Nutella Macarons (with video)
Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog Pies and Tacos! And today we are making Nutella Macarons! Hooray!
Also, find the video on this page, or on my Youtube Channel, showing you how to make these macarons!
I basically made a chocolate macaron shell, and filled with the most delicious Nutella Buttercream. Sounds simple enough, eh?
This post may contain affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualified purchases. Please read our Privacy policy here.
Then I drizzled the shells with some melted chocolate, and sprinkled some chopped hazelnuts on top to decorate!
If you watch my video, I will show in detail how to make these Nutella Macarons.
I made these Nutella Macarons using my hand mixer, to show that you don’t necessarily need a KitchenAid to make macarons.
It does take longer to whip the meringue in my hand mixer than it does in my KitchenAid. However, it is still possible to make macarons without a stand mixer!
Anyway, if you go to my Youtube Channel, you’ll find many videos on how to make macarons, showing you the step-by-step.
Making macarons is all a matter of practice, and getting to know what each stage of the process is supposed to look like.
It’s not a gift, it’s not magic, it’s simply passion put to good use!
These Nutella Macarons are actually part of a big cookie box I made.
Many other cookies went in that cookie box, between them: these Alfajor Cookies, Eggnog Macarons, Cranberry Macarons, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Coconut Fudge Truffles, Passion Fruit Cookies, Orange Pistachio Shortbread.
The reason why I was able to make this cookie box happen, is because I could make lots of cookies in advance, including these Nutella Macarons.
They freeze beautifully! So they are perfect for your own Christmas Cookie Box.
Freezing Macarons is very easy. You can either freeze just the shells, and fill them later (I’ve got some baked and frozen shells in my freezer right now). Or you can freeze the assembled macaron.
I am not usually a fan of freezing macarons with jelly or curd fillings, because they might get soggy depending on how wet the filling is.
But macarons filled with cream fillings will freeze beautifully!
These are the containers I use to freeze my macarons.
I have been using them for years, they are awesome!
Being able to freeze our macarons should make things a lot easier, because you can make them way ahead of time, and that always helps, specially during busy holiday season!
And this is the tip I am using to pipe the filling on the macarons.
I have over 50 macaron recipes and ideas on my blog!
Here are some more ideas of macarons you might like:
- Chocolate Macarons (most popular recipe on the blog!)
- German Chocolate Macarons
- Brownie Macarons
- M&M’s Macarons
- Toffee Macarons
- Brigadeiro Macarons
- Coffee Macarons
- Samoa Cookie Macarons
- Dulce de Leche Macarons
- Espresso Chocolate Peanut Butter Macarons
Thank you so much for reading my blog! Have a happy day!
Nutella Macarons
Ingredients
Chocolate Macaron Shells
- 100 grams egg whites
- 100 grams white sugar
- 105 grams almond flour
- 75 grams powdered sugar
- 14 grams cocoa powder
Nutella Buttercream
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter 2 oz, 56 grams
- 1/3 cup nutella
- 2 cups powdered sugar 9 oz, 255 grams
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2-4 tbsp milk more, or less, as needed
Topping
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
Instructions
Macaron Shells
- Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat.
- I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicon mat, or parchment paper. I recommend using a silicon mat
- Measure out all of your ingredients.
- Sift powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
- Place egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
- Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
- Transfer mixture 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 mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise speed to high 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 form a bird’s beak shape, but shouldn’t be falling to the side, the peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top.
- Pour powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
- Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
- Add the food coloring at this point, if using. You can add a bit of brown food coloring to enhance the color of the shells if you want to.
- 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, I pick up some batter with my 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 a bit, I start folding 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, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
- You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to over mix. It’s always best to under mix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
- The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
- Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
- Place piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
- Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
- Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles of air that may have formed on the surface of the macaron shells.
- Let your 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 300°F.
- Bake one tray at a time.
- Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
- I bake each tray for a total of 18-20 minutes.
- When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will be coming off the mat easily, and with a completely formed bottom.
- Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
- Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Nutella Buttercream
- Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Cream the butter for 1 minute.
- Add Nutella and mix to combine.
- Add sifted powdered sugar and salt.
- Mix on low until powdered sugar is incorporated.
- Raise speed to medium high and cream for another minute.
- Add milk, as necessary. If the buttercream has the perfect consistency, skip on adding the milk. If the buttercream seems dry, add milk. If the buttercream is too runny after adding the milk, add more sifted powdered sugar.
To assemble
- Place Nutella Buttercream in a piping bag fitted with the tip of choice.
- Pipe some filling in half of the macarons. Top with another shell.
- Melt the chocolate, place it on a piping bag and drizzle over shells, and then sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on top.
Storage
- These Nutella Macarons will store well in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- They can also be frozen for up to 2 months in an air tight container.
Notes
. If you are a beginner macaron baker, I recommend going easy on the food coloring, as it can alter your batter a lot, and it can take extra mixing time, specially if you continue to add the food coloring as you do the macaronage.
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.
Storage: This
is the Storage Container I use to store my macarons.
Hello if i need to make a big batch can i just double or triple the recipe or should i make them in separate batches thanks
You can definitely double or triple notice that you will need more whipping time, and more folding time than usual, because of the larger batter.
When you freeze the macarons, how long do you have to wait until it thaws out? Or are they okay refrigerated if it’s only 1 night before? Wondering if I can make it a night before so I can give some to my friends the next day. 🙂 Btw, this recipe is glorious!!! They turned out super well!
They will stay well in the fridge for 5 to 7 days.
And yes you can make it the night before and gift it the next day.
And about freezing, they will stay well frozen for 1 to 2 months, some people keep it even longer.
And it doesn’t need much thawing time, maybe 30 minutes or so at room temperature. And if you take them out and place them in the fridge, might take a couple of hours. Still leave them at room temperature a few minutes before eating 🙂 it will turn out great! Thank you!!
Thanks for the quick response! Can’t wait to try your orher recipes 😊
Thank you 🙂
Hi!!! This looks so good and I can’t wait to try with Nutella buttercream as Nutella ganache is just so hard to work with because of the humidity in the state I live in lol. Question, I know here you used the Swiss method which I want to try, but I have success with the French method. For the cocoa powder, would you recommend decreasing the almond flour amount? I bake with French method equal amounts of confectioners sugar and almond flour. Not sure if adding the cocoa powder will change consistency in of cookie? Or is it fine to add on top of my current recipe. Thank you 😊
I decrease the amount of powdered sugar when I add cocoa powder. I wouldn’t add on top of the regular amount of almond flour and powdered sugar because your batter might become too stiff. and thank you, i really love this nutella buttercream 🙂
I was so excited to make these with my daughter who loves both macarons and Nutella but we were very disappointed. These took almost 4 hours of time and were horrible. The macarons were hard as a rock and the buttercream was thin and tasteless. We followed the recipe to the letter, even took time to bake each sheet of the macarons separately and turn as directed.
I am sorry you didn’t have a good experience. The issue is not with the recipe, however. Making macarons takes time and skill to learn, plus a lot of patience. Most first timers don’t get it right. You need to learn what each stage is supposed to look like, even a slight over beating of the meringue, or over mixing of the batter, or not having an oven thermometer are factors that will influence greatly in the results. And with time and practice you learn these things.
If the macarons were hard as a rock, it means you overbaked them, and possibly have over whipped the meringue as well.
And if the buttercream was too thin, it means it needs more buttercream as I indicate in the recipe instructions.
Hello! I tried for the first time to bake macarons.I think I followed all the steps correctly but when I folded in all the dry ingredients, the meringue turned like cookie batter, really thick and hard to fold. What could I have done wrong? I measured everything prior to making them.
The meringue could have been too over whipped.
This sounds so delicious and can’t wait to try it!
Do you use regular cocoa powder, or unsweetened cocoa powder?
Unsweetened cocoa powder 🙂
Hello, do we require a sugar thermometer when you simmer the egg whites and sugar? thank you
No you don’t, just make sure the sugar is melted, but don’t over heat the mixture. As soon as the sugar melts remove from the heat.
Hi Camilla!
These macarons are *delicious*. However, I can’t seem to get them to form feet, no matter what I do! They otherwise come out perfect (even on my first try making macarons!), but just puff up in the oven and then deflate, with no feet to be seen. Anything you can think of that might help me?
Hi, can you explain to me “rotating”. If you have 3 trays, do you take them in and out the oven rotate between them or do you open oven and rotate the tray currently in the oven clockwise for example.
🙂
rotating means rotating 180 degrees in the oven. to bake evenly on all sides
Can this recipe be adapted to use carton egg whites?? I have literally every ingredient but I have several cartons of egg whites (for my cakes). 😀
for sure can! I show instructions here: https://www.piesandtacos.comcarton-egg-whites-macarons/
Hi I was wondering why you don’t use cream of tartar in your recipe. I’ve searched a few recipe and wanted to try try yours out but was just curious as to why some use cream of tarter and some don’t. CANT WAIT TO TRY THIS AND TYIA!!!
Cream of tartar is frequently used with the French method, because it’s used to help stabilize the meringue. Since in the case of this recipe we use the Swiss method, and we make a syrup with the egg whites and sugar, which makes the meringue more stable anyway, so no need for cream of tartar. I am actually not using cream of tartar in my French method recipe either, so this really is a matter of you experimenting with cream of tartar and without and seeing what you think works best for you. But again, I’d only use cream of tartar in the French method, not in the Swiss. Thank you 🙂
Your nutella macarons sound AMAZING Camila! Nutella is definitely one of my favourite flavours to bake or just eat out of the jar lol!
i copied the recipe exactly and my macarons turned really crunchy.
Macarons are something you will master after a lot of practice and finding what method works best for you. The recipe isn’t the problem, since it works for so many people, including myself. Making macarons involves a lot of details and if one little thing gets overmixed, or undermixed, or if the temperature of your oven is slightly off, you will encounter issues. Most beginners don’t nail macarons at the first time making them.
Knowing when to stop whipping the meringue, knowing exactly what the batter is supposed to look like before stopping to fold, and getting to know your own oven when it comes to baking macarons are things that will come with practice only.
I would try just baking them for less time. That’s the easiest thing to try first if they came out well otherwise. Each oven has its own individual variation in temperature.
Mine too! I think I’ll cook for less time next time.
hi i would like to make your Macrons but only have almond meal will that work fine or not
Yes they are the same thing. I just recommend using a brand that has fine and dry almond meal (or almond flour), not oily and not in huge pieces, it has to be a finer grind.
This recipe is just perfect!! 👌👌
I also added a a nutella centre with a hazelnut. It ended up tasting like a ferrero rocher 😍
Oh that sounds delicious 😋 ! Thank you so much
So do you whip your egg whites right after taking them
Off the stove? Or do you let them cool awhile? I use Aquafaba after boiling the chic pea water to reduce it down then cooling in fridge over night then taking it out if fridge to bring to room temp then I add the sugar while whipping..
I whip the egg whites right after taking them off the heat, they shouldn’t be too hot, they should be up to 130ºF, just enough for the sugar to melt, and make a syrup, and this is why this is the Swiss method of making macarons. Don’t let the egg white/sugar syrup sit after removing them from the heat, that will spoil the meringue.
And with the aquafaba is different, because you boil the aquafaba to reduce it, and then whip it with the sugar which is the French method of making macarons.
I love ur recipes! I’ve been obsessing over macarons for awhile now and your method and videos are the best ones I’ve encountered. My issue was the rotating of the pans during baking. I found that the cookies lose their feet once I open the oven door and I can never seem to get them back. I have an oven thermometer so that’s not the issue. How do u keep them from doing this? Outside of that they came out delicious and the perfect texture. Just no feet which bothers me a lot since that’s one important character of a good macaron in my opinion. I’m gonna attempt again today and try not to open the oven door.
I don’t think the issue is the rotating of the trays or opening the door oven. The macarons don’t have a leavening agent in them, so they don’t “fall” like a cake would because of the heat shock. There might be another issue going on with the meringue or macaronage. Experiment without opening the oven door, get some pictures of your batch, of the meringue, the macarons, etc if possible and send to my email or dm on instagram so I can help troubleshoot if it happens again.
Acho que esse recheio é o melhor que tem, esse e o de doce de leite, fantásticos!!!!!! Esses macarons ficaram perfeitos!!!!
nossa verdade sao meus preferidos!!!