Chocolate Macarons

Ingredients:
-1.25 C powdered sugar sifted with 1 C almond meal and 2 TB cocoa powder
-1/4 to 1/2 C granulated sugar*
-3 egg whites (I use jumbo, which might be larger than what you typically buy, which is why I have the star in the one above)
-pinch of salt
-1 tsp vanilla

Fillings of choice: (I used nutella, caramel, and a peanut butter fudge icing made of 3 TB butter, 1/2 C peanut butter, 1 C powdered sugar, a little vanilla, and water as needed to thin it out)

Whip the eggs and salt until frothy in your mixer.  Add the vanilla and start streaming in your granulated sugar, slowly.  Beat on high as you add the sugar until stiff glossy peaks form.

Fold in the sifted chocolate almond yumminess until incorporated. Preheat your oven to 280 degrees.  Line some baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats. 

Put the macaron batter into a pastry bag and cut the tip off.  Pipe out circles an inch or so in diameter and let them sit out for 30 minutes to an hour.

Bake the cookies for for 15 minutes (I open mine after the first two to let the humidity out). I like to open mine and cut the heat right before my timer goes off so that it cools down a little slower.

Pop them off the parchment paper (I bake on dark nonstick and they always come off pretty easy but do NOT try to bake them without parchment paper because that does not work at all).

Fill them with your desired fillings, if you have a stiffer filling try to pipe it on parallel to the cookie and move it around with your finger to spread it out. Top it with another cookie.

AND then devour.  Or share them....if you like to share things...

Now, like I said I used larger eggs than what some might so I ended up adding a little under 1/2 C sugar to make the meringue.  Mine did not seem to be whipping up just right, so that is when I decided that more sugar was necessary.  If you are using smaller eggs, you may not need any more than just the 1/4C. 

Macarons are really delicious and you have to be prepared to make them a couple of times to get used to how your oven bakes them and the adjustments you need to make to get them just right.  Mine is a gas oven.

Good luck!

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