S'mores Macarons with Chocolate Ganache and Marshmallow Cream

Please let the deliciousness of these cookies let you forget about my horribly chipped nail! haha

Look at that center.... YUM!

Yummm

My macaron baking desires has been sparked once more and this time I was inspired by Bakery Lorraine's s'mores macarons. Again, this method uses the french meringue, which might come out with a slightly different look than the italian method which most bakeries use. I just find it too darn hard to do the italian method because I don't have much patience to make syrup, nor do I have a cooking thermometer or scale that measures in grams -- that and I've become quite comfortable with french meringue.

I found this batch of macarons to be so delicious, with the bitterness balancing out the sweetness of the shells!



When they came out of the oven I mean there was this aroma of graham crackers (needless to say that was one of the ingredients) that filled the kitchen. It was amazing to say the least.

Ingredients for Graham Cracker Macaron Shells

2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cups + 1 teaspoon of almond meal (I decided to go fancy this time and actually bought almond meal that I found in the healthy nuts aisle in my local grocery store)
1/3 + 2 tablespoons of graham crackers (roughly a little bit less than 3 sheets of graham crackers)
3 aged egg whites at room temp
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 tablespoons of sugar

Instructions:
1. Set aside aged egg whites in a metal bowl, cover with plastic.
2. Sift and mix dry ingredients (listed in blue) together until homogenous in mixture in a glass bowl, sift twice for extra fine-ness! :) Set aside.

3.  Add cream of tartar to eggs and with your egg beater, beat at low speed until eggs are foamy (like in bubble baths!)
4. Add 1 tbls of sugar, then mix in medium for 30 seconds.
5. Add another tbls of sugar, and beat for another 30 seconds (repeat 2 more times).
6. Beat the eggs in high for 1 more minute or until eggs produce stiff peaks and glossy looking. You can add coloring at this point as well -- I personally just added a teeny tiny bit of brown gel coloring to accentuate the graham crackers.

What stiff peaks!

7. This is the MOST IMPORTANT step. The macronnage... mix the dry and wet ingredients together with the fold and sweep technique. You want to get a homogenous mixture BEFORE 50 folds. I find that my biggest mistake with macarons is always over mixing. Do not over mix. The macarons should be in a consistency that is still thick, but can take a rounded shape in 30 seconds or less.
8. Pipe into trays with parchment or silpat. (I get these ready before I start cooking). And hit the tray against your counter top to get rid of the air pockets (this also helps to produce the macaron feet.

9. Heat oven to 325 degrees, and let macarons just set there for about 30 minutes.
10. Place macarons in oven for 15-18 minutes. Take out and cool completely!

Ingredients for Bitter Chocolate Ganache

1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 a bag of Ghirardelli chocolate semi-sweet chips
2 teaspoons of unsweetened chocolate powder

Instructions:
1. Heat the heavy cream in microwave for 2 minutes
2. Mix in the hot heavy cream with the chocolate chips and coco powder. Play around with your chocolate chip to cream ratio until you get a good thick consistency that still moves somewhat, but will not move after being in the fridge for 30 minutes. Remember that when you pipe it out it should move like a typical cream icing.
3. Place in the fridge to cool.

Ingredients for Marshmallow Cream (well technically I didn't have to make one, just bought the store kind!)

1/3 cup of marshmallow cream

Putting it all together:
1. After you peel off the shells from the parchment or silpat paper, match macaron shell sizes.
2. Pipe on one shell pair the chocolate ganache, and the other the marshmallow cream.
3. Put together like a sandwich an viola!!!!