Chocolate Macarons with Ganache Filling, Sweetened with Monk Fruit
Sweets and drinksBaked GoodsEurope and North Americaabout 2 hours to make, plus at least 24 hours chilling
Chocolate macarons with ganache filling means piping shells from almond flour and egg whites, baking them low and slow, then sandwiching a chocolate filling in between. A good shell has a smooth face, a proper foot and a slightly moist inside. The hardest part is the mixing stage, since undermixed batter cracks and overmixed batter spreads flat.
Weigh every ingredient on a digital scale, because a few grams off already changes the texture of the shell. The surface has to dry until it no longer sticks to the finger before the tray goes into the oven.
This batch weighs about 1.2kg, at roughly 398 calories per 100g.
Method
Melt 86g of finely chopped unsweetened dark chocolate chips in a bowl set over a pot of hot water, add 29g of finely ground kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, stir until smooth and glossy, and set it aside.
Put 200g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 115g of almond flour and 20g of cocoa powder in a large bowl, sift them thoroughly and mix until even.
Beat 145g of egg whites (about 5 eggs) until fine bubbles form, raise the speed to medium, add the remaining 70g of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, and keep beating to a firm meringue.
Fold the dry mixture into the whites in 3 to 4 additions, working steadily with a spatula until it comes together.
Load the batter into a piping bag with a 1.3cm tip and pipe rounds of about 3.5cm radius onto a tray lined with baking paper.
Rest the shells for 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the humidity, until the surface dries.
Heat the oven to 140 degrees C and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are firm but the bases are still slightly soft. Cool them on the tray, then slide a knife under to lift them off.
Mix the chocolate from step 1 with 115ml of heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter until smooth, then chill for 30 minutes to thicken.
Load the filling into a piping bag, pipe it on and sandwich the shells together, then chill for at least 1 hour.
Wrap them well and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, and 36 to 48 hours is better.
Tips
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend is a powder, and sifting it thoroughly with the almond flour is what gives the shells a smooth face.
Tap the tray on the counter a few times after piping to push out the larger air bubbles.
On a humid day the drying stage runs longer, so touch the surface first and bake only once it feels dry.
Warm the heavy cream before mixing it into the chocolate, since cold cream leaves the filling grainy.
The chilling stage after filling makes the center moister and the shell softer.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.