Chocolate and Vanilla Macarons

I have always found macrons tricky to make; they seem complicated, messy and a bit finickity. Every time I make them I seem to be improving a bit and getting a bit easier which gives me hope! However it only encourages me to make (and eat) more. I love the colours and the variations that you can make with macarons. For this recipe however, I decided to play around with the colour while sticking to two standard flavour choices.

These macarons are light, sweet and chewy, and look pretty too!

This recipe is from a blog called 'Love and Macarons' which I have recently found and love. They make a wide variety of macarons which all look amazing.(http://loveandmacarons.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/recipes)

Makes about 24 macarons | prep time 1 hour (including drying time) | cooking time 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

For the macarons

150g ground almond 150g icing sugar 105g egg whites Gel food colouring (optional) 2 tsp cornflour (if weather is humid) pinch of salt 120g granulated sugar 40g water

For the buttercream

115g salted butter

220g icing sugar

1/2 tsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Place the ground almonds in a food processor and blitz until fine. Sift the almonds with the icing sugar together into a large bowl and discard of any larger lumps.

2. Add 50g of egg whites and mix until it becomes a dough-like consistency - add any colouring at this stage (the colour will lighten after adding the meringue).

3. Set aside and cover with cling film so it doesn't harden.

4. For the meringue, beat egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer until soft peaks form. After they have formed, turn down your mixer to "stir" or very low to keep them moving so they don't deflate.

5. At the same time, put the water and sugar on the stove over medium-high heat until the mixture gets bubbly all around with no spots of unboiled water (or 115oC). Then, pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites and turn up the speed of your mixer to high. Let it beat until the bowl of the mixer is warm to the touch and shiny and stiff.

6. Then, add 1/3 of the meringue to the almond mixture and fold until you cannot see any more white streaks of meringue. After you have lightened the mixture, add the rest of the egg whites and fold.

7. Now you are ready to pipe them with your piping bag into circles, however big you like onto parchment paper or a silicone mat. I pipe them to be about 2 inches wide.

8. Then drop your baking sheets about 2-3 times until they flatten out and the air bubbles pop. Now let them dry about 20-30 minutes or until they are dry to the touch (depends on humidity). While you're waiting, preheat your oven to 150oC.

9. Now bake them for 15-20 minutes, or even longer if they are still too moist inside. Bake only one tray at a time if your oven has inconsistent heat. Let them cool completely before you take them off the parchment.

10. For the buttercream: in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, cream butter until it is soft and smooth then add the icing sugar, milk, and and mix until light and fluffy. Halve the mixture into separate bowls and mix the vanilla extract to one half and the cocoa powder to the other.

11. Sandwich half the macarons together with the vanilla buttercream and half with the chocolate.

12. Eat!