O.M.G. ........ Party in my mouth

So it would seem that the "it" dessert at the moment are French Macaroons. They're in every foodie magazine I seem to open or on just about every blog I read.

Move over cupcakes, there's a new fad in town and I'm hitching my wagon to it.

So again, using my Bookclub girls as my taste testers, I cooked up a batch of chocolate ones thanks to this months Women's Weekly magazine.

VOTE 1 for Chocolate French Macaroons ..... these guys will change your life, well probably not but your tastebuds will be forever in your debt.

How do I describe them......well, it's like taking chocolate mousse and encasing it in a hard, sugary shell (like the sugary shells that coat M&M's).......chocolate lovers paradise, PERFECTION.

These guys will impress anyone, and even better, they are so easy to make.

So give them a go, add them to your Easter menu, I know you'll thank me for it.

Chocolate French Macaroons

Ingredients

3 Egg whites, these need to be at room temperature

1/4C Caster sugar

1 1/4C Icing sugar

3/4C Almond meal

1/4C Cocoa Powder

Dark Chocolate Ganache

1/4C Cream

150gm Dark eating chocolate, finely chopped

3tbs Nutella

Assembly

• Preheat oven to 120 degrees celsius and line baking paper on oven trays
• Beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks forms. Add Caster sugar; beat until sugar dissolves. Fold in sifted icing sugar, ground almonds & sifted cocoa in two batches.
• Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain tube. Pipe 4cm rounds about 3 cm apart onto trays. Stand for 30 minutes.
• Bake macaroons for about 30mins or until they lift easily off the baking paper. Cool on trays.
• Ganache: Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat & stir in Nutella then pour over chocolate in a small bowl. Stir until smooth. Stand at room temperature until spreadable.
• Sandwich macaroons with dark chocolate ganache.

Hints

• Don't add 3/4C of caster sugar to your egg whites, as I did, and wonder why it's too runny. Follow the recipe.


• Nutella - my tablespoons were heaped with Nutella goodness, I don't think you could ever use too much.


• I found that there was enough Ganache for two batches of French Macaroons.


• Kept in an airtight container I found these were still good the next day.