Linda Collister's Mocha Macaroons
Lately, I gotten tired of making drop cookies. Not of eating them – that’s the best part! – but of making them. It’s the same old cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then mix in the dry ingredients recipe, and it can get pretty dull if you make them for once a week for several months.
So when Kenny said he was in the mood for macaroons last week, I couldn’t wait to make them.
Macaroons can be Italian merinque cookies like amaretti or the fancy and colorful French sandwich cookies filled with ganache or jam, according to The Nibble. Their common ingredient is almonds, though the nut may take the form of ground almonds, almond paste, or almond liquor. Although they originated in Italy, France is the country that has an Almond and Macaroon Museum – Musee de l’Amande et du Macaron – in Montmorillon. Spain makes its own version with hazelnuts; India uses cashews.
I used a ground almond recipe that required some different baking tasks. I would get to melt chocolate over a double broiler and grind almonds in a food processor! I would need to beat egg whites until stiff peaks formed! And then delicately fold in ingredients by hand instead of mixing them on medium speed with my stand mixer! All fun stuff, hence the exclamation points.
Which means that these are the cookies to make when you want to feel a little more like a baker.
And here’s an added bonus for my kin out there who think cookie batter is just as good as a baked cookie – the stiffed-peaked eggs mixed with sugar taste like marshmallow so make sure to take a taste.
Mocha Macaroons
From Linda Collister’s Book of Baking
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 egg whites
1 cup superfine or granulated sugar
1 ½ cups ground almonds
1 tablespoon strong brewed espresso coffee
Sliced, split, or slivered almonds to decorate (I skipped this part)
Put the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of steaming, not boiling, water, and melt gently. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Cool slightly.
Chocolate that has been melted in a mock double broiler: a mixing bowl placed over steaming water on the stove
Put the egg whites in a separate bowl and beat using an egg beater or an electric beater until they form stiff peaks (when stiff, the egg whites on the beater will poke straight up).
The beaten egg whites wil stand upright on the mixer when they reach the stiff peaks stage.
Gradually beat in the sugar, then fold in the almonds, coffee, and melted chocolate.
When well mixed, put heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the prepared baking trays allowing room for them to spread. Smooth into circles about 3 inches across, then sprinkle with almonds.
Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the macaroons are firm.
Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, then lift them off the greased tray (or baking parchment). Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container and eat within 1 week. (I think the quality of these cookies goes downhill after the first day. Eat them quickly to get the best balance of crunchy outside to soft inside.) The macaroons do not freeze well.
