One thing I have missed a lot since going gluten free is a Terry’s Chocolate Orange! You just can’t beat them. Chocolate orange is such a classic flavour and luckily it’s so easy to recreate.
Sandwiching these bright orange shells together is a gorgeous chocolate orange ganache. With only 3 ingredients, it’s super simple to make and takes no time at all.
For this macaron recipe, I have used the Swiss method to make the shells. This involves heating the sugar and egg whites together at the start to aid dissolving before they’re whisked up into a meringue. This is my preferred method as I’ve found it to be the most reliable at getting the best results every time but of course you can use whichever method you like!
This recipe makes approximately 24 macarons. It will take about 20 mins to prepare the macaron mixture and then the macarons will need drying time before they are baked. This can take 30 mins – 2 hrs. Once dry, they are baked for approx. 15 mins.
Ingredients:
For the macarons:
- 95 g ground almonds, sieved until fine
- 95 g icing sugar
- 90 g egg whites (approx. 3 egg whites) at room temperature, aged if possible (see tips)
- 90 g granulated sugar
- Orange food colouring, powder or gel is best
For the chocolate orange ganache:
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 100 ml double cream
- 1-2 tsp of orange extract
To decorate, I drizzled the shells with some melted milk chocolate and decorated with my favourite sprinkle mix. Here, I’ve used ‘Fright Night’ Sprinkle Mix by Baking Time Club. You can get 20% off on all Baking Time Club sprinkles with my exclusive Pippatisserie discount PIPPA15
Useful Equipment: 2 baking trays and 2 macaron mats placed on top (if you don’t have a macaron mat, place a sheet of baking paper on each tray and draw out circle templates with a diameter of 3 cm – you can use a cookie cutter to do this), mixing bowl, hand/stand mixer with whisk attachments, stainless steel or glass mixing bowl, saucepan, piping bag with a round nozzle, food processor (optional), sieve, spatula, cocktail sticks
Useful Tips:
- For best results, age your egg whites. This can be done by separating your eggs the day before and placing the egg whites uncovered in the fridge overnight.
- Bring your eggs to room temperature before whisking.
- You need your dry ingredients to be as fine as possible. Blend them together in a food processor or push them through a sieve a couple of times before combining with the egg. This is how the macarons get their shiny shell.
- Pay attention not to over-whisk your egg whites. This can cause your shells to crack apart during baking (too much air!). You need to get them to the thick and glossy stage.
- Leaving your macarons to dry out before baking is crucial for getting the smooth shell. If they are not dry, they are likely to crack when baking. Once you can touch the top of the shells without your finger sticking, they have dried enough.
Please don’t hesitate to send me a message via the contact page or on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) if you need any advice or help troubleshooting your macarons!
Method:
Making the Macaron Shells:
- Sift together the almond flour and icing sugar into a bowl. If you have one, I recommend blending them together in a food processor to get the mixture as fine as possible.
- In a clean stainless steel or glass bowl on top of a saucepan with simmering water (bain marie – the water should be about 1 inch deep but make sure your bowl doesn’t touch the surface) lightly whisk the egg whites and granulated sugar together until the sugar has completely dissolved. You can check this by rubbing the egg whites between your fingers – if it’s still got a grainy texture, keep heating and mixing.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the bowl from the heat. Using a hand or stand mixer, whisk the egg white mixture until stiff peaks form. It should be thick and glossy!
- Add the almond flour and icing sugar mixture as well as your food colouring and fold until combined. As you do so, push your spatula down through the mix as you turn the bowl – the aim is to remove some of the air trapped in the mixture.
- Repeat this movement until the batter starts to fall like ribbons. This is a key step to get right as under-mixing can upset the texture of the shells. Pick up some batter with your spatula and let it fall off the end. If it is falling like a ribbon, try drawing a figure of 8. If the batter doesn’t break whilst doing this then it is ready. If it does, keeping folding until the ribbon stage is reached. It should fall quite slowly.
- Place the mixture into a piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe onto your macaron mat/template. Try piping straight down into the centre of the circle to achieve a circular shaped macaron.
- Lift the tray about 10 cm off the surface and drop it down onto the table. Do this a couple of times to bring any air bubbles to the surface. You can then smoothen the top with a cocktail stick.
- Let the macarons sit at room temperature until dry on top. This can take from 30 mins to 2 hrs depending on the room. You will know they are ready when you can touch the top and it isn’t sticky.
- Whilst the macarons are drying, preheat the oven to 150 °C fan/320 °F.
- Bake for 13-14 mins (to get an even bake, rotate the tray every 7 mins). Cool completely on the tray.
Assembling the Macarons:
- In order to get neat looking macarons, try and pair similar shaped shells together.
- For the ganache, break up the dark chocolate and place in a glass bowl with the cream over a simmering saucepan of water on a low heat (bain marie). Stir until fully melted and add the orange extract, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat to cool to room temperature – it should become the texture of peanut butter!
- Place into a piping bag and pipe a blob the size of a heaped teaspoon into the middle of the bottom shell. Sandwich together with the top shell.
- Decorate however you choose! See my tip above if you fancy a drizzle of melted chocolate and a handful of sprinkles. Enjoy!
Macarons will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also keep the shells for up to 6 months in the freezer.
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