (unbeaten) with the ground almonds, cocoa and powdered sugar until you have a sticky but cohesive mixture.
• Fill a large bowl with cold water and dip your hands in it to wet them before rolling the mixture into little balls the size of small walnuts. You will probably have to redunk your hands to keep wetting them as you go.
• Arrange the macaroon-balls on the lined baking tray and put in the oven to bake for 11 minutes. It's hard to tell when they're ready, as they will seem squishy but they harden up a little as they cool, and anyway, they should be damp within; that's what makes them chewy, so don't worry that the macaroons look sticky underneath.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
• Gradually beat in the cocoa, confectioners sugar, salt, and vanilla.
• Gently fold in the ground almonds.
• Drop the mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls on prepared baking sheet, leaving a 2-inch space between each macaroon.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until macaroons are very lightly browned.
• Let cool on baking sheet until macaroons are firm.

Steps:

• For the ganache: Combine the chopped chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pot with 1-inch of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Stir in the cream, vanilla and salt, and then remove from the heat. Set aside until cooled and thickened, stirring occasionally, 30 to 45 minutes.
• For the cookies: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small glass or cookie cutter (1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch wide), trace 15 circles on each piece of parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches between each round. Flip the parchment over; the lines will be visible through the paper but you will not have to pipe directly onto the ink. Fit a pastry bag with a round tip about 1/4-inch wide.
• Sift the confectioners' sugar and ground almonds into a bowl and discard any larger nut chunks. (If you have more than a tablespoon of bigger chunks, grind those until powdery and then resift.) Combine the egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or in a large bowl with the whisk attachment of a hand-held electric mixer). Whip on medium-low speed until frothy, and then add the granulated sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip until very soft peaks form. Add the almond extract and a few drops of food coloring if using. Whip until stiff peaks form. Fold about one-third of the sugar-nut mixture into the egg whites until blended, and then fold in the remaining two-thirds. The batter should be a bit fluid but not runny. It should slowly drip off the spatula and sit on top of the batter in the bowl for a bit before eventually oozing back into it. If it seems a bit stiff at this point, fold once or twice more until it relaxes, although be careful not to over fold. This correct texture is the key to the macaron and it is better to have a stiffer batter than a looser one.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pastry bag. Holding the bag perpendicular over the baking sheet, squeeze until the batter fills a circle drawn on the paper. Release the pressure on the bag and pull towards you to prevent a pointy tip on the center of the cookie. Repeat with the remaining circles. Gently flatten any points on the cookies with a damp fingertip.
• Firmly rap the baking sheets against the counter to release any air bubbles and let stand at room temperature until the tops of the cookies no longer feel wet, 10 to 15 minutes. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the macarons are slightly crisp and the bottoms release from the parchment paper, about 15 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the baking time. Cool on the sheet 5 minutes, and then peel off the cookies and cool completely on a wire rack.
• To assemble the cookies, spread a thin layer of the chocolate ganache on the bottoms of half of the cookies, about 1/4 teaspoon per cookie. Top with a second cookie, gently pressing to squeeze the ganache to the rims.
• TIP: The weight of the batter in the pastry bag will force some of the batter out. To stop this, you can stick a mini marshmallow at the end of your pastry tip to block to the batter from running out the end.
• TIP: You can use store-bought almond meal in place of the whole almonds. Sift 2/3 cup with the confectioners' sugar and, if necessary, grind the larger chunks and sift until a tablespoon or less of larger chunks remain in the sifter.
• TIP: You can also spoon the batter onto the parchment lined baking sheets. The cookies may not be as perfectly round but will still taste great.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F.
• Combine coconut, sugar, flour and salt in large bowl. Add egg whites and extract; mix well. Stir in nuts and chocolate.
• Drop coconut mixture into 36 mounds, 2 inches apart, onto greased and lightly floured baking sheets, using about 1 Tbsp. coconut mixture for each.
• Bake 20 min. or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from baking sheets to wire racks; cool completely.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients until blended. Drop mixture by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets., Bake 16-20 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely., Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate; let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together almond paste and sugar on medium-high until almond paste breaks down and mixture is well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add almond extract and salt; beat until well combined.
• With the mixer running, add egg whites, 1 teaspoon at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. The batter should be smooth and thick enough to pipe.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a No. 4 (1/2-inch) pastry tip. Holding pastry tip about 3/4 inch above the parchment paper on prepared baking sheet, pipe a quarter-size round of batter onto parchment paper. Lift the bag off the batter a slight sideways jerking motion of your hand, producing a flat, rather than pointy, top on the cookie. Continue piping cookies about 1 inch apart, trying to finish with as small a peak as possible to leave tops rounded and smooth. Wet a finger with warm water to smooth out any remaining peaked tops; sprinkle generously with sugar. Let stand at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes so that a thin, crisp crust develops on outside of each cookie.
• Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and back to front two-thirds through, until set but not browned and still gooey in the centers, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack; let cookies cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
• To fill cookies, place 1 teaspoon ganache on the bottom of one cookie, sandwich with the flat side of a second cookie. Repeat process with remaining ganache and cookies.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/ 160C fan/gas 4. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl, then stir in the ground almonds. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the dry ingredients.
• Fill an icing bag fitted with a plain nozzle with the mixture (or put in a large food bag and snip off the corner). Pipe 24 small blobs, about 3cm across, onto the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each. Smooth the surface with a wet finger, then leave for 15 mins to dry out. Bake for 15-20 mins until macaroons feel firm to the touch and peel easily off the paper. Cool on the paper, then peel off and store in a tin for up to 1 week.
• To make the filling, put chocolate into a heatproof bowl and gently melt over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir in the warm milk until smooth. Leave to cool and thicken a little, then use to sandwich the macarons together

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/ fan 160C/ Gas 4. Put the almonds on a baking tray and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.
• Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Whisk in the caster sugar, a little at a time, until the mix thickens.
• Reserve 30 almonds for decorating, then blitz the rest in a food processor to a medium coarse powder. Fold the almonds and rice flour into the egg whites, then fold in the almond extract. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
• Spoon the mixture onto baking sheets lined with nonstick baking paper. Put an almond on each. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
• Turn the cooled biscuits over and dip the base in melted dark chocolate and leave to set. Drizzle with melted white chocolate, then leave to set completely and pack into boxes or clear cellophane bags.

Steps:

• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with foil. Butter foil and dust with flour. Finely grind almonds, sugar, cinnamon and salt in processor. Add egg, egg white and almond extract and process until mixture holds together. Transfer to bowl. Stir in chocolate.
• Using moistened hands, roll mixture into 1-inch balls and place on prepared sheets. Flatten to 1/3-inch thick rounds. Bake macaroons until tops puff and centers are still soft, about 12 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Store in airtight container at room temperature. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead.)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously butter heavy large nonstick cookie sheets. Blend almond paste, sugar and egg whites in processor until smooth. Drop dough by slightly rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing evenly. Press 1 almond onto each mound. Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cookies rest on sheets until just cool to touch, about 5 minutes. Using spatula, transfer cookies to rack and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store cookies in airtight container at room temperature.)
• Bring cream, butter and orange peel to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate and stir until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and let ganache stand until thick but spreadable, about 20 minutes.
• Spread some ganache over flat side of 1 cookie. Sandwich with flat side of another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and ganache. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate in airtight container. Bring cookies to room temperature before serving.)