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Home » Baking

Published: Feb 15, 2013 · Modified: Feb 16, 2021 by Sandhya Ramakrishnan · This post may contain affiliate links

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

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French Macarons, a recipe that tested my patience and skills as a cook and a baker and one of the most delicate pastry that I have ever made and will ever make. Read the entire post for detailed and every bit of information you need to make the perfect Macarons.

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache  in a bowl

This month’s baking partners challenge was to make French macarons. The recipe was suggested by Swathi @ Zesty South Indian Kitchen & Vidhya @ A Portion to Share.

This recipe for French Macarons With Chocolate Ganache was a perfect learning opportunity for recreational bakers like me. This required serious planning and reading through recipes and procedures before proceeding to make it.

For those who do not know what a Macaron is, I found this from Wikipedia. A macaron is a sweet meringue-based confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring.

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The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream, or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. The name is derived from the Italian word Maccarone or Maccarone.

The confectionery is characterized by a smooth, squared top, ruffled circumference (referred to as the "foot"), and flat base. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth. Macarons can be found in a wide variety of flavors that range from the traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to the new (foie gras, matcha). The fillings can range from jams to ganache to butter.

What I learned from making this sweet treat as there is either the perfect Macaron or then there is a failure Macaron. There is no in-between stage. Having said that, all the perfection refers only to the looks of the Macarons. There is no compromise in the flavor. However not perfect they might look, they would still taste great.

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a Tray

I required a lot of reading and help from other experiences to make this. There are few people I would like to list out because their suggestions and help made me perfect this in my first attempt. Now having said that do you think I will get perfect macarons when I make them next time? Absolutely not!

  • Swathi from Zesty South Indian cooking was always there giving us directions and hope throughout the process.
  • Julie from Erivummpuliyumm shared a lot of her experience as she was one of the first to make the macarons.
  • Reshmi from Easy cook shared many of her suggestions and experiences. She was also the first one to finish.
  • Savitha from Savitha’s kitchen was very helpful in guiding through the process.

I have listed only a few but overall all of us were depended on each other’s experience and support all through the challenge.
The recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart and I had pretty much followed the recipe. So let us take a look at what I did and how I conquered one of the most difficult baking challenges yet.

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a Bowl

Preparation time – 3 days (mostly inactive)
Cooking time – about 16 mins per batch
Difficulty level – hard

Ingredients to make French Macarons
To make Macarons

  • Confectionary Sugar – 1 cup/125 gms
  • Almond flour – ¾ cup / 75 gms
  • Egg whites – from 2 large eggs
  • Cream of tartar – ¼ tsp
  • Superfine sugar – 1 tablespoon plus 1tsp / 20 gms

To make Chocolate Ganache

  • Semi sweet chocolate – 4 oz
  • Heavy cream – ½ cup
  • Butter – 2 tbsp
French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a Bowl

Procedure to make French Macarons

Aging the egg white

There are several theories out there as to how to age the egg whites. This step essentially is to dry out the maximum possible moisture from the egg whites. I separated the eggs and left them covered with a kitchen towel inside the refrigerator for 3 days. On the third night, I removed it and left it out on the countertop still covered with the towel overnight. To be exact I left it out in room temperature for about 14 hrs.

egg white in a Bowl

Preparing Almond flour

Almond flour is available in the grocery stores. If you do not find it in stores, this is what I did. I had some blanched almonds, which I ground in the mixer. Then I sieved it. This time I did not get too much of fine almond flour. Then I ground it again and then sieved it. I repeated this step 3 times until I got the required amount of fine almond powder.

Almond flour in a bowl with spatula

Making the macarons

  • Pulse the confectionary sugar and almond flour in a food processor or blender until well combined. Now sieve the mixture at least twice and keep it aside.
  • Place the aged egg whites in the bowl of the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip it until foamy.
Mixing the Ingridients in a bowl with grinder
  • Now add the cream of tartar and whisk it until soft peaks form. Now slowly add the superfine sugar and whisk it until stiff peaks form. A stiff peak is something that does not break when removed from the bowl. I stopped when the peak would not drip down from the whisk and it held its shape.
Adding the Ingredients in a bowl
  • Now sift the flour/sugar mixture over the whipped egg whites and fold it until a smooth shiny batter forms. Do not mix it all together; you need to slowly fold the flour inside the egg whites, without disturbing the meringue too much. Once you see that the mixture is shiny and glossy, stop mixing. You do not want to over mix the batter because that would result in flat cracked macarons.
  • Sift the flour/sugar mixture over the meringue
Flour in a Glass
  • Start to fold in the mixture
Folding the mixture in a Bowl
  • Perfectly mixed glossy smooth batter
Liquid in a bowl
  • Now transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with ½ inch plain round tip.
Transferring the ingredients in a bag
Packing it in a bag
  • Pipe the batter onto a parchment-lined baking tray about 1 inch wide. I would provide some links at the end, do watch those videos to learn how to pipe the batter. You need to pipe it in such a way that the peaks do not stand up.
pipe batter in a tray
  • Tap the piped tray about 3 times to release all the trapped air. Now using a toothpick burst the bubbles that form on the surface. Leave the tray for about 45 mins undisturbed for a thin dry layer to form on the top. You know that the macarons are ready to go into the oven when the top does not stick to your fingers when touched gently.
  • Preheat the oven to 325 F. Bake one sheet at a time. What also helped me was, I used another tray beneath my tray with the macarons (double tray).
  • The feet started to form at about 7 mins into baking. It took me 7 more mins after that to get nice golden color macarons. Rotate the tray at least once in between.

The feet appearing at about 7 mins into baking

Preheating the ingridients
  • Let the macarons cool in the tray for about 2 mins and transfer them to a wire rack to cool entirely. If the macarons are cooked properly, the macarons would come out of the tray without any effort.
Cooling the macarons

Easy removal of the Macarons

Removal of the macrons

Perfect feet

Macrons is ready

Smooth back

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache is almost ready

To prepare the chocolate Ganache

  • Measure the semi sweet chocolate and keep it in a medium bowl.
Measuring the chocolate
  • Heat the cream over medium heat until it starts to boil. Now pour this cream over the chocolate. Leave it undisturbed for about a minute. Now add the butter and then whisk it well until smooth and shiny.
Adding the butter into chocolate bowl
Adding the ingredients in a bowl
Mixing the chocolate ganache
  • Now leave it in the refrigerator for about half an hour to cool down. The ganache should still be in a spreadable consistency.

Assembling French Macarons With Chocolate Ganache –

  • Once the macarons and the ganache have cooled down, carefully select pairs those are similar in shape and size. Now pipe or spoon the ganache over one of the macarons and then top it with the other one. Press gently and arrange all the macarons in a tray and refrigerate for at least 24 hrs for the flavors to combine.
French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a wirerack
French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a wirerack
French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in ready
  • The macarons taste the best when refrigerated 24 – 48 hrs. Bring it back to room temperature before serving.
French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a tray
French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache is ready to serve

 If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | twitter

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache in a Plate

French Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

French Macarons, a recipe that tested my patience and skills as a cook and a baker and one of the most delicate pastry that I have ever made and will ever make. Read the entire post for detailed and every bit of information you need to make the perfect Macarons.
No ratings yet
Print Pin Rate
Course: Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: European, French
Diet: Low Salt
Prep Time: 3 days
Cook Time: 16 minutes
Total Time: 3 days 16 minutes
Servings: 16 Cookies
Calories: 105kcal
Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

  • bowl
  • Grinder
  • spatula
  • Oven
  • cookie cutter
  • Wire Racker

Ingredients

TO MAKE MACARONS

  • 1 cup Confectionary Sugar 125 gms
  • ¾ cup Almond flour – 75 gms
  • 2 eggs Egg whites Large eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon Cream of tartar
  • 2 tablespoon Superfine sugar 20 gms

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE GANACHE –

  • 3 oz Semi-sweet chocolate
  • ½ cup Heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoon Butter

Instructions

AGING THE EGG WHITE –

  • There are several theories out there as to how to age the egg whites. This step essentially is to dry out the maximum possible moisture from the egg whites. I separated the eggs and left them covered with a kitchen towel inside the refrigerator for 3 days. On the third night, I removed it and left it out on the counter top still covered with the towel overnight. To be exact I left it out in room temperature for about 14 hrs.

PREPARING ALMOND FLOUR –

  • Almond flour is available in the grocery stores. If you do not find it in stores, this is what I did. I had some blanched almonds, which I ground in the mixer. Then I sieved it. This time I did not get too much of fine almond flour. Then I ground it again and then sieved it. I repeated this step 3 times until I got the required amount of fine almond powder.

MAKING THE MACARONS –

  • Pulse the confectionary sugar and almond flour in a food processor or blender until well combined. Now sieve the mixture at least twice and keep it aside.
  • Place the aged egg whites in the bowl of the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip it until foamy.
  • Now add the cream of tartar and whisk it until soft peaks form. Now slowly add the super fine sugar and whisk it until stiff peaks forms. Stiff peak is something that does not break when removed from the bowl. I stopped when the peak would not drip down from the whisk and it held its shape.
  • Now sift the flour/sugar mixture over the whipped egg whites and fold it until a smooth shiny batter forms. Do not mix it all together; you need to slowly fold the flour inside the egg whites, without disturbing the meringue too much. Once you see that the mixture is shiny and glossy, stop mixing. You do not want to over mix the batter because that would result in flat cracked macarons.
  • Sift the flour/sugar mixture over the meringue
  • Start to fold in the mixture
  • Perfectly mixed glossy smooth batter
  • Now transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with ½ inch plain round tip.
  • Pipe the batter onto a parchment lined baking tray about 1 inch wide. I would provide some links at the end, do watch those videos to learn how to pipe the batter. You need to pipe it in such a way that the peaks do not stand up.
  • Tap the piped tray for about 3 times to release all the trapped air. Now using a tooth pick burst the bubbles that form on the surface. Leave the tray for about 45 mins undisturbed for a thin dry layer to form on the top. You know that the macarons are ready to go into the oven, when the top does not stick to your fingers when touched gently.
  • Preheat the oven to 325 F. Bake one sheet at a time. What also helped me was, I used another tray beneath my tray with the macarons (double tray).
  • The feet started to form at about 7 mins into baking. It took me 7 more mins after that to get a nice golden color macarons. Rotate the tray at least once in between.
  • The feet appearing at about 7 mins into baking
  • Let the macarons cool in the tray for about 2 mins and the transfer them to a wire rack to cool entirely. If the macarons are cooked properly, the macarons would come out of the tray without any effort.
  • Easy removal of the Macarons (Perfect feet, Smooth back)

TO PREPARE THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

  • Measure the semi sweet chocolate and keep it in a medium bowl.
  • Heat the cream over medium heat until it starts to boil. Now pour this cream over the chocolate. Leave it undisturbed for about a minute. Now add the butter and then whisk it well until smooth and shiny.
  • Now leave it in the refrigerator for about half an hour to cool down. The ganache should still be in a spreadable consistency.

ASSEMBLING FRENCH MACARONS WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE –

  • Once the macarons and the ganache have cooled down, carefully select pairs that are similar in shape and size. Now pipe or spoon the ganache over one of the macarons and then top it with the other one. Press gently and arrange all the macarons in a tray and refrigerate for at least 24 hrs for the flavors to combine.
  • The macarons taste the best, when refrigerated 24 – 48 hrs. Bring it back to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 105kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 44mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 156IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!
« Aloo Methi Paratha / Parathas with Potatoes and Fenugreek leaves
Classic French Croissants | Flaky Butter Croissants »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rita Bose says

    February 20, 2013 at 2:02 am

    Lovely macaroons!! Delicious chocolate ganache filling! Lovely snaps. Do visit my blog at - https://www.rita-bose-cooking.com/

    Reply
  2. Shailaja Reddy says

    February 18, 2013 at 11:30 pm

    Beautiful and cute macarons.

    Reply
  3. Tina (PinayInTexas) says

    February 18, 2013 at 3:26 pm

    Awesome post! Love the step-by-step pix!
    You did a wonderful job, Sandhya! Your French Macarons look superb!

    Reply
  4. Achu says

    February 18, 2013 at 7:23 pm

    Beautiful 🙂 🙂

    Reply
  5. Janani says

    February 18, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    It has come out very nice very nice click too dear.

    Reply
  6. Love to Experiment says

    February 18, 2013 at 1:46 am

    Lovely beautiful perfect macarons. hats off for the clicks

    Reply
  7. Arthy shama says

    February 17, 2013 at 9:38 am

    Lovely macaroons with nice methodological explanation

    Reply
  8. Rafeeda A. Raheem says

    February 17, 2013 at 6:12 am

    really yummy looking macarons... looks perfect...

    Reply
  9. Saraswathi Tharagaram says

    February 16, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    Yummy macarons looks amazingly perfect dear..

    Reply
  10. Priya says

    February 16, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    Great job Sandhya, loved ur stepwise pictures, cute macarons..

    Reply
  11. Archana Potdar says

    February 16, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    Wow these look perfect. Must have tasted great too.
    Can you link them to celebrate love that is guest hosted at my place? Thnaks

    Reply
  12. Suja Manoj says

    February 16, 2013 at 2:55 pm

    Great job,beautiful..love the step by step clicks..amazing.

    Reply
  13. Sangeetha Priya says

    February 16, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    Perfectly done n loved the stepwise pictures too...amazing 🙂

    Reply
  14. Gheza e shiriin says

    February 16, 2013 at 5:50 am

    Looks perfect. Beautiful. chocolate ganache its yum.

    Reply
  15. Savitha Ganesan says

    February 16, 2013 at 5:30 am

    Very informative and lovely post.

    Reply
  16. Sharanya palanisshami (sara's TASTY BUDS) says

    February 16, 2013 at 4:12 am

    LOVELY GOLDEN COLOR MACROONS WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE.........

    Reply
  17. Nivedhanams Sowmya says

    February 16, 2013 at 3:43 am

    very nice post!!! you have shared so much information!!! and yours is looking soooooo good!!!
    Sowmya
    Ongoing Event - Tried and Tasted - Raks Kitchen
    Ongoing Event - Dish it out - Lentils & Garlic
    Ongoing Event - Know Your Dairy - Cheese
    Ongoing Event - What is with my Cuppa?

    Reply
  18. Priya R says

    February 16, 2013 at 1:02 am

    very well you have done dear, nothing like chocolate ganache yummmm... i am sure you would have enjoyed them

    Reply
  19. Reshmi Mahesh says

    February 16, 2013 at 5:06 am

    Beautifully done dear...Great job..

    Reply
  20. Vidhya Viju Govind says

    February 16, 2013 at 4:39 am

    they have come out so well sandhya...lovely descriptive post 🙂

    Reply
  21. EncourageSpice says

    February 15, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    yummy macarons ,looks perfect .such an awesome job of making it.kudos.

    Reply
  22. Sudha Sabarish says

    February 16, 2013 at 2:42 am

    Great effort.Chocolat ganache looks delicious.

    https://sabdhaskitchen.blogspot.com

    Reply
  23. Swathi Iyer says

    February 16, 2013 at 1:01 am

    You nailed down Sandhya beautiful and very well.

    Reply
  24. divya says

    February 15, 2013 at 10:27 pm

    Amazingly made and nice presentation toooo.

    Reply
  25. Marisa says

    February 15, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    They look awesome. Very goog explanation of the process. The photos are wonderful. I love your post. I've learned a lot and also I've enjoyed the experience. Best regards from Spain.
    https://thermofan.blogspot.com.es

    Reply
  26. Chef Mireille says

    February 15, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    so good...i"m abt to start making mine now

    Reply
  27. Julie says

    February 15, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    Yummy macarons dear,you have done it very well & Thanx for the mention too 🙂

    Reply

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I am Sandhya Ramakrishnan, author, recipe developer and photographer in this journey! 'My Cooking Journey' is all about family friendly Vegetarian and Vegan recipes from around the World with focus on Indian cuisine.

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