Friday 5 October 2012

Choc-Malt Macarons



I LOVE Maltesers.  The chocolate, the malt, the crunch...yum!  So what could be better than combining my two loves to make Choc-Malt Macarons?



I wanted these macarons to give the same experience as eating a Malteser - smooth melty milk chocolate, followed by the crunch of the malt, but I didn't want to cheat by using actual Maltesers.  I read online that you can make your own malted milk balls by combining malt power with white chocolate, rolling it into balls, freezing them, then dip them into melted chocolate.  I used this technique to make malt discs large enough to cover the surface of the macaron shell.  Ganache is generally made with dark chocolate, but again I wanted to preserve the taste of Maltesers, so I used milk chocolate instead.  Click here for the basic macaron shell recipe.

Crunchy Malted Milk Filling

125g white chocolate
4tbs malt powder

Melt the chocolate over a double-boiler or in the microwave.  Mix in malt powder.  Once the mixture is combined, take a handful and press onto a flat surface until it is about 5mm thick (you could probably use a rolling pin but I just used my fingers).  Using a 3cm cookie cutter (or anything else round) cut out circles of the mixture.  Place the circles onto a tray lined with baking paper and freeze for a few hours.  I also sprinkled some of the crumbled mixture all over the baking paper before freezing, as I wanted to try two different techniques for including the malt into the macaron.

Milk Chocolate Ganache

100mL cream
250g milk chocolate chips

Place the cream in a medium saucepan over low heat.  Just as bubbles begin to appear, pour the hot cream over the choc chips and stir until melted.  Refrigerate until set.


Once the discs and crumbles are hard, pipe chocolate ganache onto one macaron shell, place the malt disc (or crumbles) over the chocolate, then pipe a small amount of extra chocolate ganach before sandwiching another shell on top.  I chose to dust cocoa on top for decoration.


The "disc" macarons really do give that sensation of biting into a Malteser.  First you gently bite into the soft macaron shell, then you taste the smooth, rich chocolate, then you crunch into crisp malt in the middle.  Admittedly, it's not quite the same level of "crunchiness" that Maltesers have (I think Maltesers go though some sort of vacuum process to get the bubbly crispiness) but it's still exciting to experience that many textures in such a tiny morsel.  Having said that, I actually think the "crumble" macarons look a whole lot more special.  They look like they're going to be fun to eat.  They look like they should be served at a party or somewhere exciting.  But they don't have that same contrast in texture as the "disc" macarons.  I guess you have to decide what you want more - textures or prettiness.  Or you can be like me and make both.

Anyhoo, I hereby dub Choc-Malt Macarons a roaring success.  They have also received the seal of approval from Brendan, who thinks they may even taste better than his all-time favourite Peanut-Butter Choc Macarons.  Who needs Maltesers when you can make your own in macaron form?



No comments:

Post a Comment