Ultimate chocolate macarons recipe with deep dive into various cocoa powders, specific tips to consider for making chocolate macarons and more!
Table of Contents
- Are you new to making macarons?
- Why you’ll love this chocolate macarons recipe:
- Key Ingredient Notes
- What cocoa powder should you use for macarons?
- Cacao Barry Extra Brut cocoa powder
- Valrhona cocoa powder
- Guittard Rich Dutched cocoa powder
- Ghirardelli Natural and Dutched cocoa powders
- Hershey’s Natural cocoa powder
- How to make chocolate macarons:
- 1. Make meringue and sift dry ingredients
- 2. Mix the macaron batter
- 3. Pipe and bake
- 4. Assemble the macarons
- Chocolate Macarons Filling Ideas:
- Chocolate Macarons Recipe
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItAre you new to making macarons?
Have you mastered basic macarons and are up for a challenge?
If you thought plain macarons are a pain, just wait to try making chocolate version. I’m not saying this to discourage you, but I also want to give you a fair warning and set you up for success.
Here’s the thing…
If you haven’t mastered the basic macaron techniques, like making a stable meringue, understanding a proper macaronage, or figured out the sweet spot of your oven, your macaron journey may turn out harder than it needs to be.
Why?
Because an addition of cocoa powder throws a curveball to the whole process. But don’t worry, I’ll share ALL THE TIPS I learned over the years right here!
Why you’ll love this chocolate macarons recipe:
These chocolate macarons are beyond indulgent. So rich, yet addicting, you won’t be able to stop at just one! Even the failed ones are supremely good!!
There is literally no foolproof macaron recipe, and this chocolate macaron recipe is no exception. And the only way you can perfect your macarons is through experimentation.
And my goal here is to equip you with all the tips and tricks to consider when making these decadent treats.
Key Ingredient Notes
- Egg whites – Take good care to separate egg whites from yolks without contaminating the whites with yolks. Room temperature egg whites whip faster and reach better volume.
- Almond flour – Choose super-fine almond flour to with light beige color and fluffy texture.
- Powdered sugar is essential for making macarons.
- Granulated sugar – Use fine granulated sugar, aka caster sugar or baker’s sugar, as it dissolves faster in the egg whites.
- Cream of tartar is optional and can be omitted. However, it helps to stabilize egg whites and create sturdier meringue. It’s just an extra insurance!
- Cocoa powder – You can use either unsweetened natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Not all cocoa powders made same. Read more details below.
What cocoa powder should you use for macarons?
Does type of cocoa powder matter in making chocolate macarons? Yes, no and maybe! 🙂
I’ve tested 6 different cocoa powders with the same recipe.
Cacao Barry Extra Brut cocoa powder
I loved how these macarons were dark and rich colored. They were slightly on the soft side, meaning the shells were a little fragile on the top.
But baking these macarons a little longer solved the problem. After filling and maturing, they were perfect!
Valrhona cocoa powder
Valrhona cocoa powder is pretty dark in color, which produced richer colored macarons with great chocolate flavor.
However, some of the macarons had slightly wavy tops (not completely wrinkly), and I suspect it’s due to higher fat amount of the cocoa powder.
Guittard Rich Dutched cocoa powder
These chocolate macs were also perfect: nice shells with crisp outer layer, full inside and great chocolate flavor.
They had slightly darker shade of brown than macarons made with Hershey’s natural cocoa powder.
Ghirardelli Natural and Dutched cocoa powders
I was quite surprised how similar the macarons with Ghirardelli natural and Dutched cocoa powders were.
Although cocoa powders have different shades, the macarons were practically the same color. But nonetheless, they were perfect macarons with nice smooth tops and full inside.
Hershey’s Natural cocoa powder
Macarons with Hershey’s natural cocoa powder came out perfect every time! Crisp outer skin, full meaty inside, smooth tops and chocolatey flavor!
The only downside is they are light brown colors, which is no big deal in my opinion. And if you want richer brown color, add a small amount of brown gel food coloring.
Cocoa powder conclusion
The high end cocoa powders tend to have higher percentage of fat which is not ideal for macarons.
The most commonly available Hershey’s Natural and Ghirardelli cocoa powders work perfectly for making macarons!
How to make chocolate macarons:
Now that we sorted everything with cocoa powders, let’s make these beautiful macarons.
1. Make meringue and sift dry ingredients
- Make meringue: Combine egg whites, granulated sugar, salt and cream of tartar, if using, in a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg whites on a consistent medium speed until stiff peaks form. You want to see those nice sharp ribs and pointy ends when you lift the whisk. (On KitchenAid stand mixer, I beat the meringue on speed 4. This process may take up to 40 minutes. Don’t rush it.)
- Sift dry ingredients: twice. Yes, two times. Not only are we combining the almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder, we’re also aerating the dry ingredients to get that beautiful full interior.
2. Mix the macaron batter
- Sift in almond flour mixture into the meringue.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue with a large silicone spatula. Then fold the batter until lava-like consistency, which means the batter is thick, yet runny enough to slowly flow off the spatula.
WATCH MY REAL TIME MACARONAGE VIDEO
To test the consistency of the batter: Scoop the batter with the spatula and drop it back into the bowl. Then tilt the bowl slightly and count to 10. If the edges of the ribbon are dissolved back into the batter in 10 seconds, the batter is ready!
Chocolate Macaron Batter Consistency
I learned from Phay Shing that chocolate macaron batter tends to be thicker, thus it doesn’t melt back into the batter the same as plain macaron batter. Don’t over-mix!
3. Pipe and bake
- Transfer the batter into a piping bag, fitted with a round tip (I use Wilton 2A tip). And pipe 1.5-inch rounds on two baking sheets, lined with teflon sheets or parchment paper.
- Rest the macaron shells for 15 minutes.
- Bake for 18-20 at 300°F oven. Cool macaron shells completely on the baking sheets and then carefully peel them off.
NEED HELP? Check out visual Macaron Troubleshooting Guide for tips and tricks to fix or prevent common macaron issues!
4. Assemble the macarons
- Remove the cooled macaron shells from the baking surface. If the shells are stuck to the baking surface, the shells are either underbaked, or you need to let them cool completely.
- Then pair the shells by size and arrange them on a baking sheet, or wire rack, placing one shell bottom side up.
- Pipe a dollop of filling on bottom shells and place the top shell over the filling and press lightly so the filling spreads till the edges.
- Place the filled macarons in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or preferably for 24 hours. This process is called maturing, which allows the filling to soften and flavor the shells.
Chocolate Macarons Filling Ideas:
Chocolate macarons are so versatile and pair perfectly with pretty much any kind of filling.
Here are my favorite ways to fill chocolate macs:
- Simple chocolate ganache
- Chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream
- Easy peanut butter buttercream
- Combination of chocolate Swiss buttercream with salted caramel in the center
- Straight up Nutella – the easiest solution!
Chocolate Macarons
Ingredients
For macarons shells:
- 100 g finely ground almond flour Note 1
- 65 g powdered sugar Note 2
- 10 g cocoa powder Note 3
- 75 g egg whites at room temperature Note 4
- 75 g fine granulated sugar Note 5
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar Note 6
- ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
For filling of your choice:
- Chocolate ganache 1/3 of the linked recipe
- Chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream 1/2 of the linked recipe
- Salted caramel for the center
Instructions
To make chocolate macaron shells:
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or teflon sheet, or silicone mat. (TIP: For even air circulation, flip the baking sheets upside down.)
- To prepare dry ingredients, sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder twice. Note: If you have up to 2 tablespoons of chunky dry ingredients left in the sifter, you don't have to replace it. Simply discard those chunky bits.
- To make meringue, in a clean mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, combine egg whites, granulated sugar, cream of tartar and salt and beat the mixture on medium speed until soft peaks form. (I set it to speed 4 on my KitchenAid stand mixer. It takes 30-40 minutes to whip the meringue, but it's well worth it for nice and full shells.)
- Continue beating the egg whites on the same medium low speed until hard peaks form. Visual cues: Meringue should ball up inside the whisk, and when you lift the whisk, the meringue should hold a pointy end and have sharp ribs. (See pictures above or watch this meringue video for more information.)
- To make batter, sift almond flour mixture into the meringue. Using a silicone spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the meringue until fully incorporated. Then continue to fold the batter until it’s runny enough to draw a figure eight. To test, take a small amount of batter and drop it into the bowl. If the small peaks dissolve into the batter on its own in about 10 seconds, the batter is ready. If not, fold couple more times and test again. Be careful not to over-fold the batter. (TIP: Making french macarons is all about the technique. This is one of the most crucial step. Let me try to describe the folding motion as best as I can: run the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half. If you’re beginner macaron-baker, I suggest to count every fold. It takes roughly about 50 folds to reach the proper consistency. After 50 folds, start testing the batter, and continue testing after every couple folds.)
- To pipe macaron shells,transfer the batter into a pastry bag, fitted with a round tip. (I use this Wilton 2A tip.)
- Hold the pastry bag at straight 90° angle and pipe about 1.5-inch rounds about an inch apart on prepared baking sheets. (TIP 2: Download my free macaron template. Simply pipe the batter to fill inner circle.)
- Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter (or slap the bottom of the baking sheet with one of your hands) a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. You can also use a toothpick to burst some large air bubbles. This step ensures smooth tops.
- Let the macarons rest on the counter for 15 minutes before baking.
- To bake, bake the macarons for 18-20 minutes, one baking sheet at a time, on the middle rack. It’ll take longer for larger macarons. To test for doneness, touch a macaron lightly and try to move it. If it slides and wobbles, bake a minute or so longer. The cooked macarons should be firm to touch and the base shouldn’t move.(TIP: It’s always better to slightly over-bake macarons than under-bake them!)
- Cool the macarons complete and then remove the shells from the baking surface. (TIP: Don't remove the shells while warm, you may risk breaking the shells, or the bottom might get stuck to the baking surface.)
To assemble macarons:
- Pair the colled macaron shells by size and arrange them on a wire rack. Line them up so that bottom shells are upside down.
- Pipe a dollop of desired filling on bottom shells. Place the top shell over the filling and press lightly so the filling spreads till the edges.
- Store the filled macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 24 hours to mature, which allows the filling to soften and flavor the shells.
- To serve, bring the macarons out about 30 minutes prior to serving.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on November 21st, 2014.
Oh. my. god.
I have never made macarons in my life, and I tried this recipe for the first time making it and they came out SO AMAZING. They came out perfectly and I am absolutely blown away. The only thing I have to say about this is that it does not make 21-24 macarons. It made about 10 and two of them I made smaller ones. I am definitely bookmarking this bc I will be making this again soon!
Hi, Serena!! So happy for you!!! Thank you for your feedback. As for the count, how big macarons did you get? Mine are like 1.5-inch baked macarons, so they’re pretty small.
I would not recommend this recipe. I do not like it. I made it 3 times for an event, and every time the macarons cracked, did not gain feet, or spread out. The batter was very thick when I made it, and I followed the recipe accurately. I’ve made macarons many times before and have never had this happen. I am a talented baker and very unsatisfied with the result of this recipe. I’m assuming the poor results were an improper ratio of wet to dry, but I’m not sure. I will say that these did taste very good, but had a chewy texture, which is not normal for macarons, or at least any macarons I’ve ever made or purchased to eat.
Hi, Mallory. Thank you for your feedback. I’m sorry to hear your macarons didn’t turn out. But as you know macarons are quite finicky. Despite your great experience as a baker, macarons can fail for one reason or another. Once I had terrible results time after time (like 3-4 times) with the same recipe I always had results, and later I found out my almond flour was the culprit. I’m sharing this not to blame your ingredients, but simply to share that you never know what could be the culprit. I know my recipe has way less sugar compared to many macaron recipes, but I can assure you that this ratio works great not only for me, but many other readers as well. That being said, chocolate macarons are especially finicky, and cocoa powder usually gives a lot of trouble. Would you mind sharing if you used natural cocoa powder, or dutch processed cocoa powder?
As for texture of my macarons, I’m actually pretty proud of my chewy, almond-y macarons, pretty similar to the ones I had tried in Paris. I also tried making recipes from others with a lot more sugar, and I was kind of disappointed with too sweet, too meringue-like texture of macarons. But to each their own. 🙂
This recipe is Awesome! i loved it! mines that i over baked the shell other than that it was really really good! Came out amazing!
So glad your macarons turned out great, Veronica. Thank you for your feedback!
I was happier with this recipe than other chocolate macaron recipes I have tried. These had beautiful ruffled feet, soft and not hallow interior, with shiny tops. Only reason I didn’t give it a 5 Star was that they are slightly grainy and I had to pat down the tail with a damp finger after piping the shells. I sifted my extra fine grind almond flour and other dry ingredients 3 times prior to sifting it over the beaten egg whites. I also made them around 1.25” round. My template is 1”, so I piped them slightly larger than template. I got 76 shells! I did also add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder to intensify the chocolate flavor, it worked wonderfully. Not sure why tops were slightly grainy. I had 2 large egg whites. I don’t have a scale. Can you tell me what the weight is in cups? I might be able to measure it in cups and discard the rest if I use 3 eggs!
I found a liquid converter. Your 75 grams of egg whites is approximately 1/3 cup. When I measured my 2 large egg whites I got just over 1/4 cup. Looks like I would need either extra large egg whites, 2, or 3 large egg whites, discarding any amount over 1/3 cup! That would probably explain the thick grainy batter. Still made nice macarons, just shell was grainy instead of smooth! Do you agree or is there something else that could cause the grainy textured shells?
Hi, Lesa! Thank you for your feedback. You got 76 shells? Woo-hoo! I have a follow up question on your grainy top. Is it just the tip that was pointy? Or bits of almond looked grainy? If you’ve got a picture, I think it’ll be helpful.
And as for egg white amount in cups, I’ll have to measure it and let you know later this week when I make macarons.
It’s the whole top shell has little bits (very fine bits) of almond flour. My almond flour is Honeywell super fine grind and I sifted it 4 times. In fact, I sifted all dry ingredients 4 times including the super fine granulated white sugar that you incorporate into the egg whites! The description might be better said to be gritty instead of grainy. I will try to get a close up if a completed macaron. How do I post a photo here?
Lesa, thanks for sending the photo. I got it! To me it looked like the batter might have been a tad bit undermixed, because I could see the tip of batter still peaked. But I know what you mean by the overall grittiness, and I’m not quite sure what could cause it. And I totally forgot to measure the egg whites in a cup today when I made macarons. But I’ll measure it on Sunday. So sorry, but I’ll get back to you!
This recipe, made exactly by gram weight, it was horrible. It made maybe 6 cookies.
Even the ganache is wrong. The measurements make no sense.
I don’t know what to say, Ted. It doesn’t look like you trust my recipes, so I won’t force you to try it. 🙂 You’re welcome to search the internet for other recipes that makes sense to you.
I too had an incredibly terrible, thick, grainy batter that never thinned out. All ingredients were weighed out appropriately, The eggs were not over beaten. Even if I over beat them, it would not explain how I managed to get 18 shells, so only 9 potential macarons. The recipe claims you can make 42 shells. There’s no way you can produce that from two eggs worth.
I’ve made several types of macarons based on her basic shell recipe, and while I don’t get 42 shells, I get 34 of them. Three batches thus far, and 17 macarons per batch on all three. I also compared it to a couple other recipes I found online, and so far, hers gives me the best results. I get cracked shells with two other chocolate macaron recipes. Chocolate is the most difficult for me to make. The cocoa powder throws everything off. Agree on the filling, though. It needs to be firmer.
Ginger, thank you for your input! I’m so glad to hear that you get successful batches with my base recipe. And I agree, cocoa powder throws everything off.
I’m thinking about making these for Mother’s Day and want them to turn out perfectly the first time. Any tips?
Hi, Ted. Thank you for your feedback! Sorry to hear you had an issue with thick batter. I was able to reproduce the thick batter issue (finally) couple weeks ago. I used 2 smaller eggs, which yielded 63gr of egg whites. My batter stayed thick and never thinned out. So to confirm my suspicion, will you let me know how many grams of egg whites did you use? Thank you!
P.S. As for the number of shells, I’ve been using my base macaron recipe for over 5 years now and I consistently produce at least 20 assembled macarons. There’s absolutely no reason for me to lie about it. And for the record, I’ve never tried doubling my recipe.
The thick batter mystery: my 3rd grader was dying to learn to make macarons so I had to learn in order to help her. We’ve encountered lots of problems in our trial and error learning, but finally got consistent results. Then one day no matter how long I folded the batter it remained thick and grainy and never got to the stage of flowing in thick ribbons and we had to toss it out. We are not 100% sure, but the only conclusion that we could find is that WE OVERBEAT THE EGG WHITES. Since then we’ve both been vigilant about not doing that and haven’t had a repeat of that problem.
Hi, Jamie!! Your theory and findings make perfect sense. Overmixing the meringue results in drying out the egg whites, so if the egg whites are overbeaten too much, it may definitely result in thick batter. Thank you so much for sharing this tip. I’ll test this out and see what I find out. And kudos to you and your kiddo for patiently testing it out!
These are fantastic! I’ve never made macrons but wanted to try them after a macron episode marathon on the food network. I wasn’t sure what to expect in mixing, baking and taste. I used extra finely ground King Aurther almond flour. When mixing the final ingrediants I knew the batter was mixed but still looked gritty, I figured it was the consistancy of the flour. My grandfather and mother have celiac and often make desserts with rice and almond flour. Peanut butter cookies are a staple, but arent for everyone because the flour gives them a grittiness. Since I knew this and read the warning about over mixing the batter I moved on. I piped them onto parchment paper, let them dry and popped them in the oven for about 19 minutes, using a small spatula I scraped one up to make sure it wasnt sticking to my paper meaning the rest were also done. My ganache was kinda runny like pudding, it also never set completely. But I think I didnt use enough cream, or the right cream. Regardless, still delish and put it on my cookies. I am a novice cook and baker, I was very fortunate to recieve a kitchebaid mixer for Christmas and am putting it to use. The macrons are amazing. They are light but have the consistancy of a corner brownie with the crispy outer shell but also have that fudgy density if that makes sense. There isn’t any gritty texture in these like in many gluten free desserts and its kind of blowing my mind. Im sorry so many had issues with this recipe but I will definitly be making more and for my family members with celiac whos limited in yummy goodies.
For the peanut butter cookies try smitten kitchen’s. smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/ They have no flour, not even nut flour, and are really easy.
We struggled with a super thick batter as did others. I wonder if it has to do with the grittiness of the almond flour. I think we’ll reduce the almond flour a bit next time around. The flavor was delicious but they weren’t very pretty. However, I’ll take tasty over pretty with these. I give them a 4-star rating and hope our next bake is more successful. Thanks for the delicious recipe.