Here Emilie Thyebaut, Founder of France Just For You, shares her favorite recipe for making Chocolate Macarons! These normally turn out better if you're baking them on a dry day rather than on a rainy day.

Chocolate french macarons

Homemade chocolate French macarons (Photo©: France Just For You)

 

Ingredients

For about 20-25 macarons

Biscuit:

  • 3 egg whites
  • 200g powered sugar
  • 125g almond powder (grounded very thin)
  • 30g sugar
  • 15g bitter cacao (French brand Van Houten)
  • 20 drops of red food coloring

Ganache filling:

  • 120g baking chocolate
  • 80g butter
  • 30g thick crème fraiche



How to make macaron biscuits: 

  1. Mix the bitter cacao, powered sugar, and almond powder together until you have a very fine powder.

     
  2. Whip up the egg whites (very hard) and the fine caster sugar, and add the food coloring at the end so that it mixes with the rest.

     
  3. Sieve the powder from  step 1 and add it to the whipped egg whites from step 2.

     
  4. With a piping bag, squeeze small domes of the mixture, about 3cm in size, onto silicone baking paper. When you make them, the tip of the pastry bag must touch the plate.

     
  5. Let it rest for about 30 minutes (very important: during wet weather, have them rest near a warm radiator).

     
  6. Cook them in the oven for 12 to 13 minutes at 175°C. The biscuits must unstick from the paper easily.

 

Making French chocolate macarons

Guillaume and Jeanne sticking the biscuits together with the chocolate ganache (Photo©: France Just For You)

 

HOW TO MAKE MACARON GANACHE:

  1. Melt the chocolate, butter and crème on a low heat.

     
  2. Let it cool in the fridge until it’s hard.

     
  3. When the biscuits are cool, stick two of them together with some ganache cream in the middle.

     

 Et voilà! You should be left with 20-25 perfectly delicious chocolate French macarons! 

Keep the macarons in a cool, dry place and you can quick-freeze them… if you don't eat them all in one go!

TIP: you will know that the macaron biscuit is well-cooked and that you made a nice paste when you see the ring forming around the edge of the biscuit while they cook. This is called the “collerette” in French. If you're buying macarons, make sure that they have the collarette. This is how you know that they won’t stick to your teeth and that they've been cooked well. But don't worry if you don't get it right the first time; this is the most difficult part of making macarons!

 

Jeanne and Pauline enjoying French chocolate macarons

Jeanne and Pauline enjoying their homemade French macarons! (Photo©: France Just For You)

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

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Jim
If you want to experience France, but are hesitant because you don’t speak the language, this company is for you. Emilie will prepare an itinerary that is so detailed that even the most inexperienced, non-French speaking traveler will be able to navigate France. Her attention to detail is so incredible that almost everything sitiuation you …
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Thank you, Emilie! This was just the trip that we had envisioned. The B&B's that you booked for us were perfect. The excursions were fabulous. The amazingly detailed books that you prepared for us were our guides and will forever remind us of our trip. You listened to what we wanted and arranged a trip just for us. I cannot imagine how this trip …
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There are not enough superlatives, or kind words, to describe the level of service Emilie, with France Just for You, provided us from the moment we contacted her, throughout our trip, and even her thoughtful emails upon our return. We contacted Emilie with a list of all the places we wished to go, the things we hoped to do, and our budget. We …
Kate
Dealing with Emilie is like having a personal concierge. The 10 day trip was perfect. She allowed time to relax and we were able to experience France like locals. This is our 8 th trip to France but after this tour, it will not be our last. Thank you Emilie!
Margaret & Rob
We would like to add our names to everyone else here who have had a truly excellent experience when using Emilie's, France Just For You company. We drove 2800 km on a recent holiday, and it was all arranged by Emilie. Everything she organized was perfect. We stayed in B and Bs and although we know a little French, all of our hosts spoke fluent …
Ed
This is the third year in a row that we have traveled to France, as part of a two country vacation. Because of our positive experiences with Emilie's help in the past, and our desire to be relatively independent, we chose to have her craft our French trip again this year. In a word, she is incredible! We have such a high level of confidence in her …