Recipe: Black Cocoa Macarons with Red Velvet Buttercream Filling

I wanted to make some special cookies for The Boy's school Halloween party, and he requested macarons.

I couldn't say no (I also bought some Chips Ahoy for those kids that didn't want to try the macarons... and offered them more to the grown ups in the class, because... yum).

I was trying to figure out what kind of  macarons to make, and I have some Red Velvet Baker's Emulsion that I wanted to try out.  I wasn't sure if that would work in macarons.  King Arthur Flour Baker's Hotline to the rescue! I spoke with Mary Jane, and she because of the delicate nature of macarons, adding Baker's Emulsion might not work out.  Together, we came up with the idea of using Black cocoa and using the Baker's Emulsion for butter cream filling.

Voila.  I love collaboration sometimes.

She suggested that I use Dave Lebowitz's cocoa macarons.  I did so, and used the black cocoa in place of the regular cocoa, doubling the recipe.

Do you like my Halloween nails?

I used this recipe for buttercream and halved the recipe, adding about a teaspoon of the Red Velvet Baker's Emulsion to it.  It was a bit pink, and I would have preferred it red.  Perhaps if I made it chocolate buttercream with the red velvet added, it would have been more red.  I'll try that next time.

And there will be a next time.  I love macarons! One of the moms at the Halloween party said she wanted to take me to her house to make them for her all the time.  I'd say that's an endorsement!