Orange Macarons filled with Orange Marmalade and Dark Chocolate Ganache. Chocolate and orange is such a heavenly combo!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword macarons, orange
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 22macarons
Calories 115kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
100 grams egg whites 3.5 oz
100 grams granulated sugar3.5 oz
105 grams almond flour3.7 oz
105 grams powdered sugar 3.7 oz
Food coloring optionalI used orange
Orange Marmalade
1cuppeeled and chopped oranges1-2 oranges
3tablespoonswater44 ml
1/4cupgranulated sugar50 grams, 1.76 oz
1tablespoonorange zest
Dark Chocolate Ganache
4 ounces dark chocolate113 grams
1/3 cup heavy cream 78 ml
Instructions
Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicone mat, or parchment paper. I recommend using a silicone mat.
Measure out all of your ingredients.
Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
Transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise speed to high for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should form a bird’s beak shape, but shouldn’t be falling to the side, the peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top.
Pour sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
Add the food coloring at this point, if using.
It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
First, I pick up some batter with my spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out a bit, I start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
Test again.
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
Place piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
Let your trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
Pre-heat the oven to 300ºF.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Orange Marmalade
Place chopped oranges, water, sugar, and orange zest in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, and let the oranges cook in the syrup for about 40 minutes. Take care not to let the marmalade dry out and the oranges stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep the heat low, and regulate as necessary, adding a bit of orange juice if the marmalade gets too dry at any point.
Once the marmalade is very glossy, thick, sticky, turn the heat off. Let the marmalade cool down for about 5 minutes, then place it in a small blender, and pulse a few times until smooth.
Transfer it to a bowl and let it cool down completely in the fridge before using.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
Chop dark chocolate very finely. Place it in a bowl.
Heat heavy cream in a small pan over medium heat, or in the microwave. No matter what method you choose, be very careful not to boil the heavy cream.
Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a minute.
Start stirring with a spatula until completely melted.
Let it come to room temperature. Refrigerate for a bit before using, until it has piping consistency.
To achieve the piping consistency for the ganache, you will have to rely a lot on the temperature of the ganache.
If it has been in the fridge for a while, and it’s too thick and hard to pipe, insert it in the microwave for a few quick seconds, and stir it again. Test for consistency and keep going until you achieve the desired consistency.
To be pipeable, the ganache should be thick, but easy to spread.
If it happens that the ganache is too thin, you might want to put it in the fridge for a few minutes so it will harden up.
To assemble
Line a piping bag with a round tip, I used Wilton number 7. Fill it with the Chocolate Ganache.
Once the macarons have cooled down, simply pipe a ring around the edge of a bottom macaron, fill it up with about 1/4 teaspoon of Orange Marmalade. Top with another macaron cookie.
Macarons are best after they’ve matured in the fridge for a day, or at least a few hours.
Storage
Since these macarons have a marmalade filling, which is a very wet filling, they won’t keep as well in the fridge for so many days, and I don’t recommend freezing them. You might get away with freezing it, if your marmalade is very very thick.
I would recommend refrigerating these Orange Macarons for up to 4 days.
Notes
If you don't want to make your own marmalade, that's ok. You can use store-bought. You will need about 1/4 cup of marmalade.