Macarons with Orange Infused Milk Chocolate Ganache

Instructions

7 days before baking

(You have to make your aged egg whites a week in advance.)

Separate the whites from the yolks, put 110 g of whites in each of the 2 bowls. Remove the chalazae or just put the egg whites through a sieve. Cover each bowl with plastic wrap and poke several holes through it. Keep the bowls in the refrigerator until baking.

2 days before baking

Place the almond flour and confectioners sugar in a food processor and run for 10 seconds. Sift the mixture onto 2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper and leave uncovered to dry.

To make ganache

Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds out. Place the cream in a medium saucepan with the vanilla bean, seeds and orange zest. Bring it to a first boil and then let it cool down. Refrigerate overnight.

1 day before baking

Mix the softened butter with honey. Set aside. Place the chopped chocolate or chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate for 30 seconds at 50 per cent power. The chocolate should be semi-melted.

Bring the cream mixture to a boil again. Remove from heat and remove the vanilla bean. You can also strain the mixture so you have no zest. Immediately pour the hot cream mixture over the half-melted chocolate. Cover the bowl tightly and wait 60 seconds. After that mix it using the immersion blender or spatula. Measure the temperature and add the butter. It should be between 100.4 F/38 C and 104 F/40 C. Stir in the Cointreau. Use the immersion blender throughout this step. The ganache should be smooth and shiny. Let it set in the refrigerator for at least a few hours, ideally overnight.

The day of baking

Sift your almond mixture 5 times using two large bowls. Stir the food coloring (if using it) into the first bowl of liquified egg whites. Pour the egg whites over the almond mixture but do not stir. Place the second portion of liquified egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Bring the water and sugar up to a boil on medium heat in small saucepan. When the syrup reaches 239F/115C start whisking the second portion of egg whites on high speed.

When the temperature of the syrup reaches 244 F/118C, reduce the mixer speed to medium-high (there should be soft peaks at this moment) and slowly pour the syrup in a steady stream into the egg whites. Continue beating on this speed for 1 minute and reduce to medium, then beat until the meringue has cooled to 122F/50 C.

Using a silicone spatula gently fold the meringue into the almond-egg whites mixture. Do not overmix. Batter should be smooth and shiny and it should fall in a wide ribbon when the spatula is lifted.

Prepare ~4 baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone mats.

Transfer the batter to the pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch tip. Pipe discs ~ 1,5 inches (3.5 cm) in diameter on to the parchment paper. (You can trace circles in advance and just flip the paper)

Gently tap your baking sheets down on a work surface to smooth out the discs. Let them rest for at least 35 mins up to 1 hour before baking.

While the shells are resting, preheat the convection oven to 300F/150C. Place the oven thermometer on the middle rack (do it even if your oven has a built-in thermometer).

After letting the shells rest bake each sheet separately for 15 mins. Open the oven for a few seconds each time you see temperature go up or at least 4 times to release the moisture.

After removing the shells from the oven slide them still on the parchment paper onto a work surface. Now let them cool down.

Transfer the ganache to a pastry bag. Cut the tip of it so the opening is small. Generously pipe the filling onto half of the shells. Now close each ganache filled shell with a second one and press down lightly. Refrigerate the macarons for 24 hours. Remove them from the fridge 2 hours before serving.