Chocolate mini eggs, chocolate ganache and chocolate macaron shells! These chocolate macaron easter nests are a chocolate extravaganza. There really is no such thing as too much chocolate, trust me.

I was very kindly gifted some amazing Amedei Toscano Black 70% chocolate by King’s Fine Foods. This is a wonderful chocolate and I wanted to be sure I did it justice. I think these chocolate macaron easter nests do just that.

Don’t worry if like me, you struggle to pipe the rings for the top of the macaron to make the nest, once you’ve added a few chocolate eggs on top, you can disguise pretty much anything. If you find it really tough, just make normal shells and pipe a blob of chocolate on top to stick your eggs too.

Chocolate Macaron Easter Nests

A delicious chocolate macaron shell, filled with chocolate ganache and topped with mini eggs

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Prep Time 1

Cook Time 30

Equipment

1 French tip piping nozzle
1 piping bag
3" macaron template
2 Baking trays
Digital Thermometer

Ingredients

Chocolate Macaron Shells

185 g Ground Almonds
185 g Icing Sugar
30 g Cocoa Powder
50 ml Water
200 g Granulated Sugar
150 g Egg Whites

Chocolate Ganache

200 g Double Cream
250 g Amedei 70% Toscano Dark Chocolate
40 g Unsalted Butter softened

To Decorate

200 g Cadbury's Mini Eggs

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160C Fan and line four baking trays (If you have them, or use 2 trays and cook in batches) with baking parchment, if using templates place these under the baking parchment. I used 3" macaron templates.
Add the water and granulated sugar to a pan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
Put 75g of the egg whites into a stand mixer and whisk them on a medium speed until frothy.
Bring the syrup to a boil and heat until it reaches 118 degrees.
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 and they are cool to the touch, about 5mins.
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 75g of egg whites to this mix and beat it, until it forms a paste. It will be very stiff.
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.
Put the macaron mix into a piping bag (don't use the french tip nozzle, this is for the filling) and pipe out the macarons, for every whole shell you pipe, pipe a ring of macaron mixture on the template to get the top of your nest.
Tap the bottom of the tray to remove any bumps or air pockets, then put the macarons in the oven for 14-16 mins per tray.
Let the cooked macarons cool completely before trying to remove them from the tray.
Next make the ganache, warm the cream and bring it to a boil. Place the chocolate into a bowl (if it is a block of chocolate then chop it into small pieces) and pour the cream on top. Leave for a couple of minutes before stirring to combine the chocolate and cream. Once mixed add the butter and stir until the butter has dissolved and mixed in.
When the ganache has cooled and is a pipeable consistency, place it in a piping bag fitted with the french tip. Pipe blobs of ganache on the full macaron shell. Then top with a macaron ring, top with another blob of ganache in the hole and then place 3 mini eggs on top to make the nest.
Keep going until you have used all of the macaron shells.
These will keep for 2-3 days in a cool space, or place in the fridge.

Chocolate Macaron Easter Nests