Valentine Heart Macarons

I have been wanting to make French Macarons for awhile now and with Valentine's Day just a few weeks away, I thought I would make them pink and hearts!  I filled mine with creamy chocolate ganache!  Yum!  

I know macarons can be a bit intimidating but these are very easy!  I did have a few that were not so pretty, but I just used them for the bottom cookie.  No one will ever know.  Except now you all know.  

Oh well!  Food is not going to be perfect!  Unless it comes from a machine, chances are that they will not all be identical!  Now on to the recipe!

French Macarons:

Makes 24 

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Powdered Almonds (you can find these in most grocery stores or here online) 
• 4 oz. Powdered Sugar
• 2 oz. Egg whites
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• pink food coloring

Ganache

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 5 oz. milk or dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine powdered almonds and powdered sugar in bowl and set aside.
3. Whip egg whites to soft peaks.  Add sugar, salt and vanilla to glossy, stiff peaks.
4. Right before you are done beating the egg whites, add the food coloring to achieve your desired color.
5. Fold in dry ingredients a third at a time.  Do not overmix!
6. Gently put mixture into piping bag.
7. Pipe approximately 2 inch hearts onto silpat lined baking sheet.  They can be pretty close together, as they will not spread very much but make sure they are not touching.  I did 4 rows of 6.  I got 2 sheet pans out of this recipe.
8. Lightly dust with powdered sugar and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
9. Bake for approximately 12 minutes until they are dry and no longer look wet.  
10. Let cool completely on pan.
11. To make the Ganache: heat cream in a small pot just until it starts to steam.
12. Pour over chopped chocolate in a small bowl.  
13. Let stand for 5 minutes to let the hot cream slowly melt the chocolate.
14. Stir the mixture together and until thick and smooth.  If there are any little pieces of chocolate that have not melted, you can microwave it for 15 seconds until everything is melted.
15. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for 20 minutes to cool.
16. While you are waiting, take macarons off the baking sheet and match all the cookies up with another cookie.  That way you will make a little sandwich with the ganache.  Dust off any excess powdered sugar.
17. Once ganache is cooled, put into piping bag.
18. Pipe a quarter sized amount of ganache onto the inside of one cookie, and place the other cookie on top to make a sandwich.  *The ganache should not be running out the sides.  If it is, you either put too much or it has not cooled enough.  
19. Enjoy!

macarons before they go into the oven

matching the macarons up with a "partner"

chopped chocolate in a bowl ready for the hot cream

pouring the hot cream over the chocolate

all ready to start piping

amount of ganache for the middle of the macaron

lots of little macarons

Mmm!  Can't wait to try one :-)

Extra special heart shaped pink Macarons for Valentine's Day!

What is YOUR favorite filling for a macaron?!  

Hope you all enjoy this recipe!