Dark Chocolate Macaron Shells

Meringue is an exquisite dairy-free dessert. Although they take a little extra love to make, the results are well worth it.

Ingredients
115 g Almond Flour
15 g of cocoa powder
230 g of powdered sugar
145 g of egg whites
70 g of caster sugar

If this is your first time making macarons, I recommend going on YouTube and watching some video tutorials. This one was very helpful to me.

Sift the almond flour, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar together (repeat twice to mix thoroughly).

In a stand mixer, beat the eggs and and caster sugar on low for 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another two minutes. Increase the speed to high for 2 minutes. Add food coloring if you want and turn your mixer to ultra high (as high as it will go) for 1 minute.

Dump all the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, and fold the ingredients together. Once the mixture takes on the consistency of lava, transfer it into a piping bag (I use a gallon Ziploc, and cut off the tip).

Pipe the macarons onto pans lined with parchment paper. Each circle should be approximately 3 cm in diameter.

Slap the pans on the counter 3 times. You'll see tiny air bubbles come to the surface.

Let the cookies rest on the counter for 15 minutes. Set your oven to 300°F.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.  Remove from the oven, and let the cookies sit on the tray for 2-3 minutes. Remove the parchment from the tray and let the parchment and cookies cool for at least 20 minutes. 

You can either enjoy as is, or pair up and fill with your favorite filling. 

Try Pumpkin Caramel Dark Chocolate Macarons for an amazing Halloween treat.

Use the caramel from the Pumpkin Caramel Recipe.
Put 1/3 cup of very cold caramel in a small sandwich bag, cut off the tip.
Squeeze the bag to pipe a small amount of caramel onto a cold cookie.
Match an equal size cookie and enjoy.
Make sure to keep these cookies cold, otherwise the caramel will melt.