No, I haven’t gone mad. These are Marmite macarons and they taste really, really good. A while ago I had my first ever Marmite truffle from Paul A Young, it tasted amazing. Now every time I go to London, I treat myself to a box of Paul’s amazing truffles.

HIs shop on Wardour Street is magical, it’s all dark purple and cocoa brown inside. From the moment you open the door, the sweet aroma of chocolate wraps itself around you. The array of truffles arranged on the table in the middle of the shop is magnificient.

I think one of the reasons the chocolate is so special, despite the amazing ingredients and attention to detail, is the fact that I can’t get hold of these chocolates any other way, than by visiting the store (or by joining the chocolate club, but with all this patisserie, a monthly delivery of chocolate is the last thing I need), so I have to ration them out when I get home.

Recently I bought a copy of Paul’s book Adventures with Chocolate and I found the recipe for his Marmite truffles was included. I wanted to use the ganache recipe in an alternative way and the idea of Marmite macarons was born! A rich, salty and deeply chocolatey ganache, sandwiched between a chocolate macaron. Heaven!

This book isn’t new, it’s been around for quite some time, but it is amazing for those that want to learn about basic truffle making and more advanced recipes, including interesting flavours, water based ganaches and savoury recipes. The base recipes can also be used in other recipes, not just hand-rolled truffles, as tacky as it sounds, the only limit really is your imagination.

Even if you don’t like Marmite, I think you’d like these truffles. I was lucky enough to use some Amedei 63% Toscano Black chocolate that I’ve received from King’s Fine Food, to make the ganache. Whilst I understand this is expensive, you will need to use a good quality chocolate to make this ganache. The strong cocoa content works really well with the Marmite flavour and I wouldn’t suggest using milk chocolate or anything with a lower cocoa content.

The above picture is my attempt at an homage to Pierre Herme, it pained me to smash up my beautiful macarons, but I ate these as the cook’s share.

Here’s the recipe for these amazing macarons, I’ve adapted Paul A Young’s recipe because it produces quite a loose ganache, I’ve added more chocolate so that it’s easier to sandwich the macarons together using the ganache.

MARMITE MACARONS Patisserie Makes Perfect This recipe is adapted from Paul A Young's recipe for Marmite truffles that you can buy in his flagship Soho store. I paired these with chocolate macaron shells, to enhance the chocolate hit. The following ingredients are recommended: Marmite Amedei Toscano Black 63% Print Recipe Pin Recipe Prep Time 1 hr Cook Time 30 mins Total Time 1 hr 30 mins Course Patisserie Cuisine French Servings 36 Ingredients ***Marmite Ganache***

50 g Marmite

250 ml Water

250 g Soft brown sugar

375 g Amedei Toscano Black 63%

***Macaron Shells***

185 g Ground Almonds

175 g Icing Sugar

30 g Cocoa Powder

50 ml Water

175 g Granulated Sugar

150 g Egg Whites about 3 eggs Instructions Put the marmite, water and sugar in a saucepan, bring to the boil and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. This helps to mellow the marmite flavour.

Pour the hot liquid on the chocolate and stir it to melt the chocolate, you'll need to use a stick blender to emulsify the liquid as the chocolate and water will not initially want to mix together. Leave this to set for at least 24 hours in the fridge and give it a really good stir before you use it.

Next make the macaron shells, preheat the oven to 170 degrees and line four baking trays with baking parchment.

Add the water and sugar to a pan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Bring the syrup to a boil and heat until it reaches 118 degrees.

Put 75g of the egg whites into a stand mixer and whisk them on medium speed until frothy.

Pour the syrup in a slow steady stream into the egg whites as they are being whipped on a high speed. Keep whipping until the meringue forms a stiff peak, about 5 mins.

Grind the ground almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar together in a food processor and then sift them into a clean bowl.

Add the remaining egg whites to this mix and beat it, until it forms a paste.

Add a third of the meringue to the almond paste and beat it in thoroughly.

Fold through the remaining meringue, ensure the ingredients are mixed thoroughly and that the macaron mixture falls from the spoon or spatula.

Put the macaron mix into a piping bag and pipe out 72 macarons.

Tap the bottom of the tray to remove any bumps or air pockets, then put the macarons in the oven for 12mins per tray. Turn the trays halfway through cooking to ensure an even bake.

Let the cooked macarons cool completely before trying to remove them from the tray.

Match the macarons up into similar sized pairs and gently make a small indentation with your thumb on the flat side of the macaron, then fill with the marmite ganache.

Keep the macarons in an airtight container for at least an hour before eating, but if you can wait, they'll be much better the next day. They should last for 2-3 days in the fridge.

Trust me when I say these are delicious, are there any unusual macaron flavours that you would like to see made?

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Thanks for reading.

Angela