Description
Delicious chocolate hazelnut macarons with a creamy filling.
Ingredients
Scale
- 130 grams almond flour
- 120 grams powdered sugar
- 10 grams good quality unsweetened cocoa powder, dutch process or natural
- 100 grams egg whites (at room temperature, around 3 large egg whites)
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 90 grams granulated sugar (or caster sugar)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
- ½ cup Nutella
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (melted)
- crushed hazelnuts
Instructions
- In a bowl of food processor, combine the fine almond flour with powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. Blitz 16 times, then sift together into a bowl. Do not push down the coarse bits, just discard them. Set aside.
- In a completely dry and grease-free glass mixing bowl combine the egg whites and cream of tartar, and use a hand mixer to beat on high speed until they start to get frothy (about 1 minute).
- SLOWLY add in the granulated sugar and continue mixing at high speed just until you get stiff peaks. Do NOT overbeat. (Tip: when you stop the mixer you should be able to bring it straight up out of the meringue and the peaks stick straight up and not fold back over on itself).
- Add half of the dry mixture into the meringue and fold by going around the outside of the bowl and cutting through the center, repeat until there are no dry spots.
- Add the remaining dry mixture and repeat folding until you get a molten lava consistency. (Note: you should be able to draw a figure 8 with the batter without it breaking off, make sure you stop folding at this point and check your batter often to make sure you do not overmix). The batter should look smooth and uniform.
- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip (I used a Wilton 2A tip) with the batter.
- Pipe 1 ½-2 inch even circles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. If you’re new to this, I recommend that you get a silicone mat with a macaron template to help you get uniform circles.
- Gently tap the bottom of the baking sheets on the counter 5-6 times and pop any large air bubbles that come to the surface by using a toothpick and moving in a circular motion. This is very important to do.
- Let the macarons set for 45 minutes to 1 hour until they form a shell (this is very important). You can test to see if they are ready by gently touching the tops; if the tops are no longer sticky, feel firm and no batter comes off on your finger, they are ready to go in the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
- Bake the macarons for 15-17 minutes or until you can touch the tops of the cookies and they do not move around on the “feet”. Do one baking sheet at a time if you’re using more than one.
- Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool before trying to remove them from the pan.
- To decorate with the drizzle: Melt about ½ cup of chocolate chips, add to a Ziplock bag and cut off the corner, and drizzle the chocolate over half of the shells. You can also top with crushed hazelnuts if desired.
- While the cookies are cooling, make your filling by mixing the softened butter and Nutella in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes or until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until just combined.
- Add the heavy cream and slowly increase the speed to high and mix on high speed for 3-4 minutes or until you get a nice “whipped” consistency.
- Flip over half of the macaron shells and pipe a generous circle of buttercream on the center of each cookie. Top with the remaining chocolate drizzle shells.
Notes
- Make sure all utensils and bowls are completely clean and dry when working with egg whites.
- Overmixing can cause the macarons to lose their shape; make sure to stop folding once a molten lava consistency is achieved.
- Allowing the macarons to rest before baking is crucial for achieving a smooth, shiny surface.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 macaron
- Calories: 90
- Sugar: 7g
- Sodium: 30mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 10g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 0mg