Mini Chocolate Macarons

Making macarons must have been one of my most challenging bakes. I can't recall when I started liking macarons but these little colourful domes sandwiched with creamy fillings are just so adorable! Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, these delectable treats are incredibly hard to make to perfection.

The ingredients are simple - egg whites, almond meal and sugar. The steps are minimal - whisk whites till stiff and shiny, fold in almond meal and sugar, pipe and bake. But virtually any step in the whole process could go wrong. I've baked macarons that had empty shells, were feetless, cracked on the surface, had batter that oozed out from the shells, were overdone till hard as rocks ... and many more misadventures.

Anyway, my last weekend was all about macarons. After a disastrous batch of macarons on Saturday, I was determined to try again on Sunday. This time round, my mini chocolate macarons turned out to be rather successful, which boosted my morale a bit. I made them tiny, about 2 cm each in diameter so they were pretty cute.

My ingredients are:

• Almond meal: 70g
• Pure icing sugar: 160g
• Egg whites: 2 medium eggs
• Caster sugar: 30g
• Cocoa powder: 20g

Steps:

• Sift almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa powder.
• Whisk egg whites till foamy, add caster sugar and continue whisking till stiff peaks and shiny.
• Fold in the powder in 3 batches.
• Pipe into circle shapes on baking sheet.
• Let it rest for about half an hour till the surface of the batter is dry.
• Pre heat oven at 200 deg.
• Bake at 200 deg for 2 minutes (the feet should start appearing). Lower temperature to 150 deg and continue baking for about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat further to 130 deg and continue baking for about 2 minutes.

Tip: Sometimes, it is hard to remove macarons from the baking sheet even after they are completely cooled. To remove them easily, place the baking sheet with hot macarons on a surface sprayed with water as soon as they are out of the oven.