Chocolate Macaron Recipe (2024)

This Chocolate Macaron recipe is light and fluffy with a delicious chocolaty flavor. This light-as-air dessert is elegant and scrumptious, and not as hard as you think to perfect.

If you love macarons, then you should try these Lemon Macarons and Coffee Macarons.

Recipe Details

This recipe for Chocolate Macarons is so delicious and elegant. I love serving these French cookies to guests because they have a wow factor and are just so scrumptious. There’s a lot to love about this dessert.

• TASTE: Perfectly sweet and chocolaty, these macarons are richly flavored.
• TEXTURE: These Chocolate Macarons are light and airy with a slightly crisp outside and a chewy center.
• TIME: This recipe doesn’t take long to put together, but you will need to wait about 30 minutes for the “skin” to form before baking them.
• EASE: This is a complicated dessert, but I break it down with step-by-step directions and photos so you can ace this dessert the very first time.

What You’ll Need

Ingredient Notes

• Almond flour- This is the base of the macarons. It creates a finer texture than other flours and gives them their smooth finish.
• Superfine Granulated sugar- This will give them sweetness. Put granulated sugar in the food processor to make it super fine.
• Heavy cream- This adds richness and a creamy flavor to the ganache filling.
• Egg whites- These are what create the stiff peaks that help the macarons rise. Be very careful to get all the egg yolks out before using these white. They should be room temp.
• Cocoa powder- For chocolaty flavor.
• Cream of tartar- The acid in this ingredient helps to strengthen and stabilize the egg whites so they can hold their peaks.
• Powdered sugar- This adds the sweetness to the chocolate dry ingredients.
• Semisweet chocolate chips- These will be melted for the ganache filling for the macarons.

Add-ins and Substitutions

• Add nuts- Make these with pistachios, hazelnuts, or coconut for a nutty flavor.
• Make them fruity- Using strawberry jam, raspberry sauce, or orange zest, you can add some delicious fruit notes to these Chocolate Macarons.
• Make them red velvet- Add red food coloring and use buttermilk and a cream cheese filling to make these chocolaty treats into red velvet macarons.
• Use other flavor variations- You can also make these macarons with flavors like coffee, vanilla, lavender, caramel, or lemon.

How to Make Chocolate Macarons

• Prep the baking sheets. Line 2 baking sheets withsilicone baking matsor parchment paper. Set them aside for later.
• Combine the dry ingredients. Place the almond flour, powdered sugar,dutch cocoa powder, and salt into afood processor. Pulse on high about 10 times to get them very fine for smooth macarons.
• Sift the dry ingredients. Now sift the dry ingredients through afine-mesh sieveinto a large mixing bowl. Discard any larger pieces that may be left behind.

• Make the meringue. To the bowl of astand mixer, add the room-temperature egg whites along with the vanilla extract andcream of tartar. Begin mixing at high speed. After about 1 minute, the eggs will become foamy. This is when you can slowly add in the superfine granulated sugar. Keep mixing at high speed for another 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

• Combine with dry ingredients. Now transfer the egg whites to a large mixing bowl and add 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Gently fold everything together using alarge silicone spatula. Once it’s mixed well, add another third of the dry ingredients. Repeat this process with the remaining third of the dry ingredients. Be careful not to over-mix the batter.
• Fill the pastry bag with batter. Place a round piping tip (such asWilton 1A)into apastry bagand begin filling it with the batter.

Pro Tip:Filling the piping bag can be very messy so I find it helpful to twist the bottom end to keep it closed so the batter doesn’t ooze out.

• Pipe out the shells. Now pipe out 1-inch mounds of the macaron batter onto your prepared baking sheets. Make sure to leave 1-2 inches between each piped macaron since they will continue to spread a little.
• Get rid of air bubbles. Take the cookie sheets and bang them onto the counter about 10 times to get rid of any air. If you see any visible air bubbles. Just pop them with a toothpick.
• Let them rest. Now let the macarons dry at room temperature for about 30-50 minutes or until they are no longer tacky to the touch. Dry time varies depending on the humidity of your area.
• Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure your oven is on the conventional setting.
• Bake. Bake a tray at a time for 16-18 minutes. Be careful NOT to under-bake or else they will stick to the silicone mat or parchment paper. You may want to remove the second batch from the oven a minute or two earlier to avoid burning. Once the macarons are done baking let them cool down to room temperature.

• Make the ganache filling. Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and warm up the heavy cream in a saucepan until it’s simmering. Then pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and stir with a whisk until smooth.
• Pipe it into the chocolate macaron shells. Once the ganache is cooled, transfer it to a pastry bag and begin piping the ganache onto half of the baked macarons. Then sandwich the remaining macaron shells on top of the filled ones.

Recipe Tips

• Measuring almond flour– Make sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife. Avoid scooping straight into the measuring cup. This compacts the flour and changes the amount.
• Sift the dry ingredients well-It’s important for the consistency of your chocolate macarons to sift the almond flour to get rid of any larger pieces of almond. You can also pulse it in a food processor to make it super fine.
• Superfine sugar– You can make granulated sugar superfine by pulsing the sugar in a food processor about 15 times. This will give your finished macarons a smoother look.
• Use room temperature egg whites- If you forgot to bring your eggs to room temperature, just submerge them in hot water for about 5 minutes, and they should be good.
• Don’t overmix the batter– It should be similar to brownie batter and able to drip off the spatula. You can also tell when you are able to make a figure 8 in the batter. Just be careful not to overmix and create air pockets in the macarons.
• Avoid using a fan in your oven-Set your oven to the conventional setting when you preheat. This should keep any internal fan from blowing and upsetting the baking process of these delicate cookies.
• Get rid of any air pockets-You don’t want air bubbles in your macarons so bang the baking sheets hard on the counter up to 10 times to get rid of them. This will ensure even rising as the macarons develop “feet.”
• Adjust the bake time for the second tray-Because the second tray has been sitting out longer and drying, it will bake faster than the first one. Adjust the time to avoid burning them.
• Take your climate into account- If you live in a humid climate, your chocolate macaron shells may not dry as fast as in other areas. So add a few minutes to the dry time if you’re having a humid day, allowing them to form the right “skin” before baking.

FAQs

Serving Suggestions

These Chocolate Macarons are a versatile dessert that goes well with everything. Serve them alongside cookies, cakes, coffee, and other macarons.

• Cookies: Serve them with some Linzer Cookies with Raspberry Jam, Chocolate Meringue Cookies, Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies, or White Chocolate Florentine Cookies.
• Cake: Pair these Chocolate Macarons with a slice of Chocolate Mousse Cake, New York Style Cheesecake, Berry Chantilly Cake, or Chocolate Honey Cake (Spartak Cake).
• Beverages: Enjoy them with a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Or try them with a Pumpkin Spice Latte or Caramel Frappuccino Recipe (Starbucks Copycat).
• Macarons: Serve them alongside other macarons, such as these Coffee Macarons, Raspberry Macarons, Vanilla Macarons, or Lemon Macarons.

Make This Recipe in Advance

Make ahead: You can prepare the macaron shells beforehand and store them for a couple of days in the fridge until you’re ready to fill and serve them.

Storing: Macaron shells usually last for 4-6 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Once they have been filled though, they should be storedin the refrigerator in an airtight container with some plastic wrap or parchment paper in between layers to avoid sticking for2-4 days.

Freeze: You can freeze these macarons in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and let them come to room temperature before serving.

More Delicious Desserts!

Full Recipe Instructions