Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Recipe
The Best Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Recipe – delicate chocolate macaron shells, glued together with smooth chocolate peppermint ganache.
Are you excited about these chocolate macarons? How was your Thanksgiving?
There is probably no need to remind you that Christmas is around the corner.
Every year, around this time I get obsessed with holiday cookie baking. But this year is different.
I don’t have a lot of cookie recipes coming. I’ve made some cakes.
I’ll definitely make these brownie cookies and meringue Christmas trees.
But no new cookie recipes. Please forgive me!
Homemade Chocolate Macarons
I’ve made these Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate Peppermint Ganache a few times and they turned perfect every single time.
The rich chocolate favor and smooth peppermint ganache, make them perfect for the holidays.
As you know I’m in the French macaron lover’s camp! But what I enjoy even more, than eating them – is making them.
I’ve shared some tips and tricks on making French macarons at home in this post.
Ingredients needed to make chocolate macarons :
For the macaron batter:
- powdered sugar
- almond flour
- cocoa powder
- cream of tartar
- egg whites
- granulated sugar
For the chocolate peppermint ganache:
- semi-sweet chocolate
- heavy cream
- peppermint extract
How to make chocolate macarons (French Method)?
-
Preheat oven to 350 F (190 C).
-
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (alternatively use silpat for macarons).
-
Sift together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and almond flour. Discard any large pieces.
-
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until they begin to foam, for 1 minute.
-
Slowly add sugar, beating on medium-high speed. Beat until stiff, for 3 minutes.
-
Fold in the dry ingredients in two additions, using a rubber spatula. Fold so the mixture is smooth, not runny.
-
Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch tip (or just cut the tip of the bag and do not use a piping tip) with the batter.
-
Pipe batter into 1-inch circles, spaced at least 1 inch apart. Tap baking sheets on the counter a few times, to release any air bubbles.
-
Let macarons sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour, so the tops are no longer glossy.
-
Reduce oven temperature to 325 F (160 C). Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets for at least 15 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
-
Try to match shells with the same size, so you can glue them together with the ganache later.
-
In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream until it just begins to boil and remove immediately.
-
Place chocolate in a bowl and pour hot cream on top. Add peppermint extract.
-
Let it sit for 1 minute, then stir with a rubber spatula. Stir continuously, until mixture gets smooth. Let it cool completely in the fridge or at room temperature, before you use it.
-
Pipe ganache onto one shell, then sandwich with another.
-
Macarons taste best if refrigerated for at least 1 day, before serving.
Using cream of tartar in french macarons meringue
I used to think that cream of tartar added to the egg whites in the process of whipping them really helps with a stable meringue.
With all of my successes and failures learning how to make French macarons, I’ve realized that I can make good macarons without cream of tartar. If you have it at your pantry, please use it. But if you don’t, no need to stress out, the macarons will turn out good.
What I’ve found out is that proper whipping of the egg whites, where they are not too stiff, but still stiff to hold the batter and proper macaronage, where the batter is smooth, not too thick and not runny are the most important steps when baking macarons at home.
Tips to make the perfect French Macarons at home:
- The truth is that macarons aren’t difficult to make, but you need practice and some luck!
- Humidity, overmixing or undermixing the batter can be a problem.
- But I’m still very excited watching these bake and form feet!
- And then sandwich them together and look at how gorgeous they are!
- This chocolate macarons recipe is not your typical one. I’ve tried numerous recipes to make macarons with chocolate flavor, like Laduree’s All Recipes and many youtube recipes. I had no luck.
- Adding cocoa powder to the macaron batter, could easily break the final product, due to acidity. macarons will crack while baking.
- This is why, alter all my testings, I’ve realized that 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the amount of other ingredients works well.
Chocolate French Macarons oven baking temperature:
With this particular recipe, I’ve came to the conclusion that macarons need to be baked at 325F for 12 minutes, where you’ve preheated the oven to 350 F initially. This way macaron shells rise properly and not crack.
I use a gas oven, so please adjust the temperature correctly, if you use an electric oven and if it has a convection setting.
What to use chocolate French macarons for?
Most of my friends are obsessed with French macarons as well!
That’s why this holiday season I’m putting together French macaron gift baskets (cookies by me!) for some close friends and family!
Hope you enjoy these!
And if you don’t have the patience and desire to try the recipe, feel free to check my cookie gallery out and try some of the other cookie recipes.
If you like lavender, these Lavender Macarons with homemade honey buttercream from Nurtured Homes are amazing! Definitely worth trying!
Chocolate Macarons With Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE CHOCOLATE MACARONS:
- 1 cup (125 gr) powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup (50 gr) fine almond flour
- 3 tbsp (25 gr) cocoa powder (I used Hersheys)
- 2 large egg whites at room temperature — (60-65 grams)
- pinch of cream of tartar
- 5 tbsp granulated sugar
FOR THE PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
- 4 oz (120 gr) semi-sweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
- 2 drops peppermint extract
Instructions
FOR THE CHOCOLATE MACARONS:
-
Preheat oven to 350 F (190 C).
-
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (alternatively use silpat for macarons).
-
Sift together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and almond flour. Discard any large pieces.
-
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until they begin to foam, for 1 minute.
-
Slowly add sugar, beating on medium-high speed. Beat until stiff, for 3 minutes.
-
Fold in the dry ingredients in two additions, using a rubber spatula. Fold so the mixture is smooth, not runny.
-
Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch tip (or just cut the tip of the bag and do not use a piping tip) with the batter.
-
Pipe batter into 1-inch circles, spaced at least 1 inch apart. Tap baking sheets on the counter a few times, to release any air bubbles.
-
Let macarons sit at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour, so the tops are no longer glossy.
-
Reduce oven temperature to 325 F (160 C). Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheets for at least 15 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
-
Try to match shells with the same size, so you can glue them together with the ganache later.
FOR THE GANACHE:
-
In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream until it just begins to boil and remove immediately.
-
Place chocolate in a bowl and pour hot cream on top. Add peppermint extract.
-
Let it sit for 1 minute, then stir with a rubber spatula. Stir continuously, until mixture gets smooth. Let it cool completely in the fridge or at room temperature, before you use it.
-
Pipe ganache onto one shell, then sandwich with another.
-
Macarons taste best if refrigerated for at least 1 day, before serving.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Calories: 86, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Sodium: 6mg, Potassium: 43mg, Carbohydrates: 10g, Sugar: 8g, Protein: 1g, Vitamin A: 70%, Calcium: 11%, Iron: 0.5%
You may also like:
Date And Orange Holiday Truffles
Raw Date And Orange Holiday Truffles
Sweetened Condensed Milk Cookies
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Perfect macarons as always Mira! love the chocolate and peppermint flavor together!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and relaxing weekend, Mira! I can’t believe we’re onto the holiday season! These macarons are absolutely GORGEOUS! I’ve never made them myself before because I’ve always been intimated, but I definitely need to try these. Love it!
Oooh! I’ve always wanted to try making macarons – these look perfect! I’ve always been scared to make these but I might just give them a try this holiday baking season 🙂
I’ve never made macarons and am inspired after seeing your beautiful ones. That chocolate peppermint ganache sounds heavenly!
I keep saying I’m going to make macarons but I haven’t yet, maybe that will change soon. These are perfect for gift giving. I would love to receive some as a gift. Thanks for sharing.
Your macarons are always SO gorgeous, Mira! Love the chocolate and peppermint ganache! So perfect for the holidays! I wish I had a batch for our cookie platter right now 🙂
Mira, your chocolate macarons are perfection!!!! LOVE the chocolate peppermint ganache!!! What a great idea!
WOW! Your macarons are so gorgeous! I definitely am trying this recipe! Thanks!
You are such a talented baker! Those macarons are the prettiest I’ve seen.
Wow, these look beautiful! i wish mine looked like this 🙂
OMG Mira, these are perfection! Thanks so much for sharing them! (I also love your macaron tips, so helpful!)
I am adding these to my annual holiday round up. They are gorgeous and who doesn’t love a mint cookie??
wow you are going to have some very happy friends! these look simply perfect
These are beautiful! As are all of your sweet recipes you’ve pictured here! Im in love with the peppermint ganache! Bravo! I’ll be making these for gifts for my peppermint loving niece!
Perfect for the upcoming holidays.
Omg… Mira! These are absolutely stunning! Perfection! Seriously, it looks like they came from a French confectionary shop! Then again, all of your desserts look so professional. I love macarons, but I have never made them myself – they just look like something I would totally botch, lol! But, you make these look so lovely, I’ve just got to give them go! Can’t wait to try – I know they’ll be delicious, but we’ll see if I have what it takes to make them this pretty 😉
You are amazing! So are your recipes!
Thank you Barb! Have a great New Year!
I’ve tried many macaroon recipes recently and I had trouble with all of them…So today I tried your recipe and they came out perfect! So happy to finally find a delicious, foolproof recipe! Thank you so much!
OMG, I know how it feels when macarons fail! I’m so happy this recipe worked for you! You made my day!
Beautiful macarons! However, I tried making them yesterday and my batter was so thick. I’ve made macarons a million times and I know the technique and am familiar with the consistency of how the batter should be, but every time I made chocolate macarons the batter is so so thick and I can’t seem to get it thinner. What am I doing wrong? It about broke my hand trying to pipe them onto my pan.
Hi Marianne, sorry to hear this. As you can see, my recipe is not the same as most popular macaron recipes. I only use 2 egg whites and the amount of powdered sugar is more than the almond flour. I’ve made these a many times and yes, the batter is on the thick side, but they always turn perfect, never hollow, never cracked. Honestly, I don’t know what has gone wrong. If it was a cake or something else, I would tell you to add liquid, but for macarons, and since I’m not there with you, honestly I don’t know what to say. There is cocoa powder in the batter, and 3 tbsp is a lot. Most plain macarons do not involve any powder on any kind. Yeah, I know what you mean, macarons require a lot of folding and it gets painful. Batter for chocolate macarons is just thicker, I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. If you want to add more egg whites? But I would say it requires testing and don’t add more than 1/2 egg white at a time. Let me know.
I’m a bit confused by your directions. It says that they bake for 30 minutes, but then the instructions say 12 at a different temperature. Is it 18 minutes at 350 and then 12 at 325?
You ONLY bake them for 12 minutes at 325F. Before that, you preheat the oven to 350F and then reduce the temperature, when ready to bake. There is no 30 minutes in the instructions. Macarons need to dry at room temperature for 45 minutes, before they are placed in the oven.
I don’t usually comment but I would like to thank you for your recipe. I have tried and tried cocoa macarons and they always crack, brown.. First I was suprised by the amount of cocoa and put only 20g, but they came out perfect! So dark and rich brown. I used high quality organic cocoa (Green and Black’s).
For filling I made the same ganache but with tonka bean insted of peppermint.
Thank you and keep up the good work!! 🙂
Hi Liz, you made my day! I’m glad it worked! I love this recipe and never have issues with chocolate macarons, unlike some other macaron recipes. Will try tonka bean next time. Have a great evening! 🙂
I’ve tried many macarons recipes, but all of them were failures!!! This recipe is amazing. My macarons turned perfect, not hollow and looking beautiful. I recommend it!
Hi Mira! thanks for your lovely recipe. can I ask you something? i’d like to make macaroons based on your recipe but i’m out of almond flour. can I substitube almond flour with another flour like all purpose flour, maybe?
Hi Bella Milena, Thank you! All purpose flour will not work in this recipe. I’ve only tried it with almond flour and can guarantee that it works. You can try walnut or hazelnut flour. Macarons are usually made with finely milled nut flour. Let me know.
Just made these the other day and they turned out amazing! I had a quick question, why do we need to preheat the oven at 350 then reduce it to 325? I haven’t seen that in a macaron recipe before.
Hi, Thank you! You do not need to preheat to 350 ad then reduce, you can just do 325. It works better for me though, I’ve found it ensures that these bake evenly. I only suggest this for this specific chocolate macaron recipe. Other recipes, may brown too much if you preheat to 350F, but the chocolate ones are fine.
These are the best chocolate macarons I’ve seen! I have trouble with my macarons keeping their shape when I bake on parchment paper. I have used silpats and have had success, but I want to bake with parchment paper. Can you tell me what brand of parchment paper you use? Thank you.
Hi Marilyn! Thank you and I hope you like these! Yes, definitely you can use parchment paper. I either use Costco’s Kirkland brand or this pre-cut brown parchment paper from Amazon (it is thinner than the others) -http://amzn.to/2FgFNQp. Let me know how these turn out!
Hi! I’m making these macarons and they are easier then any other macarons I’ve ever made! But I saw that it only took 3 mins in your directions for the egg whites to stiffen up and I did it twice and my egg whites never stiffen up well at all and took a very long Time.
Hi, glad you like these. You need to get the egg whites to stiff peaks, but not over whipped. Please understand, that it is hard for me to tell how many minutes it will take everyone, since we all use different ingredients, bowls, mixers and the air humidity is different. Thanks for your feedback.
Wow! Great recipe! I was scared that these wouldn’t turn out right because of the batter thicknesss, but I was proved wrong! Thank you!
Glad it worked! These are my favorite and almost foolproof 🙂
Thanks for the recipe. But, mine cracked and wrinkled on top. Why? I doubled the recipe to make extra. Does this recipe not do well when doubled?
Hi Jules,
Sorry that they cracked. I’m not quite sure what happened. If they cracked, this means there was too much air inside.
Most of my macaron recipes don’t do well when doubled or tripled.
Hi! These look fantastic!! I’m trying this recipe out as a test run to see if I can master macaroons for my Christmas cookie platter. So far they look great at the resting stage. My question is what is the purpose of letting the oven heat to 350 (for 45-60 min) first then lower to 325? We are conservative people and don’t want to run our gas stove longer than necessary. Is there an alternative amount of time to let it run to 350 before lowering?
This way the oven is warm enough so the macarons rise properly.
I’m conservative and frugal as well and I completely understand.
If you don’t feel like it, don’t run the oven for so long. The macarons might still be ok.
It is just that I’ve tested so many recipes and at times I prefer to make sure the oven is hot enough, instead of ruining the product and wasting all the ingredients.
Again, they will probably be fine if you don’t preheat for the extra time, I just like ot take the extra step to ensure that they bake properly, because macarons cost a lot of money and time to make 😛 Let me know how they turn.
These came out perfect! I’m only 13 and this recipe was super simple to follow along with and execute well. Thanks so much Mira!??
GREAT! I’M GLAD THEY WORKED! It is important to find a good macaron recipe 🙂
I just finished making these and they are perfect! I will be using your recipe again. And again!
Hi Carol! I’m so happy the recipe worked for you! I know how difficult it is to make good macarons!
How many does this recipe make?
22 to 25 macarons
Hi can I use coconut cream in place of the heavy whipping cream?would it be the same amount? breast feeding mama trying to avoid dairy for my babe. Thank you!
Yes, the same amount should be fine
Made many macarons in the past several years but I can never get this recipe to turn out right :/ it always comes out like thick brownie batter. I use my scale for measurements and double check them all, any ideas on what could help?
THANK YOU! I have struggled with macarons and I’ve made this recipe twice now and both times it has come out perfectly. I cannot thank you enough for all the tips and your guide to troubleshooting. My girls are so happy I have finally made what looks and tastes like macarons from the bakery. I cannot thank you enough!
So glad to hear this recipe works for you!