French Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream Filling | Vanilla Macarons. A macaron is a French cookie. It is a meringue based cookie, made with egg whites, almond flour, castor sugar and icing sugar.
French Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream Filling | Vanilla Macarons is one of my favorite cookies ever but definitely not too easy to recreate. It certainly takes a fair bit patience and skill. But I nailed it on my first attempt!! π
Yes!! I jumped with joy all over the place as I saw the macaron develop those ruffled feet in the oven! I couldn’t believe it for real but then again I’m pretty good at baking π Hehe..! Honestly, I was determined with every last bone in my body to nail it and it happened!
French Macarons should essentially have a smooth top, ruffled feet and a flat base. The texture should be crisp on the outside and soft and chewy within. That is the perfect French Macaron!
See the picture above, that is how they should look when bit into one. I nailed them taste wise as well. I wasn’t sure if they would be chewy, but as they say a picture is worth a thousand words π I wanted a chocolate buttercream filling, it’s my favorite when I think of Macarons! Next on the list would be chocolate ganache!
I can say one thing before I start the recipe, please follow the recipe and the measures correctly. I can’t say for sure if you’ll nail it in the first go but do give your honest 100% to it. This recipe worked for me and I plan on holding on to it. I’ll also make other flavors using it as the base for the shells.
That’s a close up of the mac! This is the exact texture, up close π Are you tempted?! :p
Let’s start the recipe and the steps. Please follow them.
Macaron Shell
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. I used 2 sheets as I wasn’t sure how much many shells would fit on one sheet.
Beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl with an electric whisk until they are foamy (takes about 2 minutes).
Slowly add the white sugar (I used castor sugar) into the egg whites.
Beat again till the mixture is foamy and holds stiff peaks (takes about 5 minutes).
Sift together the almond flour and the confectioner’s sugar in a separate bowl. Discard any bits left behind.
Add 1/2 of the sifted flour to the meringue and fold gently in 4-5 folds.
Add the remaining half of the flour and fold gently.
I did about 37-38 folds to ensure the correct consistency. The batter should be like slow flowing lava. It depends on everyone’s manual strength as to how many folds it may take to get the batter right.
(Do not over the batter. It could spoil the cookies and turn them flat. Under mixing also spoils the batter and the cookies crack while baking).
Once the batter is ready, fill it in a piping bag.
Pipe cookies in round circles of about 1.5″ in diameter. Pipe each cookie at a distance of 2″. I piped around 15 cookies.
Bang the baking sheet on the counter a few times to ensure all the air bubbles are released.
Let the baking sheets sit on the counter for 30-40 minutes until the piped cookies develop a shiny, hard skin on top of them.
Preheat the oven at 160’c.
Bake them forΒ 18-20 minutes in the center of the oven. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for at least 30-40 minutes.
Chocolate Buttercream Filling
Cream the butter using an electric whisk. Add vanilla extract.
Then add icing sugar. Whisk again.
Add some milk if the filling is too thick or add some icing sugar if the filling is too runny.
Fill the buttercream in a piping bag.
Pipe buttercream in between two cookies and make sandwiches.
They keep fresh for 3 days at room temperature.
Ingredients
- 2 nos. large egg whites
- 2/3 cup/ 71 gms almond flour
- 1 cup/ 125 gms Confectioner's sugar
- 1/4 cup castor sugar (white sugar)
- 1/2 stick soft unsalted butter
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 tbsp. milk (approx.)
- 3 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. I used 2 sheets as I wasn't sure how much many shells would fit on one sheet.
- Beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl with an electric whisk until they are foamy (takes about 2 minutes).
- Slowly add the white sugar (I used castor sugar) into the egg whites.
- Beat again till the mixture is foamy and holds stiff peaks (takes about 5 minutes).
- Sift together the almond flour and the confectioner's sugar in a separate bowl. Discard any bits left behind.
- Add 1/2 of the sifted flour to the meringue and fold gently in 4-5 folds.
- Add the remaining half of the flour and fold gently.
- I did about 37-38 folds to ensure the correct consistency. The batter should be like slow flowing lava. It depends on everyone's manual strength as to how many folds it may take to get the batter right.
- (Do not over the batter. It could spoil the cookies and turn them flat. Under mixing also spoils the batter and the cookies crack while baking).
- Once the batter is ready, fill it in a piping bag.
- Pipe cookies in round circles of about 1.5" in diameter. Pipe each cookie at a distance of 2". I piped around 15 cookies.
- Bang the baking sheet on the counter a few times to ensure all the air bubbles are released.
- Let the baking sheets sit on the counter for 30-40 minutes until the piped cookies develop a shiny, hard skin on top of them.
- Preheat the oven at 160'c.
- Bake them for 18-20 minutes in the center of the oven. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for at least 30-40 minutes.
- Cream the butter using an electric whisk. Add vanilla extract.
- Then add icing sugar. Sift in the cocoa powder. Whisk again.
- Add some milk if the filling is too thick or add some icing sugar if the filling is too runny.
- Fill the buttercream in a piping bag.
- Pipe buttercream in between two cookies and make sandwiches.
- They keep fresh for 3 days at room temperature.
Notes
Always sift the ingredients as mentioned above. It gives a smooth finish to the cookies. Resting the piped cookies is essential for the feet to form while baking. Use ready almond flour as it is ground very fine. Making the flour at home is not nearly as perfect. I have baked on baking sheets of the exact same kind. Hence the cookies baked evenly and took the same amount of time to bake.
Love,
Shreya π
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s basic French Macarons recipe. I even saw a few YouTube videos to learn the method for piping the Macarons.