Difficulty: Medium
Makes 12
You thought your macaron days were over, right? WRONG! Call in sick to work, cancel your lunch date and turn your phone off. It is mandatory that you drop everything right now and make some of these bitchin’ choc mint macarons. Thanks to the magic of the humble chickpea, you add these little French treats to your all-vegan baking repertoire. BRB eating them all.
Ingredients
Macarons
- 1 cup almond meal (use the one without brown flecks)
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1/3 cup liquid from canned chickpeas
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon peppermint essence
- 2-3 drops green food colouring
Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 300 grams vegan dark chocolate
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
Method
- In a medium bowl, sift together the almond meal and icing sugar. Set aside.
- Whisk the chickpea juice on high speed with an electric mixer. As it starts to thicken, slowly sprinkle in the xanthan gum.
- Once soft peaks start to form, add the caster sugar one teaspoon at a time.
- Add the peppermint essence and food colouring once hard peaks have formed and continue to mix for another minute or so.
- Gradually and gently mix the almond meal mixture into the meringue until well combined.
- Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe into circles (about 4cm in diameter) on macaron trays or baking trays lined with baking paper. If you want to be super finicky (like me), you can use a clean pair of scissors to cut the little peaks off the top so the macarons will sit flat once filled.
- Allow to sit for half an hour while you preheat the oven to 140°C.
- Firmly tap your trays on the bench to remove air bubbles before placing in the oven.
- After 15 minutes, check on the macarons and allow some steam to come out of the oven. Place back in for another 15 minutes or until the outside of the macarons are firm.
- Remove and allow to cool completely.
- To make the filling, melt the chocolate and coconut cream together in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Once melted, transfer to a container and pop into the fridge until soft but firm (it cannot be runny).
- Fill a piping bag and squeeze about a tablespoon of ganache onto the flat side of one of the macarons.
- Gently press the flat side of another macaron to sandwich the ganache. Press until the ganache is just about to the edge.
- Serve the same day.
