Chocolate Macarons
A recipe for the classic chocolate macarons you’ll find in Parisian pâtisseries, adapted from the excellent demo found at Cuisiner en ligne (in French). Fun to make, though they require a bit of practice in order to get them “just right.”
The recipe used in the video demo is for a very large quantity of macarons (300). It has been scaled down below to produce a more manageable batch.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 12-14 minutes per tray
Yield: approx. 30 assembled macarons
Ingredients
- 90 grams (3 ounces) of egg whites (equal to whites of 3 large eggs), at room temperature
- 125 grams (4 ½ ounces) of ground almonds or almond flour
- 125 grams (4 ½ ounces) of icing sugar
- 25 grams (1 ounce) unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
- 125 grams (4 ½ ounces) of caster sugar (superfine sugar) divided into two equal portions
- 125 grams (4.5 ounces) bittersweet chocolate
- 100 ml (3.4 fluid ounces) heavy cream
- 25 grams (1 ounce) unsalted butter
Directions
- Pulse the almond powder, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor just until a fine powder is obtained. Then sift the mixture into a large bowl. If using almond flour, you may simply sift the almond flour and icing sugar together.
- Place the egg whites in a bowl and add half of the caster sugar. Begin beating the whites and sugar at low-medium speed. After 2 minutes, when the mixture starts to rise and holds its shape, increase the mixer speed. Continue beating at medium speed until firm peaks are obtained. Add the rest of the caster sugar and beat until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Transfer the beaten egg whites to a larger bowl (if necesssary) and add all of the almond powder mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold the mixture until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated, taking care not to overmix. The batter should be smooth and glossy and have a lava-like consistency. It should form a ribbon when dripped from the spatula.
- Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Fill a large pastry bag half full with batter and, using a 2-cm (1/2 inch) tip, vertically pipe the mixture into small mounds about the size of walnuts. The batter should be fluid enough that the macarons slowly flatten themselves out. Tap the trays against a hard surface a couple of times to remove any air bubbles.
- Allow to the macarons to sit for 20 to 30 minutes until a “skin” forms and they are no longer wet when lightly touched.
- Bake at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F) for 12 to 14 minutes. Shells should be smooth and shiny, with the characteristic “foot” or ridge underneath. You can tell when they’re done by very lightly tapping the side with a knife or fork. The macaron top should not slide but remain firmly on its foot.
- Remove macarons from the oven. Cool for a few moments and remove with a lifter. They should come off easily.
Copyright © 2009-2012 www.chocoparis.com. All Rights Reserved.
For the filling
- Place finely chopped chocolate in a heat-resistant bowl.
- Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir until melted and smooth. Add the butter and stir well. Allow to cool until thickened.
- Using your thumb, carefully make a small opening on the flat side of one macaron shell. Place about a teaspoon of filling over the opening. Cover with another shell and twist until filling is evenly spread.
Refrigerate macarons overnight before serving. Allow them to sit at room temperature for an hour or two before serving. They can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
To ensure your macarons turn out perfectly, have a look at these important macaron-making tips.
Having trouble with your macarons? They’re notoriously finicky! Check out our troubleshooting guide: ChocoParis macaron troubleshooting tips
Copyright © 2009-2012 www.chocoparis.com. All Rights Reserved.
Variations on this recipe
Chocolate and raspberry macarons
Coffee macarons
Chocolate and candied ginger macarons
Chocolate Cheetah macarons
Lemon macarons
Macarons with chocolate kirsch filling
More macaron adventures and an idea for packaging
Macarons with praliné filling
More macaron recipes and resources
Chef Nini (in French)
Cuisiner en Ligne (in French)
La Cuisine de Mercotte (in French)
Les Foodies (in French)
Paper Blog (French)
Syrup and Tang (part 1)
Syrup and Tang (part 2)
Tags: Macaron Recipes, Macarons, MacTweets, Recipes
Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I would love to try this one some day… soon! Will include your recipe in the round-up.
Thank you for baking for MacTweets with Jamie and me!
I read somewhere that hollow shells can result from overbeating the egg whites. One way to minimise hollow shells is to gently make a small dent or opening on the underside of each shell using your thumb. When you place some filling over the dent and then cover with the other shell, the filling will be absorbed into hollow part. By the time you’ve refrigerated the macarons and brought them out the next day, no one will ever know they were hollow.
Hi, thanks for sharing all of the info with us. My macarons always turned out with a hollow shells and wet bottoms, can you please tell me why is this happened and how can I correct the problems? Thank you so much in advance.
After so much trial and error and frustration, I finally succeeded at making macarons using this recipe. The video link was very helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Simone,
Yes, you’re right! That’s a lot of ganache! I’ve adjusted the quantities in the recipe now so there should be just the right amount. Thanks for pointing this out.
there appears to be too much ganache.. have the quantities been scaled down?
I just made the basic choco recipe and OMG i loved them. Using the measurments above i got about 12 macarons (2 of them got a bit burned
)
next time i am trying them with jam!
thank you so much
Hi
Thanks for sharing. Does your ganache remain semi solid at room temperature?Mine tends to ‘melt’ after a while. Guess it is the humidity and heat in sunny Singapore. I should increase the amount of chocolate to firm ganache up? Your views?
Hi Ken,
After making the ganache you can let it firm up in the refrigerator for a few minutes before filling the macarons. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t get too firm or it will become hard to spread. After filling the macarons they should be stored in the refrigerator, so even if it’s hot where you are, the ganache should not have a chance to melt. Bring the macarons out at least 15 minutes before serving.
I tried this earlier today, my mixture was very thick and it turned out quite a disaster, is there a way to fix thick batters?
With macarons, practice makes perfect. If your batter is too thick, you clearly haven’t mixed it enough. It should form a ribbon when dropped from a spoon yet have a lava-like consistency.
I didn’t like this recipe. I made two batches, one with almonds I ground myself and the second with store-bought almond flour. Both times, the batter turned gritty before I even added 2/3 of the dry ingredients. I’m not sure why this recipe didn’t work for me like it did for others.
Hello Asha,
If you ground the almonds yourself, it’s not surprising that the batter turned out gritty. Only use fine quality store-bought almond powder when making macarons.
As to why you got the same results with the store-bought almond powder, either it was too coarse / oily or else you undermixed the batter (most likely). Have a look at these tips and my macaron troubleshooting guide.
A friend suggested that I grind the dry ingredients in a food processor until smooth, right before it turns into paste. Would this work?