Jack Skellington Macarons

Instructions

FOR MACARONS

1. Crack three large eggs and separate the yolks and the white. You only need the whites for this recipe.
2. Pour the whites into a bowl and let them come to room temperature.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour and powdered sugar.
4. Whisk it good to remove any lumps in the flour.
5. Combine the room temperature egg whites and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer.
6. Attach the whisk attachment and whip egg whites.
7. Once they become white and foamy, slowly add in the white granulated sugar and increase the speed to high.
8. Set a timer for 15 minutes and let the egg whites whip on high until stiff peaks form and the mixture becomes shiny. Whip in the white food coloring, add as little or as much as you like.
9. Using a rubber spatula gently fold in almond flour/powdered sugar mixture into the whipped egg whites.
10. Slowly fold and mix until everything is mixed well and becomes smooth. It will be super thick at first. You\'ll know it\'s ready when it\'s smooth and "melts" into itself when you drizzle some of the batter back onto it'self in the bowl.
11. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
12. Filling a pipping bag with the batter, snip the end and pipe 1 inch circles onto the baking sheet. (You might need more than one baking sheet, but I only needed one. Leave a little space between each cookie as they will spread just a tad when baking.
13. Little tips at the top of each piped cookie? Dip your finger into a little water and pat the tip down on the cookie top.
14. Tap the cookie sheet onto the counter to remove the air bubbles.
15. Let the cookies to sit at room temperature before baking for 1 hour.
16. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
17. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven with the door slightly open.
18. Bake cookies for about 12 minutes or until they're matte looking and dry to the touch. Watch them and don't let them burn!
19. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool completely before filling with chocolate ganache filling. I let mine sit overnight before filling them.

FOR CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1. Add heavy cream to a sauce pan and heat on medium-high heat.
2. Once the cream is super hot (without boiling) - remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Stir until melted.
4. Let chocolate sit until firm enough to pipe into middle of cookies. If it needs help firming up, pour it into a bowl and stick it into the fridge for a bit.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1. Pair cookies up size wise.
2. Draw Jack faces on half of the cookies.
3. Pipe filling into the other half.
4. Sandwich together to create Jack Macarons.