Chocolate-hazelnut macarons

In the interest of full disclosure, I actually made these chocolate-hazelnut macarons a few months ago, before our Spring vacation in Paris and before I tackled the chocolate ones for the third time.  I just wanted to finish the saga behind the making of those chocolate macarons before talking about variations of it.  But a few months ago, after I had successfully made hazelnut macarons (which I love), I thought it'd be fun to combine the two and make chocolate-hazelnut ones. 

I had a delicious chocolate-hazelnut macaron at Bouchon Bakery in The Time Warner Center in NYC several months ago.  They have some seriously delicious food and baked goods there.  The chocolate-hazelnut macarons were screaming my name (or I was screaming for it) and it sure did not disappoint.

At the time, Bouchon Bakery only sold the rather large macarons, which I had no problems with.  In fact, we thought one of those was just the right portion as a satisfying snack.  The thing that struck me about their macarons was, not only were they delicious, they were so "perfect".  As in they looked perfect - perfectly smooth and uniform, each one looking like an exact replicate of the other, like compacts lined up behind the glass at a cosmetics counter.  Thinking back, it was around Christmastime when we visited (time sure flies) and they had a candy cane flavor macaron.  Of course, the little guy wanted one of those and wouldn't you know they even managed to make that tasty!  Kudos to them.

These chocolate-hazelnut macarons are literally a combination of the chocolate and  hazelnut versions - two flavors that are pretty tied as my favorite.  I use cocoa powder and a mix of hazelnuts and almonds in the batter.  For the filling, I made gianduja (chocolate-hazelnut) ganache again.  As my husband noted, the overall taste is reminiscent of a Ferrero Rocher (which I love), particularly when you eat one that has some crunchy hazelnuts sprinkled on top.  I love it!

Hazelnut macarons with gianduja ganache

I think I'm starting to get comfortable with the rhythm of making macarons so I'm systematically tackling a list of my favorite flavors.  Today, it's hazelnut macarons, which I've paired with a gianduja ganache. 

I'm laughing at myself as I type "gianduja ganache" because it sounds like a lame attempt to sound more sophisticated than I am.  Truth be told, I'm probably not even pronouncing "gianduja" correctly (but I love to say it for fun) and I only learned the term a year or two ago.  La Maison du Chocolat makes these amazing almonds coated with a gianduja paste that I love.  Anyway, what I do know is I've always loved the combination of hazelnut and chocolate so whatever you call it, for me, it's simply delicious.  The filling is basically chocolate ganache that I've mixed with some hazelnut paste (leftover from the hazelnut cake I made recently) so I guess we could just call it a chocolate-hazelnut ganache filling.

I'm happy (and relieved) to report this was my second successful batch of macarons.  I would love to figure out how to get my macaron shells a bit denser, less hallow, in the center, but I'm not complaining.  I'm learning a little something and becoming more comfortable with the process each time.  As I get older, I realize things can't and don't need to be perfect, and it's futile to try to impress other people.  That attitude makes life a lot more relaxing.  Afterall, it's about enjoyment and things don't need to be perfect to be enjoyed thoroughly.

I had a lot of fun making and eating these hazelnut macarons.  Hazelnut macarons are sometimes labeled as praline flavor at the bakeries.  Instead of using all almonds in the batter, you substitute half with toasted hazelnuts.  If you're like me, you might wonder why half and not all.  I've seen recipes doing either but I decided to stick with Helene's (from her beautiful blog, Tartelette) advice.  She explained to me that nuts other than almonds have a higher fat content, which is less conducive to making macarons.  Hence, the inclusion of the almonds is a good thing even when you're making other flavors.  I asked her about this on her blog and she answered - how cool is that!

Just for fun, I sprinkled some toasted chopped hazelnuts on top of a few of the macarons.  It's nice to look at them and be able to tell what you're about to bite into.  I was concerned that the hazelnut flavor would not be strong enough using the equal mix of almonds and hazelnuts but the toasted hazelnut flavor was quite prominent.

And I know it's still winter (even though it's been a relatively mild one here) but I thought I'd played around a little more.  If you've visited macaron shops like Ladurée in the summer, you might have seen they sell ice cream with a macaron shell on top.  So I made my own imitation of that. 

Then I thought to myself, why not make an ice-cream sandwich out of it?  And so I did!  Our resident macaron connoisseur (you know, the six-year old) devoured it.  It actually holds up pretty well in the freezer (though I only stored it there a few hours).  Just take it out of the freezer and let it sit out at room temperature for a little bit before eating.  Let me just say that macarons do indeed go very well with ice cream.  It helps that the shells freeze quite well.

Other macaron experiments to be continued...