Chocolate Macarons

PINK's Macarons:

Ingredients:

50 gm. finely ground almond

70 gm. icing sugar

10 gm. cocoa powder

50 gm. egg white - at room temperature

Method:

(1) Blend ground almond, cocoa powder and icing sugar in a food processor till fine.

(2) Whisk egg white till they are white and foamy. Turn the speed up to high adn whip them just until they are firm but still glossy and supple - when you lift the whisk, the whites should form a peak that droops just a little. Leave the whites in the mixer bowl or transfer them to a large bowl and working with a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients gently into the whites in three or four additions. It will seem like a lot of dry ingredients to go into a relatively small amount of whites, but keep folding and you'll get everything in. Don't worry if the whites deflate and the batter looks a little runny - that's just what's supposed to happen. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated, the mixture will look like a cake batter, if you lift with your finger, it should form a gentle, quickly falling peak.

(3) spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe into small rounds about 1" in diameter onto parchment paper, leaving about an inch between each round. Rest macaroons for about 20 mins.

(4) Bake at 180C for 10 to 12 mins.

(5) Remove macaroons from the parchment - they should be removed as soon as they come from the oven. You will need to create moisture under the cookies. Carefully loosen the parchment paper , lifting the paper, pour a little hot water under the paper. The water may bubble and steam.Allow the macaroons to remain on the parchment for about 20 seconds, then peel the macaroons off the paper and place them on a cooling rack.

(6) Sandwich them with either ganache, butter cream or ice-cream.

i omit method #5 cos i'm using silpat mat, which is very easy to come out.....