Hot chocolate macarons

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great time celebrating and eating a lot of desserts. To start the year off right I want to share with you this recipe for hot chocolate macarons that I made for a Christmas party.
I have made a lot of macarons in the past and I must say that these are one of my favorites.
These macarons are perfect for cold winter days. The taste of  the filling is just like a cup of spiced hot chocolate. The spices give the macarons a special flavor but do not overpower the taste of the chocolate.

Because I love adding marshmallows to my hot chocolate I also added them to my macarons. The toasted flavor of marshmallows gives the macarons a new depth of flavor and brings some needed sweetness.

The filling is easy to make and can be made a day or two in advance. It is a basic chocolate ganache but with the addition of toasted spices. If you make the filling in advance, store it in the fridge. When the macarons are ready to be filled make sure that you take the filling from the fridge early enough, so that it softens and can be piped on the macarons.

Hot chocolate macarons
(Makes about 40)

Time:
Preparation: 40min
Resting: 30min
Baking: 15-18min
Cooling: 20min

For the shells:

• 95g room temperature egg whites
• 125g granulated white sugar
• 40g water
• 135g almond flour or finely ground almonds
• 135g icing sugar
• brown food coloring (optional)
• gold food coloring (optional)

For the filling:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 150ml heavy cream
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 10 whole cloves
• star anise
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso
• 15 marshmallows (I used vanilla flavored)

Making the filling:

Chop the chocolate in small pieces and put it in a heatproof bowl, set aside. Toast the spices (cinnamon, cloves and star anise) in a small pan until you can smell the aroma. Pour over the heavy cream, add the vanilla extract and espresso powder then bring to the boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate using a strainer to get rid of the spices. Set aside for 2 minutes, then stir until all the chocolate is incorporated. Add the nutmeg and salt and stir. Put in the fridge to set.

Put the marshmallows on a baking tray and, using a blow torch, toast the marshmallows until nicely brown and soft.

Put the chocolate filling in a mixing bowl of your electric or hand mixer and whip until light and fluffy (be careful not to whip to much or the ganache will split). Add the toasted marshmallows and whip just until incorporated. Put the filling in a piping bag and set aside.

  

Making the shells:

The preparation for the shells is the same as in the Basic macarons recipe. For these shells I used a few drops of brown food coloring. Add the food coloring when you are making the sugar syrup for the Italian meringue.
I used some gold food coloring to draw the stripes over the shells when they cooled down. Lightly dip the tip of the brush in water and then in the gold food coloring. Draw the lines on the macaron shells. 

Assembly:

Pair the same sized shells together. Pipe the hot chocolate filling on the flat side of half the macaron shells, then top with the remaining shells. 

Put the macarons in the fridge to set. Let the macarons rest in the fridge for 24 hours to ensure the best texture of the macarons. When you are ready to serve them, take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving.