Chocolate Spiced Macarons
Hey everyone, happy Sunday from Orlando! So I may have procrastinated a bit while writing up the piece to accompany this recipe, but I’m kinda glad I did! I’m currently in Orlando at Rosen Shingle Creek for the Food Wine Conference, and I’ve had so much fun so far. In case I haven’t said it enough already, there’s so many amazing and inspirational people at this conference. Its the recharger to my rechargable batteries. I come and plug myself in, immerse myself in the weekend, and I always leave feeling refreshed and full of inspiration. (But more on that in a post coming up later this week!) This week’s Sunday Supper is a little different than normal, all of us are celebrating Spanish Tapas and will be live from Tapa Toro restaurant as we tweet! My first experience with tapas was in Old Town Alexandria, and it was such a fun take on the family table dinner. Everyone shares dishes and takes a little bit of everything throughout the night, and tapas can be such a great enabler for conversation and interaction between everyone at the dinner table!
The recipe I’m bringing is kind of a meld of Spanish flavors and French cuisine. I wanted to come up with a dish that would be a fun finger food where multiple could easily fit on a single serving platter. I decided to go with the French Macaron (think meringue with almonds mixed throughout), and I wanted to feature some flavors that made me think of Spanish cuisine. I added some cinnamon into the chocolate batter, and just a little bit of hot pepper for a bit of a kick!
Ingredients
3 egg whites
1 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper powder
11/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup almond meal
Filling
8oz cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Whip the egg whites in a bowl using a mixer at medium speed until they become frothy. Add the sugar, cocoa, chipotle, and cinnamon, and whip at high speed until soft peaks form. Fold in the almond meal until well combined.
Lay out a silcone mat on a baking sheet, and transfer the cookie dough to a piping bag. Pipe into 2 inch wide disks, and let the cookies sit on the countertop for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350F, and bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool.
While the cookies cool, whip the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until it starts to have a lighter, whipped texture. With the mixer on medium, slowly add the cream and whip until light and fluffy. Transfer the filling to a piping bag.
Assemble the cookies like sandwiches, with the whipped filling added in between.
