Chocolate Macarons with Rose Filling
Feb 03, 2015, Updated May 07, 2023
Chocolate French Macarons - Sandwich Cookies with a refreshing Rose Filling!
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If you have been following my blog for a while, you would know that I love French Macarons. To be honest I am extremely fascinated by French Pastry and can never have enough of it. Even though I don’t have any formal training, I try to learn about it as much as I can through books and internet. In my opinion, there isn’t possibly a better cookie than French Macarons! You have to bite into one of these gorgeous cookies to understand what I am talking about and if you have never had a French Macaron, you really don’t know what you have been missing out in life!
I knew one of the things that I wanted to make as a part of my Valentines Day series was french macarons. I always need a reason to make them, they are just so pretty and so delicious and they look so delicate. In short they are perfect for Valentines Day!
I know a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of making french macarons at home. It scared me too when I first made them but now after making them several times, I feel a little confident. They are actually not tough to make at all, you just have to be careful about few things and your macarons will turn out just fine. Please refer to my post on Basics of French Macarons if you are going to make these for the first time. I have covered little tips and tricks which I learnt over the years.
These gorgeous chocolate macarons were filled with a rose filling and I can’t tell you how amazing that was! <3 My husband said this is best filling/frosting he has ever tasted and he basically wanted me to make cupcakes with this frosting! I guess I will have to make this again very soon for him. Since macaron shells are pretty sweet, I did not add much sugar in the filling. It is also for this reason that I used cream cheese for it gives that little tart flavor and helps in reducing the overall sweetness.
Because I made these for Valentine’s Day, I added some sprinkles/decoration on top of the macaron shells right after I piped them on the baking sheet. You have to put the sprinkles immediately as the batter dries out very quickly. I hope you do give these cute little cookies a try. They do take a little time to put together but one bite into them and you feel all the effort was worth it.
Method
Chocolate Macaron Shells
In a bowl mix together almond flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
Pulse them in a food processor so that it’s all thoroughly mixed.
Sift the mixture 2-3 times in a bowl and set aside. This step is important for macarons to have that smooth top.
Separate eggs whites [they are best separated when cold] and keep them at room temperature for an hour before you start working on them. You can even leave them for 24 hours, this recipe does not work if egg whites are not at room temperature.
Beat the egg whites at high speed using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer When it begins to foam, add cream of tartar. Keep beating till it reaches a shaving foam like consistency and then add the granulated sugar. Beat more till the egg whites develop stiff peaks and are shiny.
Fold the almond flour-cocoa mixture into the egg whites using a spatula. Don’t add the entire thing in one go, do it in 2-3 parts.
As you start mixing, the batter will be tough at first but will loosen up as you proceed. Do not undermix and do not overmix either.
The batter should not be runny but should still fall down from the spatula in a blob.
Transfer batter to pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper making small blobs around an inch big. Place sprinkles/decorations on top of the macaron shells as you pipe them.
After you have piped all the macarons, let them sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, do not bake them immediately. If you bake them immediately, they will not develop their trademark “feets”.
After the macarons have rested, preheat your oven to 300 F degrees. Bake at 300 F degrees for 15-18 minutes [time may vary depending on your oven].
Rose Filling
Beat together butter and softened cream cheese till well combined, soft and creamy.
Add in the powdered sugar and mix till well combined.
Add the rose essence, pink food coloring and mix. The filling for the macaron shells is now ready.
Once the macarons shells have baked, let them cool completely. Do not try to remove the shells before they have cooled down. Take one cooled macaron shell, pipe some rose filling in the center and place another shell on top of the filling to form a sandwich cookie. You should be able to get 50 complete sandwich cookies, lesser if you make larger macarons.
If you can resist I would advise to store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 24 hours and then eat them. The flavors settle in over the period of time making the macarons even more delicious. However if you can’t [and I don’t blame you for that] eat them right away, they are delicious either way!
* Please refer to my post on French Macaron Basics for few tips and tricks on baking these cookies.
* I used a rose extract that I got from India. Yours might be stronger so add only 1/4 teaspoon at first, taste check and then add more. In case you don’t have rose extract, use rose water in place but you will need to add more of it to get the flavor.
Chocolate Macarons with Rose Filling
Ingredients
Chocolate Macaron Shells
- 2 cups almond flour
- 3.5 cups powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ¼ + ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 6 egg whites at room temperature
- ¼ + ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- valentine's day sprinkles optional
Rose Filling
- 4 tablespoons salted butter at room temperature
- 6 oz cream cheese softened
- 1.5-2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon rose essence
- pink food color few drops
Instructions
Chocolate Macaron shells
- In a bowl mix together almond flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
- Pulse them in a food processor so that it's all thoroughly mixed.
- Sift the mixture 2-3 times in a bowl and set aside. This step is important for macarons to have that smooth top.
- Separate eggs whites [they are best separated when cold] and keep them at room temperature for an hour before you start working on them. You can even leave them for 24 hours, this recipe does not work if egg whites are not at room temperature.
- Beat the egg whites at high speed using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer.
- When it begins to foam, add cream of tartar.
- Keep beating till it reaches a shaving foam like consistency and then add the granulated sugar. Beat more till the egg whites develop stiff peaks and are shiny.
- Fold the almond flour-cocoa mixture into the egg whites using a spatula. Don’t add the entire thing in one go, do it in 2-3 parts.
- As you start mixing, the batter will be tough at first but will loosen up as you proceed. Do not undermix and do not overmix either.
- The batter should not be runny but should still fall down from the spatula in a blob.
- Transfer batter to pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet lined with parchment paper making small blobs around an inch big. Place sprinkles/decorations on top of the macaron shells as you pipe them.
- After you have piped all the macarons, let them sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, do not bake them immediately. If you bake them immediately, they will not develop their trademark “feets”.
- After the macarons have rested, preheat your oven to 300 F degrees.
- Bake at 300 F degrees for 15-18 minutes [time may vary depending on your oven].
Rose Filling
- Beat together butter and softened cream cheese till well combined, soft and creamy.
- Add in the powdered sugar and mix till well combined.
- Add the rose essence, pink food coloring and mix. The filling for the macaron shells is now ready.
Completing the sandwich cookie
- Once the macarons shells have baked, let them cool completely. Do not try to remove the shells before they have cooled down.
- Take one cooled macaron shell, pipe some rose filling in the center and place another shell on top of the filling to form a sandwich cookie.
- For best taste, store these in an airtight container into the refrigerator overnight and then eat them!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Chocolate Macarons with Rose Filling
