Heart-shaped Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

For the chocolate ganache heat the heavy cream until it starts boiling.

Meanwhile cut the chocolate in pieces. Once heavy cream is hot, pour over chocolate and stir until you get a nice brown cream. Chill until ready for use.

For the macarons if you forgot to take out the eggs on time, leave them in warm water for a few minutes, then separate them. Choose a metal or glas bowl for the egg whites and make sure it is clean and free of any grease.

Put the almonds and icing sugar in a food processor and process for a minute.

Sift into a bowl. Don't skip this step. If you have larger almond chunks, put them back into the food processor, process and sieve again.

Weigh the regular sugar and put aside.

Now start beating the egg whites with a mixer on low for two minutes. Add the salt once they look foamy. Switch to medium speed for three minutes. Once you have soft peaks, add food coloring and the sugar. Change to high speed for another three minutes. Your meringue should look glossy and form very stiff peaks.

Add the almond/sugar mix to the meringue all at once and start folding with a spatula delicately.

Most important part, the creation of the batter (macronage) This is really important, read carefully! If you undermix the batter, you will not have proper macarons at the end, but this holds also true if you overmix. Finding the right constistency is key for the macarons to turn out beautifully. The first important thing to keep in mind is to only fold the whole mix. First it will look like the almonds and the meringue don't like each other. This is normal. Simply continue folding slowly. Continue doing so until the batter starts moving back slowly if you take out the spatula. Your final batter should have the constistency of honey. It is liquid, yes, but it will move very slowly. If you have pancake batter, you went too far. The best vido for knowing the right constistency is this one in my opinion.

Once you are happy with your macronage, prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper and pipe heart shapes of about 3-4 centimeters onto each. You should be able to fill both baking sheets with macarons.

Once you are done, rap and bang the baking sheets to get out any air bubbles. If the macronage has the right consistency, for example any "swirls" will move back into place.

Let the macarons sits between 15-20 minutes. This will help them dry and also help to create a shell so they rise properly. If you happen to live in a humid place (I have had problems here in Hamburg), turn on your oven to 120 degrees Celsius, turn off the oven and place both baking sheets in the turned off oven instead. If you touch the macarons with your dry finger, they should feel dry. Take out both baking sheets.

Preheat oven to 145 degrees Celsius meanwhile.

Place first baking sheet in the middle and bake between 15-17 minutes. Repeat with the second batch.

Let cool completely before filling.

Take out the cool chocolate ganache and beat with mixer for a few minutes. You should get pipleable cream. Pipe on one shell and place second matching shell on top.