Chocolate Macaroons with White Chocolate Ganache

After last week's relatively successful Salted Caramel Macaroons, I decided to try making my all time favourites - chocolate macaroons.

I simply substituted 40 g of icing sugar for cocoa powder. However, I forgot that cocoa powder is less soluble in hydrophillic solutions than sugar - the result of which was that my mixture was WAY too thick and therefore couldn't rise as much as the last batch. (Next time, I'd up the egg whites by 10 g or decrease the almond meal by 20 g).

They had the right crunchy shell and chewy centre - so it's not all bad. Kinda like a soft, chewy oreo when the ganache is set.

Chocolate Macaroons

For the macaroons:

3 'aged' egg whites from 59 g eggs (90 g eggwhites - to age - leave them loosely covered overnight)
2 Tbsp caster sugar
160 g icing sugar
40 g cocoa powder
110 g almond meal

For the filling:
60 g white chocolate
10 g unsalted butter

1. Whisk egg whites until frothy and fluffy - allow it to form soft peaks.
   
2. Gradually add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar until you have a glossy meringue, whisking all the while. Don’t overbeat.
3. Sift almond meal, cocoa powder and icing sugar in a large bowl.
4. Add your whipped egg whites and fold. You don’t have to fold too gently, but you don’t want to over fold either.
5. Pipe the mixture onto greased baking paper. Make sure you space them well, or they will expand and stick together when they bake. Wet your finger and pat them into shape - they'll start to look like they should!
   
6. Allow to sit for 1 hour. This will stop them from cracking when they bake.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 150 C.
8. Once cooked, allow to cool on a wire rack.
9. For the filling, heat the chocolate and butter in a double boiler and stir until melted and combined.
10. Sandwich the filling between the macaroons.