Macaron Love: Chocolate Macarons on My Birthday!

Today, I am...old. I can get a tattoo without parental consent. I can finally volunteer at the soup kitchen. I'm old enough to vote. I can drive around at 2 in the morning, if I so desire. And my parents can even kick me out of the house if they want to! Yay, adulthood!

Yesterday (since today will be spent studying....), my mom said she would take me anywhere in the world, time permitting, and I the only thing I wanted to do was...make macarons. And so I did...

Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream

(recipe adapted from here)

Makes 14-15 Macarons

Macaron shells:

Ingredients:

• 80 g ground almonds, sieved to remove large particles
• 130 g powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature (~66-70 g)
• 20 g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• Splash of vinegar

Method:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the almonds. Stir to combine.
3. Wipe a large, clean bowl with a paper towel covered in vinegar.
4. Put in the egg whites, and whip until bubblebath-y.
5. Add the cream of tartar, and whip until doubled in volume.
6. Sprinkle in the granulated sugar, in 3-4 batches, and whip until stiffened (like shaving cream. Not quite stiff peaks, but stiff enough that if you held the bowl upside down, it wouldn't come out. Also, still moist and shiny and the peak will curl down a little)
7. Fold in the almond mixture in about 4 batches.
8. Fold until completely combined and the batter flows in a thick, slow ribbon.
9. Put into a piping bag, and pipe small, 1-inch circles on the baking sheets.
10. Poke down any points with a dampened finger.
11. Hit against a table, counter top, your knees, etc. so that the piped circles flatten a bit.
12. Let rest for 30-45 minutes.
13. In the last few minutes, preheat the oven to 300° F.
14. Place the baking sheets upon a larger one and place in the center of the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 8-9 minutes.
15. Turn down the over temperature to 290° F and bake for another 4-5 minutes, depending on size (take out when the shells are hard and dry).
16. Let cool completely and remove from parchment paper.
17. Pipe half the cookies with whatever you love and top with another cookie half.

Chocolate Buttercream:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. (180 g) powdered sugar
• 5 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 4 1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp. milk, as needed

Method:

1. Beat the sugar, butter, salt and cocoa powder until combined.
2. Add the vanilla extract and beat together.
3. Add milk until the right consistency is reached.

...and that's all I really wanted.