I am completely in love with the mole family of sauces from Mexico. My favorite is mole negro, which comes from Oaxaca and uses charring to get a very deep color. Mole negro recipes usually include a specific chile that is really hard to find - the chilhuacle negro - which has a really sophisticated flavor profile with notes of coffee and tobacco. It’s hard to put your finger on what the chilhuacle brings to the party, but you kind of miss it when it’s gone.
I also really like macarons. Depending on how you make them, the cookies are really techniquey (although the method I use is pretty straightforward, as far as macaron recipes go). Such cute cookies! Everyone makes a big deal about them, which is kind of gratifying. I use the Italian method. The French method is similar, but is really easy to mess up. I spent a good year or two learning to make consistently decent macarons with the French method before I switched over to Italian.
Mole negro has some savory components, but the main elements of the sauce - nuts and seeds, chocolate, plantain, chile, and spices - are very compatible with dessert.
So I decided to figure out how to make a mole negro macaron. It turned out to be involved, but really worth it.
The recipe takes significant effort and requires some lead time. The components you need to make in order to put the cookie together are:
a chile powder that reflects the mix you’d use in a mole negro - this will go in the shell
a fine plantain powder - this will go in the ganache that will be used to fill the cookie
a spice mix that reflects the spices you’d put in a mole - this will also go in the shell
The shell will have the chile powder and the spice mix - this will build on the almond flavor (conveniently, almond is also something you’d usually put in a mole).
The filling will be a chocolate ganache with some additions: peanut butter, some tahini, a puree of raisin, and plantain powder.
The overall effect is that when you eat the cookie, the mole flavor doesn’t emerge until you actually start to chew a bit, because the shell carries some of the mole elements and the ganache carries the rest. It’s only when they come together do you get the mole. Because the chile powder contains some chipotle mecos, there is a smokiness and a lingering if mild heat. The chile flavor also takes a moment to develop, so the flavor profile is really dynamic as you eat it.
these are some really good cookies.
Prep:
The chile mix (this specific mix is based on Ric Bayless’ recipe): 5 chilhuacle negros, 3 or 4 anchos, 2 chipotle mecos, 5 chile negros, 5 pasillas. Tear into chunks. reserve membranes and seeds. Toast chiles until blackened. toast seeds and membranes until charred and blackened (this is really important - the seeds add a really noticeable and distinctive flavor). rehydrate chiles by soaking in hot water for 30 minutes. discard water (or add some sugar and lime juice to a bit of it and quick pickle some green apples - this is from the Quintonil cookbook and is amazing). Add rehydrated, charred chiles and charred seeds and membranes to food processor and puree. Spread on some parchment paper and bake at 400 until darkened and mostly dry. Dehydrate until completely dry. Grind in a coffee grinder and pass through a fine sieve.
The powdered plantains: Get some plantains and keep them around until they are very ripe (if you have a decent plantain supplier, you can get them ripe, but most of us have to ripen them at home). Cut the plantain into chunks, and blacken in a hot pan. Puree in a food processor, adding water if necessary to get a fine puree. Dehydrate until completely dry. Grind in a coffee grinder and pass through a fine sieve.
The spice mix: grind in a coffee grinder and pass through a fine sieve: 1 stick cinnamon, 3 peppercorns, 3 cloves, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp oregano. This is a tasty blend, so it’s not a bad thing to have on hand for general cooking, and it’s easier to make if you scale it up.
The raisin puree: lightly char some raisins and then puree them in some water. it will be very thick.
Tant Pour Tant: equal parts fine almond flour and confectioner’s sugar, sieved.
The cookies (based on the chefsteps recipe):
70 g Egg white
300 g Tant Pour Tant
30 g chile powder
20 g cocoa powder
5 g spice mix
Combine egg white, chile powder, spice mix, and Tant Pour Tant in a large bowl. Note that the chile powder will absorb moisture, so there is a little extra egg white. Normally you’d use 55 g. Mix into a paste.
55 g egg white
1 g protein powder
30 g sugar
Whip 55 g egg white (protein powder is optional) to soft peaks in a stand mixer. Add sugar (the sugar will stabilize the egg whites when you add the sugar syrup and protect them from cooking). Meanwhile, make the syrup. Ideally, the syrup is getting right to temp right when the egg whites are getting to soft peaks, but the egg whites will maintain the foam for a while if you keep the mixer running at low speed.
165 g Sugar
55 g water
Make simple syrup, heat to 244 F/118 C.
Add syrup to egg whites, beat to stiff peaks. Fold into almond paste. I’d really recommend finding some macaron videos so that you can see the exact consistency you are trying to achieve at this step - the viscosity of the batter makes a big difference to the final quality of the cookie. Pipe 1.5 inch shells, bake at 310 for 15 minutes. Note that baking time will need to be adjusted for your oven.
The filling
Make a chocolate ganache, adding a couple tablespoons/~30 ml each of tahini, peanut butter, raisin puree, and plantain powder.