Unlike the more premium Gran Cru line, the Valrhona Satilia range of chocolate is made from a blend of cocoa beans from different regions. Nonetheless, it is as delicious as ever: strong chocolate flavour with 35% cocoa, slightly sweet and a little biscuity. Kinder to the wallet so why not!

Here I’ve paired it with blackcurrants and chestnut, to simulate a Mont Blanc-esque flavour.

Macarons shell ingredients
(makes about 40 macarons)

• 150 g icing sugar
• 150 g almond meal
• 110 g egg whites, split into 2 bowls of 55g each
• 150 g caster sugar
• 38 ml water
• 1 g meringue powder
• daffodil yellow gel colouring

Follow my basic recipe to make the shells.

Ingredients:

• 120g Valrhona Satilia Lactée fèves
• 80ml pure (heavy) cream
• 3-4 tsp Cassis paste or blackcurrant jelly
• a few whole cooked chestnut, broken into pieces

Instructions:
Break up chocolate into small chunks. Bring cream up to a boil in a pan, and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute before stirring. Let it cool and thicken in the fridge.

Spread cassis paste on half of your shells. Add two pieces of broken up chestnut and pipe a teaspoon of ganache on top. Top with the remaining half of your shells.

The filled macarons need to be kept in the fridge for 24 hours for the filling to flavour the shells. These freeze well (up to 3 months).

Here’s my cone of macarons!