Chocolate peanut butter macarons are an explosion of flavors. The chocolate chewy macaron hits your palate first. Something about the meringue and almonds combined make them taste a lot like a delicious brownie. Next, the creaminess of peanut butter frosting follows with a pleasant undertone.
I also wanted to share how you can make amazing tasting desserts without resorting to artificial colors or dyes. The macaron is a lovely example of this possibility.
Now don’t be intimidated about learning how to make a macaron. They are challenging at first. Think of it as a right of passage. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know how much of a struggle it was learning how to make macarons. But once you learned, you’ll want to make all kinds of flavors like lime, strawberry and chocolate. Today, we are making a fall inspired one.
Whenever I have a couple leftover egg whites from other recipes such as pumpkin pie, I like to works with new macaron flavors. Since everyone knows that peanut butter and chocolate go together beautifully, I decided to give it a go. I added cocoa powder on a whim to make a macaron free of artificial flavor and dyes. Then, I just wanted to see if peanut butter would compliment or compete with the flavor of the macaron shell.
They seem to be well liked, so I’ll share this chocolate peanut butter macarons recipe with you. What flavor combination will you dream up?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Macarons
Ingredients
French Macarons
- ¾ cup (90g) powdered sugar
- 2 large (60g) egg whites
- ½ cup (50g) almond flour
- ⅛ cup (30g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbs (10g) cocoa powder
Peanut Butter Buttercream
- ¾ cup (100g) powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (66g) peanut butter
- ¼ cup (56g) softened butter
- ½ tsp (2.5mL) vanilla
- 1 – 2 tsp (10mL) milk
Instructions
- Sift together powdered sugar, cocoa, and almonds. Set aside.
- In a 2 quart bowl or larger, use a hand mixer and beat eggs for 30 seconds, add sugar. Continue beating until soft peaks form.
- Add the dry ingredients into the meringue. Using a spatula, gently fold the ingredients 35 – 50 times or until batter becomes shiny and drips smoothly off the spatula. It should ribbon off and sink back into the batter within 30 seconds. If it doesn’t do this, fold until you see the change. Do not over mix or you will have flat cookies.
- Place in a piping bag with a 1/4" (6mm) tip. Squeeze onto parchment paper or a silicone mat until 1″ (2.5cm) circles form, spacing 1″ apart.
- Let sit until a skin develops. This step will depend on the humidity in your environment. On dry days, it can take as little as 15 minutes. When it hits above 75% humidity, expect it to take 2 – 3 hours. Failure to dry the cookies will often result in cracks and cookies without feet. (Feet are the little ruffles that develop at the bottom of your cookies.)
- Once the skin forms, preheat the oven to 300F (150C.) Bake 18 – 20 minutes.
- Let rest 5 minutes and remove to a rack to cool completely before filling.
Buttercream Instructions
- Beat butter on low speed until smooth. Mix in peanut butter and vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add in milk, one teaspoon at a time for a softer buttercream.
- Pipe or spread on the interior of one shell, gently place second shell on top.
0 Comments