I don’t know what I’d do, or perhaps who might be injured if I were to find out that we’d run out of butter, eggs or flour. Or chocolate for that matter! There are some things a baking-inclined girl just can’t live without. There might also be waterworks if I’d run out of any kind of sugar I keep, or yeast, or lord help us, vanilla! But what about the things we often end up with too much of?
I’ve mentioned before the ever-growing collection of eggwhites in my freezer. I am almost convinced that they procreate in there. Before I made this recipe, there were sixteen! I can only imagine how much worse it will be when I finally purchase a (much-coveted) ice cream machine and use egg yolks six or eight at a time. Though I often wonder, if I could summon up the courage to make macarons, would I be having the opposite problem?
But in the meantime, there’s rochers, French for boulders or rocks, though luckily only in appearance. These are edible, and delicious indeed. Wonderfully crispy and crackly on the outside, but chewy on the inside with a nice chocolate kick, these little meringue cookies are great on their own. However, if you do want to dress them up a little, you can turn them into tiny pavlovas with a dollop of pastry cream or whipped cream and a couple of berries on top. I’m sure they will be a hit at your next dinner party!
This is also my entry to the Meringue flavoured edition of Sugar High Friday, created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess and hosted this month by One Messy Kitchen.
Chocolate and Almond Rochers
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Makes 25-30
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 large eggwhites, room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 150°C (300°F). Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Sift together the icing sugar, almond meal and cocoa.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and salt on medium speed until the whites are opaque. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to whip as you add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Whip until the whites are firm, shiny and hold stiff peaks.
4. Beat in the vanilla. With a large rubber spatula, as quickly but as gently as you can, fold the dry ingredients followed by the chopped chocolate.
5. Drop tablespoons of the meringue onto the baking sheets, leaving about 5cm between them.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 90°C (200°F) and bake for 1 hour more.
7. Remove the baking trays from the oven and allow the meringues to stand until they reach room temperature. Carefully peel the meringues off the baking paper. Store in an airtight tin or uncovered at room temperature.
22 comments:
Hmm, I think macarons are mainly made by people who have your problem, so you wouldn't necessarily have an excess of egg yolks :D I think you should give it a shot. While it's winter! (Listen to me, as if I'VE worked up the courage) Barring that, you could make these lovely, deep rochers or even amaretti :)
Oh, if there's no butter, you could make a spongecake, a tart if there's no eggs, and a mousse if there's no flour, hee :)
I really do want to make macarons one day, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my oven temperature is much lower than it actually reads, which makes it tricky to bake things like macarons where a minute or two can make all the difference. We do however have a beautiful ILVE stove sitting in a giant box in the garage just waiting for the kitchen renovation to be finished. Can't wait!
You do provide excellent contingency plans in case of said emergencies... however if we ran out of chocolate, the world might just implode. No joke.
I don't think I have heard of these, they do look delicious though! :)
I ran out of eggs on Friday and feel kinda panicky inside...hard feeling to describe...can't wait till tomorrow when I can go to the grocery store! lol.
Thanks for the great recipe!
You know, these look like the type of snack that easts like a chip; you can't have just one? I wold so pop these in my mouth, over and over and over
oh your blog is so sweet!! my mouth us drooling already and im off to bake those red velvet cupcakes!!
those look quite nice. but the photo of your red cake is encroyable. i was just talking about red velvet last night, i've been thinking about doing it for a month, but they seem too seasonal. im weird. but bravo! my sister is a graphic designer, so bravo on that too!
Kate, I get that feeling when I'm down to less than a dozen eggs!
Dawn, oh yes they're totally like that. I ate three of them yesterday :)
Pixiepants, thank you ! I hope you enjoy the cupcakes :)
Mallory, I think I will make red velvet for Christmas again. I did last year, everyone loved it but the recipe wasn't that good! The Paula Deen one I used for the cupcakes is much nicer.
I want to make these but I do have a question. Can something be used in place of the almond meal? I don't have any and it doesn't seem like something I want to buy just for a small amount in this recipe. Thanks.
I always have a surplus of eggwhites and unfortunately I'm not very good at making macaroons... I have yet to succeed. These look like a much better use for my egg whites, a Dorie recipe!
Topher, you can make your own almond meal if you have a food processor - just pulse the almonds until you have fine powder. Or your could use hazelnut meal. I'm not sure what else might work...
Brilynn, I hope you like these as much as we did. I just ate (another) one... :)
Thanks for the 'bite' shot - starving now!!!
I haven't bit the bullet and made macarons yet either. Someday soon I hope, but these look pretty wonderful anyway!
Lisa, I have been having the opposite problem - I have several egg white recipes bookmarked but haven't made them because I need something to use the yolks in!
These rochers look so indulgent...
this looks so delicious! i would love to make these sometime soon..thanks for sharing :)
I am making these tomorrow! With a tablespoon of either raspberry or cherry liquor. Yum. Thanks for posting the recipe. I too have been stalking the macaron and may now need a restraining order. LOL
Christie, hehehe it was a tasty bite :)
Phemom, I have decided to try making them when we get our new oven. But I've been thinking up flavour combinations for ages :)
Patricia, you should make creme brulee! Or creme caramel... They are some of my favourite desserts.
Megan, I hope you do try them! Let me know how they work out for you.
Anonymous, I like the idea of the liqueur. That would work well if you made them into baby pavlovas too - with cherries or raspberries on top.
these look delightful! i was afraid of macarons too. they just seem to daunting.
Lisa, these look so tasty! I often veer from having too many egg whites to too many egg yolks. Can't seem to find a balance, though thankfully egg whites are freezable! Hope to be seeing macarons on your blog soon :D
I wouldn't mind having this plain. Looks really nice on its own.
Cindy, I know what you mean. There are just so many things that can go wrong with a macaron recipe. That doesn't stop me from dreaming up flavour combinations though!
Y, I promise I will try them once we get the new oven in, after the kitchen renovation. I'm all giddy and nervous excited it :)
Jude, we ate most of them plain actually, and they were very yummy.
These look lovely. I always seem to have leftover egg whites so I shall have to make these next time instead of the usual meringues.
Lisa, thanks for this! I love Dorie Greenspan. Everything magical and delicious seems to come from her. I'm a little late on commenting regarding this particular recipe, but with regard to the chocolate that is added just before baking...does that cause gooey chocolate pockets, or does it all kind of integrate into each other as the meringues bake?
Thanks so much for your beautiful blog. ^__^
-S
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