Today we're doing a gold chocolate covered macaron recipe, with a homemade Azélia chocolate ganache.

We used two types of Valrhona chocolate, which are the most tasty chocolates we've seen for a while.

The recipe is for about 80 macarons. Let's start!

Steps to make macarons

1. Ingredients and tools
2. Almond flour and powdered sugar
3. Italian meringue
4. Macaronage
5. Piping macarons
6. Baking time
7. Valrhona chocolate filling recipe
8. Chocolate covered shells
9. Adding gold decoration
10. Piping chocolate filling

• What you need

• Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for 80 Valhrona chocolate macarons: 

• Tools

• Almond flour & powdered sugar

Mix almond flour and powdered sugar, until you get a homogeneous color. Once done, leave it on the side for now.

• Italian meringue

Best macarons are made with Italian meringue (check our meringue comparison post for more informations).

Add 3oz (80g) of water to the pan, then add 7oz (200g) of sugar. Warm up until it reaches precisely 117°C (243°F). It is called a "syrup".

In parallel, add 4oz (110g) of egg white to a stand mixer bowl, and start mixing at full speed.

Pour hot syrup into mixer bowl, while it is still mixing full speed for 5 minutes. If your mixer head is pointy like this, your Italian meringue is successful.

• Macaronage

Add Italian meringue to the initial mix of almond flour and powdered sugar.

Start mixing vigorously until you can draw the number "8" with your spatula. If you can see that eight figure, you have the right texture.

Stop mixing. Do not over-mix, or the recipe will be ruined. This mixing technique is called "macaronage".

When ready, add metal tip at the bottom of the piping bag, then pour batter.

• Piping macarons

Start pressing the bag by the top hand. The bottom hand guides. This is the proper way to release just enough macaron batter with precision.

These mats are great to use, because the first ring guides you on when to stop piping. The second ring will stop the batter from spreading, to make sure all macaron shells are round and similarly sized.

Tap your pan sheet a few times to release air bubbles, then let it rest for 30 minutes.

• Baking time

Wait for about 30 minutes before baking. Make sure the shells are dry on top.

Bake the macaron shells at 15 minutes and 150°C (300°F). If you're in a humid area, such as near a lake or sea, briefly open your oven at 5 minutes, and 10 minutes.

This will allow the evaporating water to escape the oven, preventing the shells to crack on top.

Once done, let your pan sheets cool down. Do not try to retrieve the shells too early from the silicone mat. Wait for it to be cold to the touch, then remove the shells.

• Valrhona chocolate filling recipe

Add 11oz (300g) of Valrhona Azélia chocolate and 3.5oz (100g)  in a glass container.

Add water to the pan, and start boiling it. Place the glass container over the pan, and mix with spatula until chocolate and cream have melted down. This is called a "bain-marie".

Once melted, put the mix in the refrigerator. Once cold, place the mix in the mixer bowl and start mixing. Pour delicately the rest of the whipping cream, 2oz (50g). Then pour the filling in the piping bag.

You should get a smooth ganache texture. Let it cool down for a while.

• Chocolate covering

Melt 11oz (300g) of Valrhona Caramélia chocolate using the same bain-marie technique.

Remove the cold shells from the silicone mat, and place them on a parchment paper, on top of the pan sheet. This will prevent chocolate from sticking to your metal sheet.

If you have a wire rack, even better. That's what we used here. It's great because the extra chocolate will fell underneath it.

Pour melted chocolate on shells. Wait 30 minutes for the chocolate to cool down. The shells should now easily peel off the parchment paper.

• Adding gold decoration

When the chocolate covered shells are cold, add gold leaf to it.

Adding gold leafs maybe touchy. We used a brush for more details and art effect. Delicately press your brush on the gold leaf paper, then transfer it to the macaron shells per your liking.

• Piping filling between shells

Add chocolate filling to the piping bag, using the same method as before. Insert piping tip, then pour chocolate filling in the bag.

Lastly, pipe Valrhona chocolate filling and "sandwich" the two shells together. Voilà your macarons are done.

But they're not ready to serve yet! I wrote a post about what macarons taste like, but to put it in a nutshell, the filling needs time to spread in the dry shells, to create that perfect texture balance.

If you have any question, feel free to ask in the comment section below. Thanks again to Valrhona for proving such amazing chocolate sample for that recipe.