French Cocoa Macarons

January 20, 2021

I have always loved macarons. They can be so perfect that they almost look fake and their shape really appeals to my obsessive compulsive tendencies. Everyone equally formed in shape and height, but one quick glance at a few macaron recipes and it is pretty clear that these little creations can be quite frustrating to fabricate.

This week, I prepared myself for all possible outcomes and compiled my ingredients. My first attempt was a learning experience for sure. Luckily, even though they would not have won a beauty contest, they were incredibly tasty and this motivated me to take another crack at it tomorrow. So that night, I went to bed and read about eight hundred macaron FAQ’s, hoping they would marinate overnight.

Now I don’t know if it was the marinated FAQ’s or the fact that I had a better idea about what to expect my second time around, but I did achieve some success this time! I say “some” success, because I used three different baking surfaces and was presented with three different results. The reason I did this was that I found that many credible sources swore by different materials and I wanted to see what worked best with my recipe in my oven. By far, the best result was with the Le Creuset Non-Stick Flat Cookie Sheet lined with a silicone mat, but that was not one bit surprising to me. This sheet is truly fabulous and I am this close to replacing all of my other baking sheets with Le Creusets… ok, back to the results! I also tried a Wilton Professional baking sheet with a silicone mat and one with parchment. Neither were terrible, but neither were close to the results I had on the Le Creuset.

I have a feeling that this recipe will be updated over time, as I learn more about them and develop different flavors, but for now, I will explain what I learned during this particular process and how hopefully you can repeat it too.

This first thing that I did was make sure that I had everything that I needed. I set out my eggs and butter so they would be room temperature and grabbed my food processor, stand mixer, food scale, mixing bowls and all of the ingredients. I also made sure that my baking sheets were clean and dry and lined with silicone sheets that were also clean and dry. Macarons love it dry, so just run a clean paper towel over everything you’re gonna use and make sure that nothing will upset these little guys.

You should already have the ingredients in your pantry if you bake a lot, but I did acquire something new for this recipe…. Black Cocoa Powder… and I am so glad that I did! I wanted the shells to be dark, but did not want to use food coloring, so after some research, I found this black cocoa powder. It is different than dark chocolate cocoa powder in the flavor, sweeter and less acidic, and gives a beautifully rich dark color. I am really excited to use it in future recipes

First, I weighed out everything that needed to be weighed. I used to roll my eyes when a recipe called for weighing ingredients, but it is really easy. You can get a food scale for under $20 and instantly have confidence that you are using the exact amount you need. In separate bowls, weigh out 250 grams of almond flour, 355 grams of confectioners sugar, 45 grams of black cocoa powder, 80 grams of granulated sugar and 220 grams of room temperature egg whites.

In a food processor, grind the almond flour down to a super fine texture. Do this with the pulse setting and not by turning it on high. You want to grind it just enough to create a fine texture, but not enough to begin releasing the natural oils. Remember, macarons want dry conditions, so oily almond flour would be a bad thing. I pulsed mine about eight times and it was perfect. Once the texture is fine, transfer it into a mesh sifter over a large mixing bowl. The bigger the bowl the better since fine textures tend to travel a bit.

Add your confectioners sugar and cocoa powder and sift everything together. I recommend going slow and using a bowl scraper or a stiff whisk to assist in working the ingredients through the sifter. If you tap the sides of the sifter, it will create a big cloud of sugar dust and you have a good chance of losing some of the ingredients around the sides of the bowl. Since we started by weighing out ingredients, losing some will effect this recipe, so work slowly. Discard anything that wouldn’t fit through the mesh and set this aside.

The sifting process not only helps to incorporate everything together, but it also helps the batter to be as smooth as possible, which in turn helps our shells to look their best. Now that the dry ingredients have been prepared, now we will work on those egg whites…

Set your eggs out at least 30 minutes before you will need them. Room temp egg whites whip up much better than cold ones, so this step is really important.

Pour the egg whites into the bowl of your stand mixer and then sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar over the egg whites and hand mix with a whisk until they are combined. Cream of tartar really helps to keep your whipped egg whites stable, which is really helpful as we will be adding this to dry ingredients and don’t want them to lose their body. Once the cream of tartar is incorporated into the egg whites and you do not see any white bits floating the surface, turn the stand mixer on medium low.

Mix on medium low until it begins to look frothy and starts to lighten into a white color. Now we can begin adding the granulated sugar. Add the sugar slowly as the mixer is whisking and once all of the sugar has been added, increase the speed to medium high and allow it to whip the egg whites until they become stiff and shiny. If you think it is ready, stop the mixer and check the peaks. If they stand up stiff (photo left), you are ready to go, but if the peak droops over, turn the mixer up to high for another minute or so.

I hesitate to give a length of time that it takes to get the egg whites right, because there a variety of different stand mixers out there with varying power levels. When I use my 3 quart KitchenAid, it takes a long time to get stiff peaks, because it is a much smaller mixer with a 250 watt motor. When I use my 5 quart KitchenAid, things move along much quicker. Not only is the bowl much larger, but the motor is 450 watts, so it offers more power than the smaller mixer.

Once your egg whites are stiff and shiny, transfer them into the bowl containing your dry ingredients and gently combine. Once all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg whites, start mixing in a figure eight fashion by cutting through the middle and wrapping around the bowl to the right and then back through the middle and around to the left. Be sure to scrape the very bottom of the bowl, so you don’t leave any dry ingredients behind. Only mix until it begins to feel smooth. This batter can be easily over mixed, so check it early and often! You will “check” it, by scooping up some batter and pulling it up away from the bowl. If the batter flows smoothly in one stream back into the bowl, you are ready. If the batter falls back in sections, mix a few more times. As soon as it flows smoothly, stop mixing and transfer it into a pastry bag with a round tip.

I did not get photos of this portion unfortunately, but will be sure to do so during my next macaron experience!

Pipe one inch circles onto a silicone lined baking sheet being sure to keep them an inch apart. This batter should smooth out, but not spread out much once it is piped. As you are piping, keep the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet. Avoid piping at an angle. Squeeze until you are about 80% there and then stop squeezing and raise the bag straight up. Once all of your shells are piped out, you will want to bang the baking sheet on your counter top a few times to work any air bubbles up to the surface. This is really important!!

If air is left in the batter, it will work its way to the top during baking and will form cracks over the tops of your shells, so give those sheets a few good hits until you see little bubbles appearing. This next step is optional (but, necessary for the perfectionists out there)…

Using a toothpick, pop any air bubbles that did not fully break the surface and then smooth out any holes that were created by the bubbles that popped through. Once everyone looks smooth and pretty, let them take a nice long nap on your counter top.

They need to rest for while. The resting stage allows them to form a delicate skin. This skin is one of the most important elements of macaron success!! During the baking process, the heat will cause the batter to rise up and when it hits that skin, it will push it up and force those cute little macaron “feet” to form underneath. If the skin isn’t there, the heat will just force its way through the top, causing cracks and nothing will be there to force those little feet out! Of course they still taste good, but they will not be pretty and pretty food rocks…

Bake on the middle rack, one sheet at a time, for 17 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is important, so if you have a thermometer inside your oven, keep an eye on it and if it begins to climb over 305 degrees, lower the oven temp a little. About half way through the bake time, rotate the pan so it is facing the opposite direction. This helps to even out any uneven spots that your oven may have. When you get close to 17 minutes, reach in and touch the top of a shell to see if it moves.

If the shell feels firm and it does not shift above the base, they are ready to be taken out. However, if the tops of the shells feel like they are loose or shifting over the base, then leave them in for another minute or until they firm up. Remove the sheet from the oven and set it over a cutting board or cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully slide the silicone sheet onto the cooling rack and let them cool here for another 10 minutes.

While the shells are cooling, we will make the peanut butter buttercream. I can barely type that out without feeling happy! This filling goes really well with the chocolate macaron shells, but so would a whole host of other fillings! The shells can hang out in an air tight container in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for a few months, so make a bunch and fill them with different fillings to find your favorite.

For this filling, add 1/2 cup of room temperature butter (1 stick) and 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter into the bowl of your stand mixer and cream together until smooth and light in color. Next, add 2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar to the creamed butters and begin to combine. If it is too dry, add some heavy cream, 1 table spoon at a time, until you get the consistency you are looking for. I wanted mine fairly thick, so I only ended up adding about a tablespoon and a half until I was happy with the texture I had. Transfer the buttercream into a pastry bag with a piping tip and carefully pipe your filling onto one fully cooled shell. Pick a matching shell out and place it gently over the filling and press until the filling pushes out to the edges.

There is one slightly disappointing element at this stage. Macarons are best when refrigerated for about 24 hours after assembling, so we really aren’t supposed to dig right in, but you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t do a little quality control, right?? So taste your creations, but only a few, and then place the rest of them into an airtight container and let them hang out in the refrigerator until the next day. This gives the buttercream a chance to become friends with the shells and I promise you that if you liked them right out of the oven, you will love them the next day!

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