Christmas Pudding Macarons
Chocolate Italian macarons, filled with dark chocolate ganache and decorated to look like little Christmas puddings 🎄
Servings 15 macarons
Ingredients
For the dark chocolate ganache:
- 120 g dark chocolate
- 180 ml double cream
For the chocolate macarons:
- 85 g ground almonds
- 80 g icing sugar
- 23 g cocoa powder
- 72 g egg whites, split into 2x36g portions.
- 105 g caster sugar
- 30 ml water
To decorate:
- 80 g white chocolate
- Holly sprinkles (see Note 1).
Instructions
Make the dark chocolate ganache:
- Finely chop the chocolate and put it into a small, heatproof bowl.
- Place the cream into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stirring frequently, allow it to come to just below a simmer (you will see small bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan), before pouring it over the chopped chocolate.
- Allow to stand for 1-2 minutes, then stir until the chocolate has completely melted and you have a smooth mixture. Cover the surface directly with clingfilm (to prevent the ganache from forming a skin), then allow to cool slightly before putting into the fridge to set overnight.
Make the chocolate macarons:
- Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Fit a piping bag with a medium-sized, round nozzle and set aside.
- Place the ground almonds, icing sugar and cocoa powder into a food processor. Pulse 10 times, then sift into a large bowl, discarding any large lumps. Repeat this process once more, so that you are left with a very fine powder.
- Add one of the 36g portions of egg white to the dry ingredients. Mix well to form a paste, then set aside.
- Place the remaining 36g of egg white into the clean, metal bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment. Set aside while you make the sugar syrup.
- Place the caster sugar into a small saucepan with the 30ml of water. Place over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Do not stir- swirl gently if necessary. Allow the syrup to continue bubbling, monitoring the temperature with a digital sugar thermometer.
- When the syrup has reached 114°C, turn the stand mixer to high speed and begin to whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Keep the syrup over the heat.
- When the sugar syrup has reached 118°C and the egg whites have reached soft peaks, with the mixer still on high, pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the mixer up to full speed and beat for 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks are achieved and the metal bowl has come to room temperature.
- When the meringue is ready, add 1/3 of it to the cocoa and almond mixture. Mix vigorously to combine the two mixtures and loosen the thick paste.
- Add the rest of the meringue and fold it in, using a figure of eight motion, until the mixture is cohesive and comes off the spatula in ribbons- if you leave those ribbons for 30 seconds, they should level themselves out into the rest of the mixture.
- Transfer the macaron batter to the prepared piping bag. Holding the bag vertically to the baking tray, apply gentle pressure to pipe circular 'blobs' that are about 4cm in diameter.
- Once the macarons are piped, lift the whole tray and drop it down onto the work surface a few times to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Use a sharp knife/cocktail stick to burst any remaining bubbles, letting the mixture fall back on itself.
- Set the macarons aside at room temperature to form a skin- on a relatively dry day, this should take about 30-40 minutes, but can take less time on drier, warmer days and more time on cold, humid days. Check on the macarons every 10-15 minutes or so, if unsure. The macarons will be ready when you can gently touch their surfaces without any batter coming off on your finger.
- When the macarons are almost ready, preheat the oven to 165°C fan. Bake the macarons in the centre of the oven, one tray at a time, for 11 minutes. To check if they are done, place a finger on top of the shells and wiggle gently. When done, the tops of the macarons should not wobble. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the tray.
To decorate:
- Once the macarons shells are cool, melt the white chocolate and place it into a piping bag, fitted with a fine round nozzle. Pipe the outline of some icing onto one shell, then add some more chocolate within that outline and spread it out, using a sharp knife/cocktail stick, so that you have a thin, even coating of chocolate. Add a couple of holly sprinkles to the top edge, to decorate. Repeat this process for half of the macaron shells.
To assemble:
- Place the chilled ganache into a piping bag, fitted with a large round tip.
- Pipe a dollop of ganache onto the underside of each of the undecorated macarons. Place a decorated macaron shell on top of each one and gently press the two halves together. The macarons are best eaten immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also keep the unfilled macaron shells in an airtight container, at room temperature for about 5 days, before filling.
Notes
- I found these holly leaf & berry sprinkles at Waitrose, which made making these Christmas Pudding Macarons super easy. If you can't find sprinkles, you could also use coloured icing/chocolate, or even tubes of red and green writing icing, to draw little leaves and berries.Â