Macaron Love: Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

It's almost officially summer! And I'm getting super excited, too. So for this month's macarons, I was inspired by one of my favorite things...Mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

(makes about 2 dozen, depending on size)

Macaron Shells:

Ingredients:

• 80 g ground almonds, sieved to remove large particles
• 130 g powdered sugar
• 1 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• Splash of vinegar
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature (~66-70 g)
• 20 g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• Green food coloring

Method:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Grind the chocolate chips in a food processor or coffee grinder.
3. Sieve the ground chocolate and separate large pieces from small pieces. Set aside.
4. Sift the powdered sugar into the almonds. Stir to combine.
5. Wipe a large, clean bowl with a paper towel covered in vinegar.
6. Put in the egg whites, and whip until bubblebath-y.
7. Add the cream of tartar, and whip until doubled in volume.
8. 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)
9. Add in a few drops of food coloring to egg whites and gently stir in (make it a little darker than desired in the finished cookies, as the color fades after baking).
10. Fold in the almond mixture in about 4 batches.
11. Fold until completely combined and the batter flows in a thick, slow ribbon.
12. Put into a piping bag, and pipe small, 1-inch circles on the baking sheets.
13. Poke down any points with a dampened finger.
14. Hit against a table, counter top, your knees, etc. so that the piped circles flatten a bit.
15. Sprinkle the tops of half of the piped macarons with the large pieces of ground chocolate.
16. Let rest for 30-45 minutes.
17. In the last few minutes, preheat the oven to 300° F.
18. 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.
19. 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).
20. Let cool completely and remove from parchment paper.
21. Pipe the cookies without chocolate sprinkled on top with honey mint chocolate chip buttercream and sandwich a cookie with chocolate chunks on top.
22. Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
• Green food coloring
• Reserved finely ground chocolate chips (from earlier)

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together. Mixture will be dry and loose.
2. Add in the milk, extract and food coloring (to desired color), and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the ground chocolate to give the desired speckle-y effect.
4. Pipe into macaron shells.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!