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This recipe has been in the making for quite some time now! I tried several variations of ingredients, amounts of ingredients, baking temperatures and times, and it was WORTH IT. I am so happy with the finished product!
I started out by trying to make a chocolate macaron with an espresso buttercream filling, but it evolved into the opposite – an espresso cookie with chocolate in the buttercream. I may still come back to my original idea, but it needs some work. It involved infusing the heavy cream with coffee, but it wasn’t strong enough of a flavor. I mean its espresso! You need to be able to taste it.
I started looking around my pantry and baking cabinet for inspiration. I always like to try and utilize whatever I have in the house before I go and buy more ingredients. I found the chocolate chips and thought they’d be a nice addition to the buttercream filling. I was right! The only thing left was to figure out how to incorporate the espresso. I ended up going with instant espresso and I’m quite happy with how it worked out.
While I like to mix it up and try new macaron recipes, there are a few items I ALWAYS use to make them!
- My handy dandy Macaron Mats that help me get the perfect size macaron every time
- Nature’s Eats Almond Flour is the only almond flour I buy
- I love this pack of gel food coloring because I can make an unlimited number of colors with it. It has neutrals and bright colors, and you can’t beat a pack of 12 for less than $9.
- The Wilton 2A tip is the perfect size to pipe your macaron shells
- I love the 16″ Wilton pastry bags. There’s plenty of room for your mix, and because they’re so large, you never have to worry about your mixture leaking out of the top.
Espresso Macarons with Dark Chocolate Chip Buttercream
Ingredients
Espresso Macaron Shells
- 1 3/4 C confectioners sugar
- 1 C almond flour finely ground
- 1 tsp salt divided
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1/4 C granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tb instant espresso
- 2 drops brown gel food coloring
Dark Chocolate Chip Buttercream
- 1/2 C unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 C confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 C dark chocolate chips
- 2-3 Tb heavy cream
Instructions
Espresso Macaron Shells
- In a food processor, combine the confectioners sugar with the almond flour and 1/2 tsp of salt, and pulse until well it’s a very fine texture. Sift into a bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl or stand mixer, combine the egg whites with the remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Mix on low speed until it gets quite foamy.
- Slowly incorporate the 1/4 C sugar, about 1 tsp at a time, until stiff peaks form. You should be able to turn over the bowl without anything falling out.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat until just combined.
- Add the gel food coloring and beat until just combined.
- Fold about 1/3 of the almond flour mixture into the egg whites with a spatula. Continue folding until well combined, then add another 1/3 of the mixture and repeat. After the last third is added, continue folding until the mixture gets ribbony. You should be able to twirl a figure 8 without the mixture breaking.
- Transfer the mix to a large pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. I usually use a Wilton 2A tip, but you can also just cut the tip off your piping bag to whatever size you want.
- Pipe puddles of the mixture to fill whichever size you prefer on the macaron mats. It might look a little globby, but it will settle. Firmly tap the baking sheet on the counter several times to release any air bubbles.
- Let the macarons sit on the counter for 30-45 minutes, or until the tops are dry to the touch. Once they are, preheat your oven to 300F.
- Bake the macarons for 18 minutes and let them cool on the baking sheet. While they are cooling, make the buttercream.
Dark Chocolate Chip Buttercream
- In a food processor, pulse 1/4 C dark chocolate chips until finely ground. You want some chunks, but keep in mind they need to fit through your piping tip later.
- Combine the butter with the confectioners sugar and mix on low speed until smooth.
- Beat in vanilla and 1Tb heavy cream to start. Add more heavy cream until you get a smooth, pipe-able texture. Beat on medium/high for 2-3 minutes.
- On low speed, mix in the ground chocolate chips.
- Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with any kind of tip you want, or you can even just cut the tip off. Pipe enough buttercream to make a sandwich with two macaron shells.