Macarons with cardamom

Steps

for the ganache

• Slice very finely the chocolate
• Add the chocolate into a cylindrical recipient that could accept a stick blender
• Smash the cardamom pods with a knife
• Heat-up the cream along with the pods and their grains (if any)
• When it starts to boil, remove from heat
• Pour the cream into a glass and let it infuse for 1h with any cover on top
• Heat-up the cream again
• Pour the cream on top of the chocolate via a sieve to remove the cardamom pods and seeds
• Let it rest for 1’ or 2’
• Mix with the stick blender
• Let the mix cool down
• Cover on top and place the recipient into the refrigerator for 2h at least; you should have a solide ganache at the end

for the biscuits

• Preheat the oven at 160°C
• Séparez dans deux bols les 2 x 30gr de blancs d’œufs (30gr dans chaque bol)
• In an electric chopper, add:
  • the almond powder
  • the confectioner’s sugar
• Mix the two powders together
• Place them in a rather big bowl
• In another rather big bowl, pour the first 30gr of egg whites with a little bit of salt
• In a small casserole, add:
  • the caster sugar
  • the water
• Heat-up the mix of sugar and water at medium heat
• Stir constantly with a spatula; a syrup is going to form
• When the temperature arrives at 98°C, start beating the egg whites in high speed to form stiff peeks
• Remove the syrup from heat with it reaches 118°C
• Start pouring the hot syrup into the egg whites in a way that it touches the wall of the bowl
• Continue to beat, and you will see quite quickly that the Italian meringue is going to form and it will shine
• Continue to beat to cool it down; it must be cold when you touch it with your finger
• In the bowl where you put the powders, add the other 30gr of whites
• Stir with a wooden spoon or a rigid spatula
• Slowly but not much, a paste is going to form that will be rather dense
• Take a little bit of the Italian meringue and add it into the paste
• Stir with the rigid spatula to help the paste loosen up
• Continue to add the meringue little-by-little, and stirring after each addition
• You need to do circular movements, and including the paste that sticks to walls of the bowl
• At the end, you will have a homogenous batter that is semi-liquid
• Add the batter into a piping bag with a pastry tip of 10mm of Ø
• Use a little bit of the batter to stick the edges of the parchment paper onto the tray going into the oven
• Form small disks of batter in equal sizes and shapes as possible
• Tap the tray onto the counter to smooth the top of the biscuits
• Bake for 12’, and at 6’ return the tray into the oven
• Let the macarons cool completely

Putting everything together

• Form pairs of biscuits with similar size and shape
• Place the ganache into a piping bag with a pastry tip of 8mm of Ø (*) (*)
• Press and stick some of the ganache at the bottom side of a biscuit, take the other biscuit and stick it to the other side as to form a sandwich
• Taste them asap, or place them into the refrigerator for 3 days max
• C’est très bon !
• Enjoy :-)

Inspiration

The recipe on the site of Mercotte sur son site ; pour la technique illustrée le livre Felder Christophe, Macaron ! Christophe Felder vous dit tout, Editions de a Martinière, Paris, 2015 ; mais aussi les techniques que j’avais apprises lors d’un cours à Escoffier School at the Ritz. 

(*) as there is not much of ganache, you will probably need to scrape down the ganache with the back of a knife or a specific spatula in order to get it closer to the pastry tip!