These Toblerone Macarons have a delicious and delicate chocolate shell and are filled with the silkiest smooth Toblerone ganache. Drizzled with extra chocolate and Toblerone crumbs, they really are a bite-sized heaven!
Macarons have to be my all-time favourite pastry treat and these Toblerone Macarons are seriously next level deliciousness! Those rich chocolatey shells are perfectly chewy, while the Toblerone ganache makes for the best flavoured and super smooth chocolate filling.
I fell in love with macarons during my first trip to Paris, back in 2008 and have been obsessed with them ever since. And let me tell you, I’ve had plenty of trials and yes, even some tears! They can be an absolute nightmare to make if you don’t know the secrets….and I’m here to share all of mine with you. Plus I’ve included my video on how I make my Salted Caramel Macarons so you can’t go wrong! The hardest part about making my Toblerone Macarons is hiding the Toblerone from your kids (this is a real issue in my house!).
INGREDIENTS FOR TOBLERONE MACARONS
AGED/LIQUIFIED/CLARIFIED EGG WHITES: To age or liquify egg whites, weigh them in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and pierce a few holes in the plastic wrap, before placing in the fridge for a few days. This will make the egg whites lose their elasticity so they whip up nicely, without being grainy. Bring back to room temperature before making the macarons.
ALMOND MEAL/ALMOND FLOUR: This is just blanched almonds that have been ground to a fine flour. If you’re making your own tant pour tant, you will need to sift the almond meal and icing sugar together three times.
ICING SUGAR/POWDERED SUGAR: Is the other half of Tant Pour Tant
DUTCH PROCESSED COCOA: Is smoother in flavour and richer in colour than regular cocoa. For the chocolate macaron shells, Dutch cocoa is used in the “tant pour tant” along with almond meal and icing sugar.
SUGAR SYRUP: Is made with exact quantities of water and caster sugar, and is added to the beaten egg whites to make an Italian meringue.
CREAM OF TARTAR: I always put a good pinch of cream of tartar into my egg whites before whisking. It stops the egg whites from being grainy and helps to stabilize the meringue.
TOBLERONE GANACHE: Is just 3 ingredients -Toblerone, honey and cream. The honey enhances the Toblerone flavour and keeps the ganache lovely and shiny.
WATCH HOW I MADE SALTED CARAMEL MACARONS
[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/mFFShyTxuLg” title=”How to make Salted Caramel French Macarons”]
MY TIPS FOR PERFECTING TOBLERONE MACARONS (AND WHAT DOESN’T WORK FOR ME)
- BEATING EGG WHITES FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE
Don’t mix too fast or on a high speed. I always mix on medium, which will create even, small bubbles -no large air pockets.
I start beating my egg whites once the sugar syrup reaches 110ᴼ C and I do this next to my stove, so I can keep an eye on the temperature of the syrup. You want the egg whites to get to a soft peak by the time the syrup reaches 118ᴼ C
- SIFT THE TANT POUR TANT, THEN SIFT IT AGAIN. AND AGAIN!
If making your own tant pour tant, you will need to sift the almond meal and icing sugar together three times.
- ADDING SUGAR SYRUP TO BEATEN EGG WHITES
As soon as the syrup reaches 118ᴼ C, remove the thermometer and pour the syrup into the egg whites in a thin, steady stream, while continuing to beat the egg whites on low. Continue to beat on a medium speed until the meringue cools to 35ᴼ C
- MACARONAGE
The best way I find to mix the paste and Italian meringue, is to take a little of the meringue and add it to the paste, so as to loosen the thick paste. Once loose, add the rest of the meringue and fold through with either the rubber spatula or dough scraper, to create a supple and shiny batter. Do this by scraping and folding, while also turning the bowl as you go. It should be like a cake batter and not too thin, as it will not hold it’s shape during baking. But if it’s too thick, it will not be shiny and you’ll end up with little peaks on your shells. The batter should be smooth and flow gently, rather than spread quickly out of shape.
- FILLING THE PIPING BAG
Snip off the end of the piping bag and insert the piping tip. I find the easiest way to fill the bag is to twist the end with the nozzle and fold the nozzle back up (to seal the opening), then place the bag into a deep cup or jug (the sort you make smoothies in). Fold the ends of the bag back over the edge of the cup and start filling the bag. For me, this is much easier than trying to hold it in one hand and scoop batter with the other.
- PIPING THE SHELLS
If I haven’t done this for a while, I get a little nervous and usually end up with a wonky first shell!
Make sure the piping bag is twisted at the end, so no batter can escape, and that there are air bubbles inside the bag. Hold the bag upright, with the nozzle pointing directly down and squeeze gently with the hand holding the twisted end of the bag. Pipe to the inside of the marked circles on the silpat mat, release the pressure and give the bag and nozzle a little twist to stop the batter. I never pipe to the edge of the circle, as the batter will spread and inevitably join with the other shells. If you want larger macarons, maybe just fill every second circle.
- TAP IT
Once piped, give the trays a gentle but firm tap on the kitchen bench, to get rid of any large air pockets (you can pierce any leftovers with a toothpick). Warning: place a tea towel on the bench beforehand -I have more than one chip in my marble bench from doing this without a tea towel!!
- CROÛTAGE (DRYING)
Most macaron recipes will tell you to rest your shells for 30 minutes before baking. In my house, I only need 15 minutes, but I usually pipe all of my shells at once, which means some dry for 15 minutes, some dry for 45. Just as long as the unbaked shell is no longer sticky, you should be fine.
- DOUBLE TRAY
Always! This prevents burning the base of the shells.
- OVEN TEMPERATURES
I bake my macaron shells in a conventional oven, which means I only bake one tray at a time. I’m happy with this, though, as I feel I get a better result (in my oven, at least). I preheat my oven to 160ᴼC. After baking the shells at 160ᴼ for 5 minutes, I then reduce the temperature to 140ᴼ and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. This stops the shells from browning and is especially important for lighter coloured shells. Just remember to preheat the oven back to 160ᴼ for each batch.
- NO WOBBLE
I’ve seen some people suggest the macaron shells are ready when there’s still a slight movement when you wiggle them. This DOES NOT WORK for me! If I took my shells out when they still wobbled, I wouldn’t be able to get them off the mats! For my macaron shells, they’re ready when there’s no more wobble.
- REMOVE THE SILPAT MATS
As soon as you take the macaron shells out of the oven, slide the silpat mat off the baking sheet and onto the bench to cool. Once cooled, simply (and gently) peel each shell off the mat. I usually lift the mat, then peel it away from the macaron. Be gentle.
DID YOU KNOW
Toblerone Macarons (like all macarons) are best eaten a day or two after they are made. This gives them time for the flavours to develop and to create that delicious, chewy texture.
WHAT WENT WRONG
- SHELLS ARE LUMPY AND DULL
The almond meal wasn’t fine enough and/or you didn’t work the batter long enough.
- PEAKS ON THE MACARON SHELLS
Batter was too firm and not mixed long enough.
- NO FEET
The batter was overworked and broken, or the uncooked shells didn’t dry long enough.
- SHELLS ARE STICKING TO THE MAT
They haven’t cooked long enough. If the shells are cooked and you can’t get them off the mat, pop the tray into the freezer for a few minutes, then try again.
HOW TO STORE (AND EAT) TOBLERONE MACARONS
Most people can’t eat 56 macarons in one sitting, so it’s a good thing that macarons can be frozen! I always freeze my macarons. They can live in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months and just need to be taken out about 30 minutes before serving. For me this is perfect, as I always have fresh macarons on hand to have with a cup of tea!
NOTE: I make macarons as Christmas presents, as I can make them well ahead of time and freeze them. And seriously, who doesn’t love macarons?!
You can also store macarons in the fridge for up to 3 days.
If you make my Toblerone Macarons, please let me know by leaving a rating or review, or by sharing on Instagram.
You can also try using the ganache to fill my Filled Brownie Cookies….delicious!
Toblerone Macarons
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 125 g almond meal
- 150 g pure icing sugar
- 25 g Dutch cocoa
- 55 g aged egg whites (A) see post
- 55 g aged egg whites (B)
- pinch cream of tartar
- 150 g caster sugar
- 38 g water
Toblerone Ganache
- 400 g Toblerone chopped into small pieces
- 10 g Honey
- 200 g Thickened cream
Instructions
Toblerone Ganache
- Place the chopped Toblerone and honey into a heatproof bowl
- In a small saucepan, heat the cream until it almost reaches boiling point
- Pour the hot cream over the Toblerone and honey and let it sit for 1 minute
- Use a balloon whisk and mix until smooth and shiny. Place some glad wrap directly onto the surface of the ganache and set aside to cool while you make the macaron shells. The ganache should be thick enough to pipe in about an hour, if left at room temperature.
Macaron Shells
- Preheat oven to 150°C/ 130° Fan/ 300°F and place an empty baking tray on the middle rack.
- In a food processor, combine the almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa (this will be your "tant pour tant"). Now sift it 3 times into a large mixing bowl.
- Line baking trays with silpat mats (you'll need 4 mats, if you want to pipe the macarons all at once).
- Prepare a large disposable piping bag with a #1A piping tip and place the bag inside a tall cup/jug, ready to be filled (see post for tips on using the piping bag).
- In a small saucepan, heat the caster sugar and water over medium heat. Give a little stir as you insert the digital thermometer. Once the syrup starts to boil, stop stirring, as this will cause crystals.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the tant pour tant (almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa) with the remaining egg whites (B) with a rubber spatula, to form a thick paste.
- In a medium sized bowl and using an electric hand mixer, begin whisking the egg whites (A) and cream of tartar once the sugar syrup reaches 110°C. Use the mixer on medium speed to form soft peaks, keeping watch of the syrup, as it must not go over 118°.
- As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 118°, remove the thermometer and (with the mixer turned to low) pour the syrup into the whisked egg whites in a thin, steady stream. This is the Italian meringue.
- Increase speed to medium and continue to whisk until mixture cools to 35°.
- Once the Italian meringue has cooled to 35°, scoop some out with the rubber spatula and mix it into the paste to loosen it.
- Add the remaining meringue in a couple of batches and continue to fold through, scraping the bowl and folding the mixture over, whilst rotating the bowl. Make sure you scrape the bottom, to get all of the paste.
- Continue folding, scraping and rotating (macaronner) until the batter is smooth and shiny. Batter should have the consistency of cake batter and not too thin (see post).
- Scoop batter into prepared piping bag, then place the bag on the bench and push out air pockets. Twist the end of the bag and secure with a rubber band (I find twisting it is sufficient).
- Piping the shells: holding the nozzle end with one hand and the twisted end with the other, hold the bag directly above the marked silpat mat and gently squeeze from the top hand. Release pressure before the batter reaches the inside edge of the circle and give the bag a little twist at the nozzle end, to break the release of batter.
- Place a tea towel onto the kitchen bench, then give a gentle whack of the tray, to release air bubbles. Rotate tray and repeat.
- Let macarons rest for 15 minutes, to dry a little.
- Place tray with the piped shells into oven, directly on top of the tray that's already in there.
- Bake at 150°C/ 130° Fan/ 300°F for 5 minutes, then reduce oven to 140°C/ 120° Fan/ 285°F and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining trays. (I bake one tray at a time, but you can bake several if using fan forced setting).
- After the full 15 minutes check macaron shells -if they still wiggle, they're not quite ready. Give them another minute.
- Once cooked, immediately slide silpat mat off baking tray and onto the bench to cool. Once completely cooled, shells can be gently lifted from mat (see post), put into pairs and filled.
Filling the Macarons
- Scoop the Toblerone Ganache into a piping bag fitted with a #1A or large fluted nozzle and pipe onto half of the macaron shells, sandwiching with the other half.
- Optional: drizzle over some melted chocolate and sprinkle with finely chopped Toblerone to decorate
- Refrigerate or freeze macarons in an airtight container.
Notes
- Either make the filling first, or allow extra time, as it takes an hour to chill and thicken.
- I get best results when baking one tray at a time, in a conventional (not fan-forced) oven. However, all ovens are different and you need to do what works best for you
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