Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Karen
A decadent combination of dark chocolate and orange in a beautiful French macaron.
Easter weekend has come way too early this year! If there’s anything that Easter reminds me of, it’s chocolate and lots of it too. I’ve got a decadent recipe in store for you to try this long weekend and it’s a special one with chocolate and orange.
These chocolate macarons are filled with a dark chocolate ganache infused with orange flavor. You can’t really go wrong with this flavor combination – I brought these to the office and everyone who tried them loved them so I’m really happy with the finished result!
Here is a free macaron template you can print out and slide under the parchment paper to use as a guide for piping the rounds.
Some more of my favorite kitchen tools for macaron making success:
- Finely ground almond meal
- Gel food coloring
- Disposable pastry bag
- Non-stick sheet pan
- Non-stick silicone baking mat
Dark Chocolate Orange Macarons
Ingredients
For the chocolate ganache:
- 4 oz dark chocolate finely chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp orange zest finely grated
For the macarons:
- 3.2 oz egg whites room temperature
- 2.8 oz granulated sugar sifted
- 5.6 oz confectioners' sugar sifted
- 3.2 oz almond meal sifted
- 0.5 oz unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
- Brown gel food coloring optional
Instructions
To make the chocolate ganache:
- Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat and remove from heat. Stir in orange zest.
- Pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and stir until ganache is smooth. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Set aside.
To make the macarons:
- Whisk egg whites until they begin to foam, about 1 minute. Slowly add in granulated sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Mixture should be thick and glossy; you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the whites falling out.
- Add sifted confectioners’ sugar, almond meal, cocoa powder, and food coloring to the mixture. Using a spatula, fold until it is well incorporated and has the consistency of molten lava. To test, scoop up a spoonful of batter and drop it back into the mixture; it should flatten and disappear into the batter in about 15 seconds or so. If it doesn’t, continue folding the mixture. It should take about 50-60 strokes for the batter to reach the right consistency.
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with large round tip, and pipe small rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you can place a template underneath). The rounds should be no larger than 2 inch in diameter with at least ½ inch of space between.
- Gently tap the bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air, then let the macarons dry on the counter for about 30 minutes until a skin is formed on the surface (the batter shouldn’t stick to your hand when you touch it).
- Place the macarons in a 350F oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes until the shells harden. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.
To assemble:
- Match the macaron shells in pairs. Pipe chocolate ganache on the flat side of a macaron shell then sandwich together with a matching macaron shell. Repeat with the remaining macarons.
Notes
*I leave the egg whites on the counter for three days, cover with plastic wrap, leaving some space for the moisture to escape.
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