Chocolate Macarons Recipe

Chocolate Macarons with crisp shells giving way to chewy chocolate deliciousness as you bite into them… These delicate cookies are heavenly to eat but can be tricky and finicky to make. Don’t lose heart – follow my step by step tutorial and tips to make the perfect chocolate macarons.

Why Are Macarons So Hard to Make?

Macarons are adorable to look at and heavenly to eat, but they are quite tricky to make. These delicate sandwich cookies need patience, practice, precision and attention to detail but are so rewarding to make!

Making macarons is all about the “macaronage” – the process of folding the batter until it is flowing smoothly and JUST RIGHT for piping. Getting a feel for this may require a few attempts – practice makes perfect!

Read through my tips and troubleshooting and watch the video to familiarise yourself with making macarons before attempting this recipe.

French, Italian or Swiss

Macarons are made by folding meringue into almond flour and icing sugar. But did you know there are several ways of making meringue?

French Meringue: Egg whites are whipped and sugar is added gradually until the meringue forms peaks. This method is used to make French Macarons and Pavlova and considered the easiest way of making meringue.

Italian Meringue: Sugar is boiled with water to make a syrup which is then added to the whipped egg whites to make meringue. This is a very stable meringue but the method is more advanced and requires a candy thermometer and a lot of confidence.

Swiss Meringue: The egg whites and sugar are heated over a double boiler until the sugar dissolves then whipped to make meringue. Swiss meringue macarons are the easiest to make in my opinion with consistently great results! I also use this method to make meringue nests and pavlova.

Chocolate Macaron Ingredients

• Almond Flour – fine almond flour or ground almonds
• Powdered sugar (Icing sugar / Confectioners sugar)
• Cocoa Powder – unsweetened dark chocolate powder
• Egg whites – either fresh or from a carton
• Sugar – caster or granulated
• Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (optional)

Essential Tools

• Digital scales – for best results it is important to weigh the ingredients
• Fine mesh sieve – essential for smooth macarons!
• Silicone spatula
• Piping bags
• Plain round piping tip (Wilton 1A)
• Silpat Silicon Macaron Mats or similar – these are fantastic and reusable!
• Cookie sheets (without rims)
• Silicone bottles for filling and decorating

How to Make Chocolate Macarons

↓ For the full ingredients and detailed method, jump to the recipe card.

Prepare Your Ingredients

1. Pulse the almond flour and icing sugar together in a food processor to combine.  Use a fine  mesh sieve to sift these into a bowl and discard anything that will not go through.
2. Sift the ingredients with the cocoa powder into the bowl and weigh them – you should have 400g (14oz). You might need to compensate for any ingredients that were discarded while sifting.

1. Add half the egg whites (75ml / scant ⅓ cup) to the bowl and mix into the dry ingredients using a rubber spatula to make a thick paste.

Make the Meringue

1. Place the remaining egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and place over a saucepan of barely simmering water (double boiler). Stir the egg whites and sugar using a balloon whisk until the sugar dissolves, 4-5 minutes. Dip your finger into the mixture and rub it between finger and thumb—the mixture should be warm and not gritty.  If you have a digital thermometer, heat until it reads 71C (160F).

1. Fit the bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on medium-high speed until the meringue is glossy, forms stiff peaks  and the bowl is no longer warm to the tough. This can take upwards of 10 minutes.

Macaronage Stage

1. Add a third of the meringue into the almond paste and use a  silicone spatula to mix the two so that the  paste loosens. Fold the remaining meringue in a circular motion, scraping the spatula against the bottom and sides of the bowl. You want the batter to be flowing smoothly but slowly like molten lava. When you lift the spatula the batter should flow in ribbons and slowly ooze before gradually melting into the batter. Test how your batter flows as you are folding it – it is crucial not to over mix it.

Pipe the Chocolate Macarons

1. Fit a plain round tip into a large piping bag. Twist the end of the bag to seal (so batter doesn’t flow out) and fill. I usually invert the piping bag over a large glass in order to fill it.

1. Untwist the bag and hold the bag straight down over your silicone mat. Pipe the macarons slightly smaller than the circle in the template to allow them to spread slightly. Don’t worry if the macarons have small peaks, these should settle when you tap the trays.

1. Tap your baking trays against your kitchen counter, quite forcefully, to release any air bubbles. Do this a few times. You can pop any tiny bubbles rising to the surface with a toothpick.

Rest and Bake

1. Rest the macarons for 20-40 minutes or until the shells lose their gloss and are touch dry.  This allows a thin skin to form over the macarons. When the macarons are baking the rise of the batter will create the signature “feet” – the ruffly little skirt at the base of the cookies.
2. Bake, in batches, for 15-20 minutes or until the macarons firm to the touch when prodded gently, with a barely perceptible jiggle. If your oven heat is uneven you can rotate the tray halfway through.
3. Allow the macarons to cool down for at least five minutes before testing one to see if it lifts cleanly off the mat. Don’t rush this (as I usually do), wait until they willingly peel off. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Fill the Macarons

1. Make the chocolate ganache. Combine the chocolate chips, cream, liqueur if using and honey in a bowl and microwave for 30-40 seconds. Stir until melted and smooth and allow the ganache to cool and thicken before using. Pipe the ganache over the macaron shell, allowing a bit of space for it to expand. Sandwich the macarons according to size.

Decorate Your Macarons

This step is optional but makes the macarons even more photogenic if that’s possible! I drizzled the shells with thin ganache and topped with sea salt, chocolate sprinkles, honeycomb and popping candy!

Tips for Macaron Success!

• Pulse your almond flour and icing sugar in a food processor to combine. Do not process the almond flour on its own as it can release oil!
• Use a fine-mesh sieve to sift the ingredients and discard any solids.
• Use kitchen scales to measure the sifted ingredients, including the cocoa powder –  you should have  400g (14oz) in total.
• Use scales to weigh your egg whites. You can have variable amounts of albumen in eggs.
• Always make sure the bowl and whisk of your stand mixer are spotlessly clean and no egg yolk has contaminated your egg whites. Even a tiny speck of grease or yolk will prevent your meringue from frothing up.
• Humidity and macarons aren’t the best of friends. Not much you can do about it,but keep in mind when resting the macarons before baking.
• Use gel food coloring to tint your macarons. Avoid liquid food colors as they can dilute the batter. No coloring is needed in these chocolate macarons.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

You will probably encounter some of these issues the first few times you make macarons. Follow my troubleshooting tips to avoid these annoying quirks and remember your macarons will taste wonderful even if they don’t look perfect!

• Cracked tops: under mixed batter or not resting the shells for long enough before baking.
• Bumpy tops, imperfect shells: batter was not mixed for long enough, dry ingredients not sifted. Forgot to tap the trays to release air bubbles.
• No feet: batter was too thin or mixed for too long. Macarons did not rest long enough. The oven is not hot enough.
• Hollow shells: overmixed batter. Not baked for long enough. Meringue was overwhipped.
• Shells stick to the mat: not baked long enough, removed from the baking sheet too early.
• Flat macarons: the batter was mixed for too long, or was too wet.
• Dry or burned shells: The oven is too hot or has uneven hot spots. Rotate the trays halfway through. Do a test batch to check what the optimum temperature and baking time is for your oven.

HAVE YOU MADE MY CHOCOLATE MACARONS RECIPE? Please leave a rating or comment and let me know how you got on! Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #Nusde and make my day!