I had the good fortune to be called to work a continuous 9-day job recently. It was a crazy schedule that had us styling and shooting 10-20 shots per day; I was first assistant and we even had a second assistant to help with cleanup and be our runner (running things to set when needed). Even when everything goes right, it’s a crazy ambitious schedule and at the end of each day, I was so beat, I could barely talk — most days were 11 hours but the last day went 13! I even got to style some of my own work as we had two sets going on a couple of days. We did get one day reprieve in the middle of the hectic schedule and being the crazy woman that I am, I made Chocolate-Skor* Macarons for the team!
To be honest, this flavour combo came by, by error; I had made a batch for our anniversary party and the tops cracked (I beat the egg whites too long), so to hide my error, I coated the cracks with melted chocolate and skor* bits! No one was the wiser and they were by far, the most talked about during the party!
The team LOVED them, so I thought I’d record the recipe for posterity! I’ll be making them again for sure!
Chocolate-Skor* Macarons
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
Makes about 18-22 macarons (depending on how large your cookies are)
Ingredients:
- 70 g blanched almond meal or flour (finely ground)
- 116 g icing sugar
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 15 g cocoa powder
Directions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (177° C). Prepare your macaron template using your computer to draw 2.5 cm or 1″ circles about 2.5 cm or 1″ apart. Print two sheets. Put the two sheets under your UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner to use as your circle templates.
- Add finely ground almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar into a food processor and pulse a few times to completely combine.
- Press the almond/sugar/cocoa mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the larger bits. You should have no more than 2 tbsps left (discard or save larger almond bits for something else).
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk egg whites and granulated sugar by hand to combine. Beat until you have very stiff and glossy peaks when you lift the whisk out of the bowl. DO NOT OVER WHIP or you will get cracked tops.
- Add the almond/sugar/cocoa mixture ALL at ONCE to the stiffly beaten egg whites and fold with a silicone spatula starting from 12 o’clock all the way back to 12 o’clock in a clockwise motion, then drag the spatula directly down the middle, pressing firmly against the bowl. Repeat this process until all of the almond/sugar/cocoa mixture has been incorporated and the ‘batter’ flows like lava (I counted about 35 complete strokes). Too few folds will result in cracked tops and too many folds will not permit the feet to form while baking.
- Prepare a pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm or 3/8″ round tip. Transfer the batter to the pastry bag.
- Begin piping the batter onto the prepared UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner directly over the circles you’ve previously prepared. I found starting directly in the middle and piping a quantity of batter until it reaches the circle edge and lifting the pastry bag up and giving it a little twist to release from the pan, is the best way to do it. However you do the piping, you must be consistent to keep the batter size even. Gently slide out the template paper from beneath the UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner.
- Allow the pan to rest for 5 minutes, by doing this you give the peaks time to even out so your Macarons are beautiful and flat on top. Some suggest that you gently bang the pan a few time to remove air bubbles, I found I didn’t have many bubbles.
- Bake each sheet separately for 11-13 minutes, rotating halfway through if your oven doesn’t bake evenly. Gently slide the non-stick liner off the baking sheet and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. The UNSTICK™ baking sheet liner allows you to pry off each macaron half easily onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. You may freeze the Macaron halves at this point in a well sealed, air-tight container.
- Prepare your buttercream, I loved this recipe from Lorraine Elliot of Not Quite Nigella Blog but I did find that I did not need the entire 75 mL of water, I used only about 35 mL.
Chocolate-Score topping
Ingredients:
- About 65 g Belgian chocolate
- About 1/3 cup skor* bits
Directions:
- Melt Belgian chocolate in a double boiler until smooth and shiny.
Macaron Assembly:
- I prefer to work with at least 1-day old macarons which have sat in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container.
- Pipe buttercream onto 1/2 of the macaron cookies. Complete the macaron by choosing a similar-sized bottom and press gently onto the buttercream.
- Smear a bit of melted chocolate over the top and bottom of each macaron and dip into the skor* bits.
- Place macarons in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. This is an important step to allow the macaron to develop the correct texture.
Notes:
- I would not recommend freezing macarons which have already been filled with buttercream.
- Freeze fully cooled macaron ‘cookies’ in an airtight container, they will last about 1 month (after then they dry out too much).
*Skor was corrected from Score!
Your macarons look lovely though & you tope dthe others with more yumminess,..but what are skor bits?
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Perfect Macroons!!!
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What an ingenious way to cover the cracks – you’re so clever! I bet they were the most talked about… these sound absolutely delicious and they’re lovely looking too. I’ve never seen a similar macaron. Bravo! Meanwhile, what a work schedule… I know exactly what you mean about not even having the energy to talk – those are days fully ‘spent’ – wonderful achievement.
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Thank you so much Kelly, I really enjoyed making them too. It was a good tired! 😄
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Ooh I love Skor bars! What a clever idea to make these as macarons! And I’m so glad that you like the buttercream recipe! 😀
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Thank you Lorraine, that buttercream recipe was used for our anniversary macarons too. I made three batches and halved each batch to get six flavours, it worked out exceptionally well.
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Wow, 10 shots a day is ambitious, but 20? That’s a lot of work! As you so well know. 🙂 Anyway, these look like so much fun. Love the idea of using Skors. And you’ve reminded me it’s been ages since I’ve had one of those. Anyway, good stuff — thanks.
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Thank so much John, it was a fun shoot. Those Skor bits add so much deliciousness to so many things.
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Oh, my gosh, these might be my favorite macarons EVER! What a fabulous way to cover up a few cracks—I’d be none the wiser. Your friend, the toffee fan. Xoxo
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Oh yes, Liz, they are definitely my favourites too, from one chocolate-toffee lover to another!
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Congratulations on your styling jobs. So happy for you, I am sure you will be getting many more jobs where you are the stylist with 1st and 2nd assistants.
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Thank you so much for your kind words Norma, I hope so too!
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It will happen Eva, just a matter of time, talents take time to be discovered..
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Wow, so beautifully done. Must confess, I have not attempted macarons.
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Thanks Liz, I’m sure an accomplished chef like you would master them in no time!
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I’ve never made macarons. They seem so ambitious! GREG
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It was one of my bucket list things, Greg. I won’t say I’m good at it, but for the most part, they work out well. Thank you.
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Congratulations on all the work and that’s a great looking macaron fail. 🙂
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Thank you kindly, Maria.
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I wish I could grab a couple of them NOW :-)) They look incredible with score bits.
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Thank you kindly Angie, I totally missed having one at the studio!
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I’m confused by what score is, Eva? Great idea for the days when macaroons misbehave! They look perfect if you’d not been so honest.
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Hi David, score (damn, spelled it wrong, it’s Skor!) is a candy bar here in Canada that is primarily finely chopped caramel. It’s not too hard but nor is it soft. It also doesn’t stick to your teeth too badly.
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These look incredibly decadent – and so perfect! Using the template is such a great idea. Congratulations on the awesome food styling gig – and I hope your schedule is back to something that’s more manageable!
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Thank you so much, Michela, I’m flattered!
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