Spicy Chocolate Macarons

It was hot here today. Probably too hot to bake. But the idea for these struck and I had to. I just had to. I don't have too much to say on them (I've never been big on lengthy, romantic prose about food) except that they're a bit spicy and more than a bit delicious.

Oh, and exciting news coming up soon!

Makes approximately 1 dozen macarons

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 3 oz granulated sugar
• 3 oz almond flour
• 3 oz powdered sugar
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup of your favorite chocolate frosting
• 1/2 tsp orange zest

Directions:

1. Start off by sifting together the almond flour, powdered sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.
2. Then, whip the egg whites, adding the sugar slowly, until they form medium-stiff peaks.
3. Mix 1/3 of your egg whites into the flour mixture, then add that back to the egg whites.
4. Fold these together. This is the tricky part of macarons. To get the perfect consistency, drop a bit of batter onto your counter after every few folds. The peak where the batter fell off of the spatula should remain visible for a bit, but eventually sink into the rest of the batter, leaving a smooth shell. If your batter is over-mixed, it will sink within a second or two and your shell will spread quite a bit. There's a great tutorial on macarons over at Not So Humble Pie. Be sure to leave a lot more room  between macarons than you think you'll need, just in case, and remember to test the batter as you go.
5. Load the batter into a piping bag and pipe small rounds onto a parchment lined sheet pan. How big is up to you, but for uniformity you can trace a round object onto the parchment paper before turning it over to pipe on. When you're finished piping, rap the sheet pan on your counter a few times, to get rid of air bubbles in the shells.
6. Let these sit out for approximately 30 minutes so that they have time to develop a hard skin on top. This is what gives the macarons their characteristic "feet". If it's a particularly hot day, you can aim a fan at them to speed the process up. While this is going on, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
7. After they've developed hard tops, bake the macarons for about 10 minutes. You'll be able to tell when they're done by peeling them from the parchment. If they peel off, they're ready.
8. After the macarons have cooled, mix together 1/2 cup of your favorite chocolate frosting and 1/2 tsp of orange zest. Pipe this into the center of a macaron shell and stick another shell to it, pressing until the frosting spreads.

I often have the following debate with myself: Are rich, chocolaty macarons, or refreshing, fruity macarons better? Today rich won. Which is your pick?

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