Good Friends and Chocolate–Life is Good!

I know, I know, I said no more posts on Macarons for a while, but really who can stay away from these little sweets!  I had a good reason to make macarons again since I had a couple of friends that came over to learn how to make macarons.  And the second reason, well that is purely selfishness, but more on that later.

I am a few weeks behind with my blogging, but nonetheless, here I am posting on a recent macaron making day with some good friends.  A friend had asked me to make some coconut passion fruit macarons for her friend from Hawaii that now lives in the Bay Area like myself.  Knowing too well the longing for flavors back home and how this comforts me, I certainly was happy to help out a fellow “local” and spend the day with friends baking.  Because I really can’t quit my “day job” to pursue my baking passion, I can at least put into practice what I do during the day–Learning/Training.  I probably have held every possible job known to Learning/Training and Development–program manager, consultant, facilitator, instructional designer, and now currently in the business/administration side of training.  So I typed up a pretty set of instructions, ensured that I had every ingredient on hand before the “training”, and of course aged some egg whites!  I think my “training” went well since both friends made great looking macarons with FEET!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the end results, but I am not too disappointed since I was busy have a grand time with friends!  However, “R” did take some pics and I am glad we have a few to share for this post.  Thanks “R” and “B” for spending the day with the ailovebaking family!

Now on to my shameful, selfish, self-indulgent macaron.  I have been dying to try to make a chocolate shell macaron.  The chocolate shell macaron was the one that I made during my macaron class.  However, the Chef did caution that the chocolate one was a little more difficult to make on your own, and not to attempt it until the basic recipe was mastered.  Who doesn’t like a good challenge right?!  Well, I finally made a chocolate macaron shell with banana ganche filling.  It turned out wonderful!  I rarely praise what I make, really I am the opposite when it comes to my end result, but this one I was extremely happy about!  The shells came out great and the banana ganache was yummers.  Adding to my pleasant surprise was that I made these shells a bit larger than usual, since my hubby has been bugging me to make bigger macarons.

To make the chocolate macaron shells, follow the basic recipe on my previous post, but adjust with the following:

• Substitute 5 grams of cocoa powder (use a good quality cocoa powder)
• Use 45 grams of almond flour
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Lower the oven to 325 degrees when putting the chocolate macarons in the oven
• If you are making larger macarons like I did (almost 2 inches in diameter), you will have to bake the shells an extra 2-5 minutes longer

For the banana ganache, follow the POG ganache recipe found on my previous post, but substitute 12 grams of mashed bananas instead of the POG juice.  I also had some left over salted caramel which I spread on the shells before I piped the banana ganache.  Talk about heaven!