Mini Coconut Macarons with Dulce de Leche Ganache

Like John Lennon says in his song, "life is what happens while you're busy making other plans...", so while I was the whole week busy doing the sightseeing of rigour with my friend E., my daughter C. announced: "Mummy, I have invited some of my friends home next Saturday, for my birthday tea ! And I have told the girls that you'll make the most original macarons of Paris !!!!??

While I appreciated my daughter's admiration for my supposed culinary "exploits", the fact is that her friends are Parisians, therefore girls who are used to tasting a "vrai" (true) Pierre Hermé or Ladurée thing....

I thought long and hard...my daughter loves coconut (nothing special about a coconut macarons...) BUT....my daughter is Argentinian, so...dulce de leche !!!!!! But in order to avoid a close resemblance to an Argentinian alfajor, and to take these macarons to their well-deserved "king-like" stature...(Louis XIV, if possible), I turned the plain dulce de leche into a dulce de leche ganache.....

This is real dulce de leche from Argentina, that I get quite easily here in Paris, in an ordinary supermarket. If you can't get it in your area or country, follow this recipe here (Argentinians never make it, we just buy it).

Real dulce de leche is dark in colour, thick, very thick...normally you would be able to turn a spoonful upside down, and the dulce de leche will stay set for a long minute....does that give you the picture?

I decided to make these macarons smaller than usual ( 2.5/3 cm in diameter) because for some unexplained reason children and teenagers love seeing too much of something...so the same recipe will render approximately 100 macaron shells.

For the macarons shells, follow my basic recipe here, but we will reduce the almond powder to  168 gr and we will add 20 gr of sweetened coconut flakes. When you have finished piping the macarons, sprinke them with some extra coconut. Check out cooking time! These mini-macarons (being smaller) will require a shorter time in the oven (4', turn around and another 4'). Also, be careful with the oven temperature; we want them to stay white , immaculate!!! baking them to long will change the colour to golden.

For the dulce de leche ganache, you will need:
 * Milk chocolate, 200gr
 * Cream, 90gr
 * Dulce de leche, 20gr

Take the cream combined with the dulce de leche to a boil. Pour on the coarsely chopped chocolate. Mix well until it becomes a smooth cream. Refrigerate until  the ganache is neither too runny nor too hard. Pipe the ganache on the macarons, or use a little spoon ! Enjoy them!

Life happens to bloggers too !! My daughter was upset to see I included in this photo those pink-flowery earrings that she does not like,but that she keeps for some reason..."Oh, mummy!!! What a blunder!! What are your readers going to think about me??!!

Personally, I found the "pop" earrings cute...they are representative of a sweet period in a girl's life...the transition between being mummy's little girl to a young "little woman".... and what was more, I was NOT going to take all the photos again....

I hope you like my mini-macarons!