Baileys Chocolate Ganache Filled Gingerbread Dachshund Puppy Dog Macarons (Template)

Use the ingredients above and follow the instructions in my Best Macaron Recipe  to prepare the macaron batter. Leave meringue uncolored. 

Sift the spices along with the almond flour and icing sugar. 

Use the ingredients above and follow the instructions in my Best Macaron Recipe to prepare the macaron batter. 

Before starting, watch accompanying video and print out puppy macaron template provided below. 

Using a fine piping tip (ex. Wilton 5), pipe ears with gingerbread macaron batter. Do this for each puppy before moving onto next step. This will give them time to dry and develop a skin. 

Pipe sweater with white macaron batter. Do this for each puppy. 

Add the holly sprinkles or any holiday themed sprinkle you desire onto the surface of the white macaron batter. If the sprinkles are sinking into the batter, wait just a bit longer until a firmer skin forms before adding the sprinkles. But do this before the batter dries completely. 

Pipe the head, neck and back section of the puppy. Give these sections time to develop a skin before piping the legs and tail. It can be a weak skin, whats more more important is that the batter doesn't transfer to your fingers when you touch it. 

Bake macarons for 12-14 min. at 320 F. The timing will vary depending on your oven. Read my oven guide for baking macarons if you are unsure. 

Once the macarons have come out of the oven, let them cool completely before taking off the mat. Be patient! The puppies might break apart at the seams if they are not completely cooled. 

Add a bit of white royal icing in the middle of the break between the sweater and the puppy. 

Before it dries, quickly sprinkle the white nonpareil sprinkles onto the royal icing to create a fluffy sweater effect. 

Use an edible pen to draw in eyes and eyelashes.

Use a tiny dab of white gel colour to add a little "sparkle" to the eyes. 

Use a fine brush to add a bit of pink lustre dust to the cheeks. 

Use black royal icing to fill in the shape of the ears and nose. Make an outline of the ears, then fill in with more royal icing. Use a scribe tool or skewer to smooth out the icing. 

With the royal icing, draw in a small swirl for the tail. 

Let royal icing dry completely before assembling with filling and packaging. This may take a minimum of 8 hours. 

Bring butter to room temperature. 

Chop up chocolate into little chunks and place in a heat proof bowl.

In a small sauce pan heat the Baileys Cream and the heavy cream together on medium heat.  Once you see steam and some bubbles form on the sides, immediately take off the heat. 

Pour the hot cream onto the chocolate and wait for one minute. 

Stir the mixture with a spatula to incorporate. 

Add room temperature butter and stir to incorporate. 

Add vanilla extract and stir to incorporate. 

Place in the fridge to set before putting into a piping bag. (Approx. 30 min. to an hour)

Sift icing sugar and meringue powder into a mixing bowl.

Add 1-2 tsp of water to the dry mixture and stir with a spatula to get the mixture going. If it's still lumpy, add another 1 tsp of water and stir again. 

Add the rest of the water with a spray bottle by slowly spritzing it onto the mixture until it reaches the proper consistency of a "15 second" icing. When a knife cuts through the icing, it will take 15 second for the cut to disappear. 

Place in a piping bag and seal the ends so the icing doesn't dry out. 

For this project, use a bit of the uncolored icing to create the "fur" portion of the sweater. Then add black gel to the remainder of the icing to use for piping the nose, ears and tail.