Yes folks, it’s World Nutella Day 2012! Once again, Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso are hosting “World Nutella Day 2012″ (the SIXTH instalment!) – a day to celebrate, get creative with, and most importantly, eat Nutella.
After 2010’s cheesecake and 2011’s Nutella lamingtons, this year I tried something I have been meaning to make for a long time… macarons craquelés. No, no, not failed “cracked” macarons (though goodness knows I have had my fair share of those in my macaron making adventures…) but serious on purpose cracked-topped little cookies – à l’ancienne – much more like the original macarons de Nancy – more cookies than delicate airy macarons.
Many argue that the macaron originated way back in the late 1700s, when Carmelite nuns baked these sweet treats as a way of supplementing their meat-free diet. According to the Larousse Gastronomique, these nuns followed Theresa of Avila’s principle to the letter: ‘Almonds are good for girls who don’t eat meat’. During the French Revolution, two nuns who were in hiding in the French town Nancy specialised in making the macarons and became known as “Les Soeurs Macarons” – in 1952, the street where they operated was named after them and Macarons de Nancy are still sold there today. The original cookie was simply ground almonds, sugar and egg whites – similar to what we all now know as a macaron today but completely different in texture (and way less fussy to make!). Check out an image of les macarons de Nancy here.
I discovered these last summer, after seeing them featured on Cuisine.tv then visiting Patisserie Aurore Capucine in Paris. They are certainly unique treats – more brownie/ cookie like than French macarons, even though they have basically the same ingredients. The ones I sampled with my best taste-tester, Cathy, were quite large:
(and quite colourful!)
I’ve had this this recipe for a while now, just never had a chance to make it. I felt Nutella Day would be the perfect occasion, and so I substituted ground hazelnuts for the ground almonds the recipe calls for, and added cocoa powder instead of honey. I also made mini versions – these are about the size of my regular macarons – a one, maybe two bite affair.
Hurrah! Macarons that are SUPPOSED to be cracked on top!
The filling, a thin coat only, unlike French macarons, is a combination of Nutella and some of the cookie dough batter. Don’t worry, the egg white is actually cooked before you put it in the oven! It’s SO good….
Macarons craquelés noisette-chocolat
A crunchy, chewey bite sized cookie made with hazelnuts and chocolate and filled with Nutella!
Ingredients
- 105 g ground hazelnuts
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 10 g cocoa powder
- 60 g egg whites
- 4 tablespoons Nutella
- approx 2 tablespoons icing sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 320˚F.
- Prepare a cookie tray with a sheet of parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a metal or glass bowl, combine all ingredients except the Nutella and icing sugar and mix until it turns into a paste.
- Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water) and cook until the paste turns slightly liquid, about 7 minutes. If you insert a candy thermometer, it should read about 90˚F.
- Separate 2 generous tablespoons of the mix, place in a small dish with the Nutella and mix well. Keep this at room temperature.
- Place the rest of the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain piping tip (Ateco 803) and pipe small rounds of the mixture onto the cookie tray.
- Moisten a paper towel and smooth the tops of the rounds so they are shiny. This will help them stay shiny as they bake.
- Sprinkle icing sugar over the tops and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before sandwiching like halves with the Nutella/ batter mixture. It should only be a small amount of filling (i.e. not like French macarons - you should not see the filling at all).
- Refrigerate for 2 hours then bring to room temperature for about 15 minutes before you eat them.
Easy to make, super tasty (and rich – the mini sized ones are perfect!) and pretty in their clumsy cracked way…
Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside (especially once the filling has had a chance to soften the interior of the cookie a little), these are macarons for everyone!
Happy Nutella Day! Even if you don’t make anything – grab a spoon and celebrate!
* Are you in the Toronto area? If so, enter my giveaway for a $150 dinner at Lee Restaurant. Contest closes today, Sunday February 5th at 9pm EST.
These look fantastic! They remind me of these large macarons a bakery near me sells. Instead of being thin and crispy, they are sort of soft and blend together. I can’t wait to make these!
Yes they make a nice change for sure!
They look amazing! Who knew there was a nutella day! I’ll pin this, i’ve got to try it!
You NEED to know about Nutella Day!!!
you’re amazing with the macarons!!! Look how delicious they look! bravo!
Thanks – I was pleased how they came out!
These are Macs that I just might be able to bake successfully! They look pretty tasty Mardi and I think that you developed a winning Nutella recipe. I enjoyed learning a little more about the history of these fabulous treats.
Oh trust me – everyone can make these!
Oh woaaah, I need to bake these like RIGHT NOW! They look amazing Mardi!
They are pretty darned good 🙂
Happy Nutella day! What a great recipe to showcase Nutella in. They look delicious! I love the rustic look and cracked tops!
Aren’t they cute??
Wow, love them! They look gorgeous and you couldn’t have picked a better filling for them. Happy Nutella Day indeed!
Thanks Josie!
I love these macarons because they give me the feeling of something share at home, no frills, relaxed atmosphere…Since my adaughters are Nutella addicts, they will love them!
Thanks Mardi !
Indeed – no frills macarons are something we can all appreciate!
Wow! These are amazing and a fitting tribute to the day 🙂
Thanks so much!
happy nutella day! this recipe is to die for! awesome! im going to try them soon! thanks fot sharing
It’s so easy and delicious 🙂
I want these. Must eat them. Once again, thank you for telling me that it’s World Nutella Day. Silly me, I thought it was just annoying Super Bowl Sunday, but it’s a much more important date than that.
They are so easy you and Mooch can make them together!
Oh finally a macaron even I can master. Love it. This is genius! I just tried nutella for the first time around Christmas. I swear I heard angels singing when I ate it. Had no idea.
Wow – are you wondering where you have been these past years???
I have to try these… I have one more jar of homemade nutellla left….
So lucky that you have homemade Nutella – that’s next on my list!
I just completed a trial run on this recipe. Could you clarify a step for me? You instruct to ‘combine all ingredients except the icing sugar’, but in step 5 refer to putting 2T of the warmed mixture in a side bowl ‘with the nutella’. I had already combined the nutella with all of the earlier ingredients… should I not add nutella to the batter mixture next time, and only to the filling?
This batch didn’t rise, but this is the best tasting mistake I’ve made in a long time. My mistake rendered a flat cookie shape that tastes exactly like a chewy brownie. Yes & please.
Wow you are fast. I clarified the step in the recipe – sorry about that the Nutella should not be mixed with any of the other ingredients at first. They are not supposed to rise at all so sounds like you have a perfect batch!
Thanks for the heads up!
Mardi
Thanks for the clarification. Your results were puffier than mine, but I think it was because of the extra weight of the nutella in my batter.
It ultimately didn’t matter; I think there is only one left. They were a hit.
Good to hear!
A stress-free macaron? Flavoured with Nutella? Now this I can totally get on board with. 🙂 Brilliant idea, Mardi. Love ’em.
Right – it’s the macaron that everyone can make!
Gorgeous! The recipe is perfect example of simple elegance. I bet the flavour is amazing. Can’t wait to try it! Thank you Mardi for posting this wonderful addition to World Nutella Day.
It’s really simple and I kind of like their clumsy elegance too!
Very cute cookies and Happy World Nutella day!
Thanks!
These are gorgeous! Must. resist. urge. to make them.
argh, it’s just impossible. They’re too lovely.
They’re pretty easy and you just have to make a small quantity!
This looks so easy and fun to make! I heart nutella so macarons plus nutella = awesomeness
It’s a pretty good combo!
Congrats on top 9!
Thanks Kim!
Love!!! Yum like brownies but better! And you know some in my family are not macaron eaters…well these we all would eat!
Indeed – like brownies but better!
Ooooh, you are evil. Nutella macarons? I must have these! Fantastic recipe.
Thanks – you will love them!
What delicious Nutella cookies:)
Thanks – I was pleased with how they came out!
Wish I had some of these now. My body is craving chocolate and nutella in any form possible lol
Mmm – they are delicious – you should try them!
I completely dropped the ball on Nutella Day this year. But, I might have to make these and celebrate a few days late. These look like macarons that I may actually be able to handle. 🙂
They are SO much more do-able!
I was looking for this recipe for a longest time, thanks for sharing.
I made it with walnut and just regular macaroons, not sandwiched.
The batter was too runny after 7 minutes of cooking on double broiler. And they came out too thin and spread too much.
I was wondering what I did wrong? Should I have to leave it to cool a bit, less egg white?
But the taste was ammmmmazing 🙂
Hi, glad you enjoyed the flavour. In terms of what you did “wrong”, well you used walnuts, not hazelnuts as the recipe calls for. Nuts have different fat contents so will require different baking times and perhaps an adjustment of other ingredients too. I’m also not sure what you mean by “double broiler”?
Double broiler is the method you used to cook the nut mixture, in a bowl over the boiling water 🙂
I will try it again and let the dough cool down a bit, then I’ll bake them.
In any case I really thank you for the recipe.
Oh, right – actually that’s a double boiler (I was thinking you were grilling your cookies!). Are you using a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the batter? Perhaps it’s coming to the right temperature too fast so 7 minutes would be too long. 90˚F is ideal.