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Chocolate-Hazelnut Macarons

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Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz

Makes about 25 macarons
40 minutes preparation time
about 20 minutes baking time

For the filling:
1 cup heavy cream
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

For the macaron shells:
1/2 cup ground almonds (just less than 1/2 cup whole raw almonds before grinding in a food processor)
1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (just less than 1/2 cup whole raw hazelnuts before grinding in a food processor)
1 cup powdered sugar
12 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
10 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

First make the filling. Heat the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Just when the cream begin to bubble around the edges, remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate. Sitr until it has melted completely. Add the pieces of butter and stir them in until it is fully incorporated. Set the pan in the refrigerator to cool.

Next make the macaron shells. Grind the almonds and hazelnuts by running them in a food processor for a couple of minutes until they are extremely fine. At the end of the process, you will need 1 cup of ground nuts. Although this surprised me, it actually takes less than that amount of whole almonds to get 1 cup of ground nuts. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder and mix briefly. Set the mixture aside.

In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat again until the mixture is shiny and holds stiff peaks. Add the almond mixture and fold it in with a rubber spatula. Don't over mix the batter at this point. The ingredients should be well-incorporated and even in color but still retain the peaks from the egg whites.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2 inch in diameter). Spoon the meringue mixture into the pastry bag. Onto the cookie sheets, pipe out about 50 round disks each 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1 inch apart. Gently tap the cookie sheet on the counter a couple of times to level the meringues. Cook them for 15 to 18 minutes, until the top of the shells is firm to the touch. Let the meringues cool completely on the parchment paper (you can gently slide the parchment off the cookie sheet if you want to reuse it) before removing them.

If you like, use a pastry bag to add about a tablespoon of filling onto a macaron and then top it with another. You can also do this with a spoon. Continue until you have assembled all the macarons. Depending on how full you fill the macarons, you may have chocolate filling left over.


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