We Should Cocoa: French Martini Macarons

Happy Birthday We Should Cocoa! The brainchild of Choclette and Chele has turned two! Tantrums and tears? No, just plenty of gorgeous looking creations from all over the world encompassing one of life's pleasures; chocolate. WSC was the first blog challenge I ever entered and I would like to say thank you to both Choclette and Chele, not only for producing a very popular challenge but introducing me to other bloggers and new techniques.

My first entry into WSC was Chambord truffles for the raspberry challenge. It just so happens that Chambord is a key player in my favourite cocktail too so I've come full circle and give you French Martini Macarons.

I could never get my macarons smooth shelled and glossy. My first attempt was a little grainy. My second wasnt glossy. No humps or bumps. I would fawn over photos in glossy food magazines. Idolise the macaron-ers of tastespotting. How did they do it? Made pacts with the devil? Voodoo?

Tips and tricks flood you. Italian meringue is best. No, no, French meringue. Add in egg white powder. Precise measurements to the gram. (Shut up, I've only just bought an electric set of scales but I still favour my Equilibrium Pebble Scales.)

Over fold it by one turn and its all over. One turn? I'm the girl who left cream beating in her KitchenAid and ended up with butter.

But then it happened. Not entirely unlike a Christmas miracle. Less farm animals. A lot less farm animals.

I pulled a sheet of these out my oven. Then went to find my husband for a fist-bump.

Recipe Here

Little Tweaks

I blended my icing sugar, ground almonds and cocoa in small batches and didn't bother to sift. Dont judge. I have a vicious cup blender which is better than my big food processor.
I doubled up on baking sheets and banged them very hard on the worktop.
I left mine for 10 minutes before baking one tray at a time.

Halve my Chambord Truffle recipe for ganache and top each macaron with a feather of dried pineapple.

We Should Cocoa: Chocolate Chambord Truffles

I was looking through some baking blogs and I stumbled on two great blogs (here and here) and their new monthly challenge! I have a penchant of anything chocolate based so I thought I would give it a go!

The special ingredient this month is Raspberries and being hosted by Chele at Chocolate Teapot and the first thing that popped into my head is Chambord, a raspberry liqueur. It's the basis of my favourite cocktail (French Martini... Mmm...) so I thought I would make truffles with it!

So, Chocolate Chambord Truffles!

Ingredients

200gr plain dark chocolate (70% minimum)

200ml double cream

3 dessert spoonfuls of Chambord

Method

1, Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and remove from the heat and heat the cream in a separate saucepan over a low heat until just simmering but not boiling.

2, Add the Chambord into the cream, whisk briefly and pour over the chocolate and whisk together until smooth and glossy.

3, Pour into a small bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave overnight to set.

4, When the ganache has set, lay out a dinner plate sprinkled with cocoa powder and using a teaspoon dig out lumps of the hard ganache, roll into balls and roll in cocoa.

5, Serve!