Amarula Macarons

Hello friends, today we are making these amazing Amarula Macarons! They are filled with Amarula Blonde Chocolate Ganache, and topped with a Blonde Chocolate Decoration. Blonde chocolate is the same as caramelized white chocolate and it’s just the best! The shells of the macarons are flavored with espresso, because the coffee taste works so nicely with the Amarula and the Blonde Chocolate. Amarula is a cream liqueur from South Africa, made from the fruit of the plant marula. It tastes sweet and kind of like butterscotch, but better!

Check out the video on this page or on YouTube showing you exactly how to make these gorgeous macarons!

These Amarula Macarons are even more special because they are here to celebrate someone I love so much, my mom! It’s her birthday and she loves Amarula.

Amarula is originally from South Africa, and it’s a liqueur made with sugar, cream and the fruit of the African marula tree which is also locally called the Elephant tree or the Marriage Tree.

It tastes a bit like butterscotch, but better! It hits high notes of toasted caramel, a creamy and smooth texture, and a bit of a citrusy finish, which is super refreshing and unexpected. It’s a very pleasant beverage, and I haven’t drank in many years, but I can still appreciate some alcohol in desserts, and in these macarons, the Amarula is super perfect!

These Amarula Macarons were absolutely creamy, rich, and impossible to resist. I absolutely adore blonde chocolate! It is seriously the best!

If you haven’t tried it, this is your chance! You can buy blonde chocolate, or simply make it yourself from white chocolate. I have a post here where I explain how to do that.

My favorite brand of blonde chocolate is Valhrona.

To make the chocolate curls on top, I’ve followed Beyond the Butter’s tutorial. Anytime I make chocolate curls I go back to her tutorial because it’s the one that has worked the best for me, after trying many out there.

It’s quite simple to do it, you just have to get the correct temperature for the chocolate. If the chocolate is too warm, it won’t form curls but long waves of chocolate, and if the chocolate is too cold, it will break apart when you try to make the curls.

This is the spiral mold that I used to make the blonde white chocolate decorations on top.

And I had to make my macarons larger to be able to fit the decoration on top, so I made the shells about 2.5″ in diameter.

For the chocolate spiral on top, it was simply melted blonde white chocolate, poured onto the bottom of the silicone pan, and then while the chocolate is still wet, place the macaron shell on top, then put the whole tray in the freezer for about 20 minutes until the chocolate sets.

If you like this recipe, I have a few more you may enjoy:

• Coffee Macarons
• Salted Caramel Macarons
• Popcorn Macarons
• Caramelized White Chocolate Macarons
• Toffee Macarons
• White Chocolate Raspberry Macarons
• Pistachio Macarons
• Dulce de Leche Macarons

And if you want to improve your macaron game check out Macaron School, where you can find so much amazing information about how to make macarons, the science behind it, troubleshooting guides, tips and tricks, and much more.

Thank you so much for reading! If you make these Amarula Macarons please tag me on instagram or leave a comment down below, I love hearing from you!

Amarula Macarons

Camila Hurst

Today we are making Amarula Macarons, they are filled with Amarula Blonde Chocolate Ganache, and topped with a Blonde Chocolate Decoration. Blonde chocolate is the same as caramelized white chocolate and it’s just the best! The shells of the macarons are flavored with espresso, because the coffee taste works so nicely with the Amarula and the Blonde Chocolate. Amarula is a cream liqueur from South Africa, made from the fruit of the plant marula. It tastes sweet and kind of like butterscotch, but better!

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 15 macarons

Calories 298 kcal

Ingredients

  

Coffee Macaron Shells

• 100 grams egg whites
• 100 grams white granulated sugar
• 4 grams egg white powder optional
• 105 grams almond flour
• 105 grams powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder

Amarula blonde Ganache

• 250 grams blonde chocolate
• 38 grams Amarula
• 45 grams heavy cream

Decoration

• 250 grams blonde chocolate
• Callebaut Crispearls
• Chocolate Curls recipe from Beyond the Butter

Instructions

 

Coffee Macaron Shells

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/2” diameter tip. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• Measure out all of the ingredients.
• Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set it aside.
• Whisk the sugar and the egg white powder (if using) in a bowl, and place it over a pan with barely simmering water. Add the egg whites to the sugar and whisk the mixture until frothy and the sugar is completely melted. It will take a couple of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking the mixture over the water bath.
• Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook. Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup just whisk over the double boiler until the sugar has melted.
• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
• With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high, or medium-high and whisk for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
• Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending down to the side.
• Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
• Add the food coloring at this point, if using any.
• How to know when to stop folding the batter: It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
• First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
• There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test. Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds.
• Test again.
• Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.
• You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
• When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
• At this point, you want to add the espresso powder. I like to add it at the end to create a bit of a ombre effect, since the espresso powder will be dissolving with the batter.
• Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
• Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly. I piped larger macarons because of the decoration on top, so these macarons were about 2.5” in diameter.
• Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
• Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells. Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
• Pre-heat the oven to 300ºF.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
• Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again. I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes. When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.
• Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
• Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

Amarula Blonde Chocolate Ganache

• Mix the amarula with the heavy cream in a small pan, then place over medium heat and bring to almost a boil. Alternatively you can heat them together in the microwave for 15 second intervals, until hot. Be careful so it doesn’t boil over.
• Pour the hot heavy cream and amarula over blonde chocolate. Cover with a plate or with a towel and let it sit for 2 minutes.
• With a whisk gently stir the chocolate until completely melted.
• If the chocolate isn’t melting entirely place it in the microwave for 5 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until melted.
• Do NOT over heat the chocolate because it will separate and curdle.
• If making your own blonde chocolate do NOT use white chocolate chips from the store, those aren’t real white chocolate, and will not work well, causing you to waste ingredients and money. Look for white chocolate bars, or white callets by Callebaut or other brands that will tell you their chocolate has over 20% cocoa butter. Store bought white chips have additives, and lots of oils which makes them seize and separate when you try to melt them.
• Once the blonde chocolate has melted entirely, set it aside at room temperature to cool down.
• After about an hour or so, the ganache should be ok to use. Ideally it should be at room temperature. The ganache will become lighter in color, thick, and smooth once it cools down.
• If you place the ganache in the fridge, and it becomes too hard, you can always whip it with a mixer, the whipping will make the chocolate smooth and creamy, easy to pipe.
• If the ganache is too soft, that’s because you either used chocolate that didn’t contain 20% cocoa butter in it, or you added too much liquid.
• The ganache will pipe best if it’s at room temperature, but the whipping trick will work as well in case you want to make it ahead and keep it in the fridge.
• Place the ganache in a piping bag fitted with a round tip.

Decoration

• To make the swirl decoration on top I used this special mold. Melt the blonde chocolate and pour on the bottom of the molds. Spread it evenly, and then tap the tray to smooth out the chocolate and make sure it got into all the crevices.
• Then place one macaron over each circle, while the chocolate is still wet.
• Place the tray in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Then remove from the freezer and flip it over, and carefully peel it off.
• To make the chocolate curls I used instructions from Beyond the Butter.
• Once you are ready to place the chocolate curls on top of the macarons, microwave a plate for a few seconds until hot.
• Using tweezers, grab a chocolate curl, and place gently on the hot plate. Then place it on top of the macaron, this will help the chocolate curl stick on top of the macarons.
• Do the same with the callebaut crispearls.

To assemble

• Pipe the ganache on the bottom shells of each macaron, top with a decorated shell.

Storage

• The macarons will last for up to 5 days in the fridge and up to 1 month in the freezer.

Notes

Egg white powder: Egg White Powder is not the same as meringue powder. Egg white powder is made of only egg whites. They help with getting fuller shells, and specially when adding a lot of food coloring to the batter, because they make the shells dry faster. I recommend experimenting with it if you can find it. I use 4 grams for each 100 grams of egg whites.

Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy.

Macaron amount: it will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.

Baking time/temperature: Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray.

Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.

Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.

Espresso powder: While espresso powder and instant coffee are not the same, you could use instant coffee in this recipe if you don’t have espresso powder.

Amarula: If you can’t find Amarula, just make it without it. Use heavy cream instead in the ganache.

Blonde Chocolate: You can make your own if you can’t find blonde chocolate around you. I do show you how to make caramelized white chocolate on this post: Caramelized White Chocolate Macarons.

Molds: These are the Spiral Molds molds I used for the spiral chocolate decoration on top.

Instructions on how to make the curls by Beyond the Butter.

Keyword amarula, blonde chocolate, macarons