Chocolate French macarons are a fan favorite. The almond meringues are rich, chewy, and sinfully chocolate when filled with silky ganache. For a fun and adventurous macaron, fill the shells with peanut butter cream for a Reese's peanut butter cup-inspired treat. And be careful, this simple recipe could act as a gateway to a lifetime addiction to baking and consuming chocolate macarons.
If you are a beginner macaron baker, here's the best place to start for everything you need to know (and nothing you don't) when it comes to how to make French macarons. And it can also help to understand the professional formula that is the foundation of any good macaron recipe.
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The Story
Chocolate French macarons are rich, delicate, and oh-so-delicious. Classically, French chefs filled chocolate shells with rich chocolate ganache. And that's how I was taught in culinary school. But nowadays you'll find cocoa-laced shells hugging a variety of clever, irresistible fillings.
And what I love most about chocolate macarons is they're one of the easiest flavors to create. All it takes is replacing a small amount of the almond flour in any recipe with cocoa powder. And what you get are richly-colored macarons with a delectable, chocolate chewiness.
The protein content in the cocoa powder also provides stability in the macaron batter. So chocolate is a great flavor with a high success rate for beginner macaron mavens. I see it all the time when teaching my French Macarons 101 class. The chocolate shells turn out the best even in novice hands!
The Ingredients
French macaron ingredients are simple and few for any recipe. The only addition to a basic macaron recipe for chocolate shells is a small amount of cocoa powder. Macaron batter can be finicky. And too many added flavorings will disrupt the stability of the meringue (which is key to those coveted, frilly feet, called le pied in French).
This list includes the ingredients for a quick and easy chocolate ganache. But there is no limit to the witty and enticing fillings you can contrive for any one batch.
- finely-ground almond flour (or blanched almonds)
- confectioner's sugar
- cocoa powder
- salt
- fresh egg whites (no need to "age" them, that's a myth)
- granulated sugar
- cream of tartar, optional
- semi-sweet or dark chocolate, bar or chips
- heavy cream
Many bakers swear by adding a tiny amount of cream of tartar (tartaric acid) to their meringue to stabilize it. Once I refined my technique, I actually found it to be a hindrance. Cream of tartar can make your meringue too sturdy, and prevent the mixed batter from settling nicely on the pan. It most likely won't hurt if you like the idea of insurance. But once you get the hang of the process, you shouldn't need it.
Equipment
Any recipe publisher worth their weight in salt will recommend you weigh ingredients when baking. So I advise anyone who will listen to acquire a digital kitchen scale when baking French macarons. You can buy one online for the price of a couple of coffeehouse cappuccinos. But measuring cups are not the most common macaron baker's downfall. So if that's all you have then full speed ahead.
The other kitchen tool I can wax poetic about is an oven thermometer. Because a majority of home ovens are pathological liars. In years of working as a private chef in my client's kitchens, I can count on one hand the ovens that heated to the temperature on the dial or screen. No need to break the bank here, either. A basic oven thermometer from your nearest big box store should cost around $7.
- digital kitchen scale
- oven thermometer
- electric mixer, either a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment
- large mixing bowl
- sifter or fine-mesh sieve
- flexible or rubber spatula
- parchment paper (not wax)
- baking pans or cookie sheets
- large piping bag or large food storage baggie
- a small round pastry tip, ¼" - ½" recommended
The Formula
As I write in my article on the baker's ratio for French macarons, all classic recipes follow the same general formula. And chocolate macarons are no exception. To create chocolate shells, you replace a small portion of the almond flour with cocoa powder. Less is more. Too much cocoa powder will cause the shells to bake up chewy and lack their signature look and texture.
Chocolate Macaron Formula
100% egg whites + 50 - 200% granulated sugar + 200% confectioner's sugar + 130% almond flour + 8 - 10% cocoa powder
*All ingredients measured by weight
By no means is this the only successful formula for chocolate macarons. But it's the one I rely on professionally. And I also give it to my students who take my Macarons 101 class. The amount of cocoa powder is just enough for a color that screams chocolate. But not so much the batter is overly thick.
The Method
For any macaron recipe - chocolate included - the method is the same. First, you whip a firm peak meringue. Then you macaronage (mix in the dry ingredients), pipe the batter onto your prepared pans, cross your fingers (just a joke), and bake.
And this is true whether you choose to whip up a French, Swiss, or Italian meringue. Like any successful attempt at French macarons, picture-perfect, delicate shells call for solid technique. First, you need to whip up a nice, sturdy meringue. Then you must mix the meringue with the dry ingredients to the proper consistency, a process the French named macaronage.
The Steps
Before you begin any attempt at French macarons it's incredibly helpful to mise en place. In English, that means everything in place. So before you even think about flipping on the mixer, get it all in place:
Bring the egg whites to room temperature (no need to "age" them for days, it's a myth). Preheat your oven with an oven thermometer inside. Measure or weigh out all your ingredients. Line two baking pans with parchment paper (or silicone baking mats) with printable macaron templates underneath.
- Sift together the confectioner's sugar, almond flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Or a large mixing bowl if you're using a hand mixer.
- Whip the egg whites on medium speed until they're foamy. While continuing to beat, slowly rain down and beat in the granulated sugar. If using cream of tartar, add it once the meringue first becomes opaque, and reaches soft peaks.
- Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the meringue is voluminous, opaque, and shiny. The little peaks of meringue that form off the edge of the beater will stick nearly straight up. The French use the term bird's beak to describe a firm peak, which is the classical French meringue consistency used for macarons.
- Fold in the dry ingredients in a few additions. Mix a bit firm at first to encourage cohesion. Then use classic folding strokes; scraping around the sides of the bowl, then up from underneath the mixture, and over through the top. Aim for a batter that ribbons off the spatula and settles back into itself within about ten seconds.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. I set my piping bags inside a large glass for hands-free transfer.
- Pipe one-to-two-inch rounds of batter onto the lined pan, leaving an inch of space between each shell. Lay the bag flat on the counter, and push the batter down towards the tip. Twist the top of the bag tightly at the point where the batter stops, and hold it tip-side up until you are ready to pipe.
- Following the template you chose, pipe rounds of batter onto the lined pan. Hold the piping bag vertical, and about a quarter-inch above the pan. Squeeze the piping bag from the top until the batter reaches the inner edges of the black circle. Immediately stop squeezing and flick the tip away in a tiny, circular motion.
- To help the tops of piped batter settle, lightly tap the pan on the counter. Or with one hand, tap the underside of the pan a few times. Be careful not to tap too hard, this will cause air bubbles to pop. And leave you with potholed macs.
- If you like and for a bit of insurance, let the piped macaron batter rest on the counter for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Bake at 300° F for 14 to 17 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Rotate the pans once halfway through baking. Macarons are done when the tops don't wiggle away from the bottoms when very lightly pushed. But before the bottoms begin to brown.
- Cool a few moments before sliding the parchment paper or mat off the baking pan. Gently remove the shells from the mat or parchment by pushing up from underneath the liner to release the bottoms.
- Fill with your filling of choice. And store the filled macarons chilled for 24 hours before serving. If you can wait that long!
Filling Ideas
Sans a filling, a macaron is a perfectly acceptable, if not bland almond delicacy. But most of a macaron's love is in the creamy, silky, rich fillings. Chocolate ganache is classic, and a peanut butter buttercream makes for a fun play on a Reese's. If you enjoy chocolate paired with berries, a simple strawberry filling or raspberry jam is simply divine when summer fruit is ripe.
On Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate really shines when not overcomplicated. And ganache is the perfect example. When melted with hot heavy cream, a rich chocolate bar becomes a luscious filling.
While chocolate chips are fine to use, a nice bar of dark chocolate is even better. It will give the ganache a smoother consistency, and more nuance. Most chocolate chips contain emulsifiers like soy lecithin, which will prevent the really silky texture of classic ganache. And there's no need to break the bank. Trader Joe's and most national chains stock their brand of chocolate bars for a great price.
As for the best method for chocolate ganache, the way I learned in culinary school is the simplest:
- Bring heavy cream just to a boil in a small saucepot.
- Pour the hot cream over chopped chocolate.
- Wait five minutes for the hot cream to melt the chocolate, then whisk the mixture until the ganache is smooth and shiny.
You may see recipes and videos where someone makes ganache using a double-boiler (a bowl set over a pot of simmering water). But I believe this overcomplicates the process and it also takes longer.
On Peanut Butter Buttercream
Reese's peanut butter cup, fan? Absolutely. (Please don't tell, it's a personal weakness.) And to translate this unhealthy American candy into a macaron, I've made peanut butter buttercream a couple of different ways. One, whipping peanut butter into a French buttercream. This gives you chocolate peanut butter macarons that taste straight outta Paris. With a side of Americana.
But you don't need a tedious French buttercream to enjoy a peanut butter-laced macaron. If time is not on your side, an American-style peanut butter frosting is just as dreamy.
If patience is not your most reliable virtue, leave a bit of butter out overnight to soften. Then you can whip up a peanut butter filling while your shells bake.
Storing & Maturing
Store filled macarons sealed tight in the refrigerator. You can also bake and freeze macaron shells in advance. French macarons last a week or so if kept chilled. But always serve them at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
While countless myths exist about the craft of baking macarons, one that is entirely legitimate is the practice of "maturing" filled macarons. When you store filled shells overnight, the meringues absorb moisture from the fillings. The texture softens, and the flavors meld.
Maturing macarons overnight can also cure mildly hollow shells. The resting allows the inside crumb to expand and set fuller within the outer shell. When I teach baking classes on French macarons, I always encourage my students to save a few macarons to enjoy the next day. It's a great way to see for yourself the results. But it certainly takes a bit of self-control.
The answer is both! But a French macaron's crispiness and chewiness should come in a specific order. When baked properly, the outer shells should be very lightly crisp, and lead to a moist, soft but chewy center.
If the entire macaron shell is crunchy, it's likely the shells spent too much time in the oven. Likewise, if the shells are chewy and lack that signature crisp, the baker probably needs a bit more refinement of their meringue and macaronage techniques.
Macarons crack in the oven for a variety of reasons, the most common being the oven itself. For perfect chocolate macarons, you need your meringue and batter whipped and mixed to the right consistency. And then a gentle, even heat in the oven. Most home ovens have hot spots that can force the air in the meringue up through the top of the shells before they have time to set during baking. And then... crack!
Often you will find a batch of macarons on the same pan produce a nice portion of great-looking shells and others that are cracked. Investing in an oven thermometer can help you correct any trouble with temperature, and also find hot spots to avoid.
Edible Epilogue
For me, filling the baked macaron shells is the most exciting part of the process. It's the moment it all comes together. Until you bite in, that is.
📖 Recipe
Chocolate French Macarons
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 14-18 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 20-24 macarons 1x
- Category: Macarons
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Delicate yet chewy, chocolate macarons are a chocoholic's dream treat! Whether filled with ganache, or easy peanut butter buttercream for a Reese's-inspired treat, chocolate macarons are perfectly scrumptious!
Ingredients
Chocolate Macaron Shells
- 180 grams (1½ slightly heaping cups) of confectioner's sugar
- 95 grams (1 cup) of fine-ground almond flour (or blanched, slivered almonds)
- 7 grams (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) of cocoa powder, any kind
- pinch of salt (about ⅛ of a teaspoon)
- 3 large egg whites (about 90 grams)
- 60 grams (¼ cup) of granulated sugar
Chocolate Ganache
- ⅓ cup (a little more than 2 ounces) of of heavy cream
- ⅓ cup (2 ounces) of semi-sweet or dark chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips)
- pinch of sea salt or flake kosher salt (about ⅛ of a teaspoon)
Simple Peanut Butter Buttercream
- 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup of creamy peanut butter, unsweetened recommended
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of honey or ⅓ cup confectioner's sugar (more or less depending on your desired sweetness)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- a tiny pinch of salt (but only if your peanut butter is unsalted)
Instructions
For Chocolate Ganache
- Place the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips and salt in a heat-proof bowl.
- Bring heavy cream just to a boil in a small sauce pot.
- Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate.
- Wait five minutes for the hot cream to melt the chocolate, then whisk the mixture until the ganache is silky and shiny.
- Cool the ganache to at least room temperature before filling your baked shells. You can cool it faster by placing it in the refrigerator and whisking it every five or ten minutes.
- Store leftover chocolate ganache in the refrigerator.
For Chocolate Macaron Shells
- Bring the egg whites to room temperature (no need to "age" them for days, it's a myth). Preheat your oven to 300° F with an oven thermometer inside to gauge its accuracy.
- Measure or weigh out all your ingredients. Line two baking pans with parchment paper (or silicone baking mats) with printable macaron templates underneath.
- Sift together the confectioner's sugar, almond meal (flour), cocoa powder, and salt.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Or a large mixing bowl if you're using a hand mixer.
- Whip the egg whites on medium speed until they're foamy. While continuing to beat, slowly rain down and beat in the granulated sugar. If using cream of tartar, add it once the meringue first becomes opaque, and reaches soft peaks.
- Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the meringue is voluminous, opaque, and shiny. The little peaks of meringue that form off the edge of the beater will stick nearly straight up. The French use the term bird's beak to describe a firm peak, which is the classical French meringue consistency used for macarons.
- Fold in the dry ingredients in a few additions. Mix a bit firm at first to encourage cohesion. Then use classic folding strokes; scraping around the sides of the bowl, then up from underneath the mixture, and over through the top. Aim for a batter that ribbons off the spatula in a somewhat thin stream, and settles back into itself within about ten seconds. Take care not to overmix.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. I set my piping bags tip-side down inside a large glass for hands-free transfer. Lay the bag flat on the counter, and push the batter down towards the tip. Twist the top of the bag tightly at the point where the batter stops, and hold it tip-side up until you are ready to pipe.
- Following the template you chose, pipe rounds of batter onto the lined pan. Hold the piping bag vertical, and about a quarter-inch above the pan. Squeeze the piping bag from the top until the batter reaches the inner edges of the black circle. Immediately stop squeezing and flick the tip away in a tiny, circular motion.
- To help the tops of piped batter settle, lightly tap the pan on the counter. Or with one hand, tap the underside of the pan a few times. Be careful not to tap too hard, this will cause air bubbles to pop. And leave you with potholed macs.
- If you like and for a bit of insurance, let the piped macaron batter rest on the counter for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Bake at 300° F for 14 to 17 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Rotate the pans once halfway through baking. Macarons are done when the tops don't wiggle away from the bottoms when very lightly pushed. But before the bottoms begin to brown.
- Cool a few moments before sliding the parchment paper or mat off the baking pan. Gently remove the shells from the mat or parchment by pushing up from underneath the liner to release the bottoms.
- Fill with your filling of choice. The easiest way to fill the baked shells is to transfer your filling(s) to a piping bag or plastic baggie. There's no need for a tip unless you want a more decorative pattern. Simply snip a very small opening in the corner of the bag.
- Pipe a small round of filling on half of the macaron shells, leaving a bit of space between where the filling ends and the edge of the shell. Top each filled shell with another.
- Store the filled macarons chilled for 24 hours before serving. If you can wait that long!
Easy Peanut Butter Buttercream
- Place all of the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Beat at medium speed until smooth, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a flexible spatula as you go.
- Store leftover buttercream in the refrigerator, but bring it to room temperature before using it. It can help to briefly beat the buttercream after chilling to revive it.
Notes
On Buying Chocolate for Ganache
While chocolate chips are fine to use, a nice bar of dark chocolate is even better. It will give the ganache a smoother consistency, and more nuance. Most chocolate chips contain emulsifiers like soy lecithin, which will prevent the really silky texture of classic ganache.
On Measuring
Any recipe publisher worth their weight in salt will recommend you weigh ingredients when baking. So I advise anyone who will listen to acquire a digital kitchen scale when baking French macarons. You can buy one online for the price of a couple of coffeehouse cappuccinos. But measuring cups are not the most common macaron baker's downfall. So if that's all you have then full speed ahead.
On Cream of Tartar
Many bakers swear by adding a tiny amount of cream of tartar (tartaric acid) to their meringue to stabilize it. Once I refined my technique, I actually found it to be a hindrance. Cream of tartar can make your meringue too sturdy, and prevent the mixed batter from settling nicely on the pan. It most likely won't hurt if you like the idea of insurance. But once you get the hang of the process, you shouldn't need it.
Storing
Store filled macarons sealed tight in the refrigerator. You can also bake and freeze macaron shells in advance. French macarons last a week or so if kept chilled. But always serve them at room temperature.
On Nutrition Information
The Nutrition Information below is based on the recipe as written for the macaron shells and chocolate ganache. Using the peanut butter buttercream filling will result in a different nutritional profile.
Keywords: chocolate macarons recipe, chocolate peanut butter macarons, chocolate ganache, macaron fillings
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Br. Paul Richards
Can any type of cocoa powder be used: dutch-processed or natural?
★★★★★
Christina
Either type of cocoa powder works. Dutch-processed will be slightly more acidic which could potentially help the meringue with stability during mixing. But it's not a factor that will make or break your macs. Thanks for reading!
Meghan R.
I have made several batches using this recipe and they come out perfect every time. Delicious!
★★★★★