Dark Chocolate Malt Macarons

Malted milk powder is an evaporated powder made from barley, wheat, and milk that's used primarily in old-fashioned milkshakes!

You can find it at most grocery stores in the baking aisle, near the sweetened condensed milk. You can also find it online or on Amazon!

Step 1: Heat the cream. In a small pot, bring the heavy cream to a boil, then whisk in the malted milk powder (image 1 below).

Step 2: Melt the chocolate chips. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and stir to combine. (image 2 below).

Step 3: Cool the ganache. Once the chocolate chips are completely melted and emulsified in the cream, the ganache will look smooth, shiny, and dark in color.

Pour it into a mixing bowl and whip with the paddle until it's completely combined and lighter in color. Then transfer the ganache to a clean bowl and set it aside to cool at room temperature (image 3 below).

Step 4: Sift the dry ingredients. Sift the almond meal, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder into a bowl and then set it aside.

Step 5: Make the meringue. Whip the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks. Then Mix the dry ingredients into the whites in three parts, folding with a rubber spatula until just combined (image 5 below).

Step 6: Deflate the batter. Mix and scrape the batter against the sides of the bowl until you can draw a figure 8 (image 6 below).

Step 7: Pipe, rest, and bake! Pipe the macaron batter onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Gently tap the sides of the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles, which you can pop with a toothpick. Let the shells rest at room temperature until they form a skin, then bake (image 7 above).

Step 8: Fill with ganache. Let the baked macaron shells cool on a wire rack, then pair them up with like-sizes. Pipe the malted ganache onto the center of half of the shells, sandwiching the filling with the other half (image 8 above). Let the macarons mature in an airtight container in the fridge overnight to soften, then enjoy!