Peanut Butter Macarons

Hello friends! Today we are making Peanut Butter Macarons! Chocolate Shells filled with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese filling! So good! Plus a video so you can follow along and check out how to make these delicious macarons.

Peanut Butter Macarons topped with peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts in a bowl

These Peanut Butter Macarons are some of my favorites ever! I say that a lot!

But truly, they were! Some of my favorite macarons of all times are: Caramelized White Chocolate Macarons, Pistachio Macarons, Coconut Macarons, S’mores Macarons, and Chocolate Caramel Macarons.

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Between many others. I have almost 80 macaron flavors on my blog, probably more by the time you read this.

Click here to check out all of my macaron flavors and ideas.

Peanut Butter Macarons topped with peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts with one macaron on top chopped in half

If you are new to making macarons, make sure to check out my videos and other recipes, I usually write tips on my posts, and different articles covering specific topics.

On my Youtube channel, I have several videos showing how to make macarons with the Swiss method, which is my preferred method, including the video for these Peanut Butter Macarons.

I do use the French method for a couple of my recipes, such as the Coconut Macarons I mentioned above and these Guinness Macarons.

Peanut Butter Macarons topped with peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts on a board

If you would like some tips on how to make macarons, check out these posts:

Plus many of my other posts have very valuable tips, such as Chocolate Macarons, where I talk about the difference from parchment paper and silicon mat.

Peanut Butter Macarons topped with peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts in a bowl

I also include many tips on the Peanut Butter Macarons recipe below, which are some of the most important things to have in mind when making macarons such as:

  • Use gel food coloring. This is so important, because liquid food coloring can mess up the structure of the shells, specially in large quantities.
  • Make sure to use a scale to weigh the ingredients. I used to put the measurements in cups when I first began writing macaron recipes, however, for accuracy and best results, you should definitely invest in a scale and use the weigh measurements.
  • One of the most important tips: use an oven thermometer. I go into detail here on this Vegan Matcha Macarons post, and even though it’s a vegan macaron post, the advice for the oven is the same. Honestly, I don’t even recommend attempting to make macarons without an oven thermometer.
Peanut Butter Macarons topped with peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts on a wooden board

Anyway, I hope these tips helped a bit. As I’ve mentioned before, make sure to watch my videos and read my other posts, and even other bloggers and other videos.

Making macarons can be very particular, so it’s important to find your own groove, and reading many blogs, watching different videos, with various techniques, will for sure help you find what works best for you.

Peanut Butter Macarons topped with peanut butter drizzle and chopped peanuts

And if you liked these Peanut Butter Macarons, you may also enjoy these other peanut butter flavored macarons: Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons, and Espresso Chocolate Peanut Butter Macarons.

As always, thanks for reading my blog! If you make my recipes tag me on instagram, leave a comment below with a star rating, and also dm me on instagram for any questions, or comment on my Youtube videos or below, I try to answer all the questions!

chocolate macarons with peanut butter filling chopped in half
chocolate macarons with peanut butter filling in a bowl, with drizzled peanut butter and chocolate on top

Peanut Butter Macarons

Camila Hurst
Chocolate shells filled with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Resting time 40 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Servings 22 macarons
Calories 150 kcal

Ingredients
  

Chocolate Macaron Shells
  • 100 grams egg whites 3.5 oz
  • 100 grams white sugar 3.5 oz
  • 96 grams almond flour 3.4 oz
  • 75 grams powdered sugar 2.64 oz
  • 14 grams cocoa powder 0.8 oz
  • Brown food coloring optional to deepen the color
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling
  • 4 tbsp peanut butter I like to use creamy – 64 grams, 2.26 oz
  • 3 tbsp cream cheese softened (45 grams, 1.59 oz)
  • 2 tbsp butter softened (28 grams, 1 oz)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups powdered sugar 250 grams, 8.8 oz
  • 2 to 3 tbsp milk only if necessary
To decorate the top
  • 2 oz melted chocolate or melted peanut butter chips
  • 1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Instructions
 

Chocolate Macaron Shells
  • Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip.
  • 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.
  • 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, whisk mixture on high speed 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, almond flour, and cocoa powder into stiff whites.
  • Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
  • Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
  • 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, and you might have to have a couple failed batches before you get this right.
  • First, I pick up some batter with my spatula and try to form a figure 8. If the 8 forms without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
  • Then, I grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto my parchment paper or silicon mat.
  • If the batter stays stiff 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 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 overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
  • Once you’ve piped as many 1 1/2” circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
  • Use a toothpick to poke any air bubbles on the surface of the macarons.
  • 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 and doesn’t stick to your finger.
  • Pre-heat the oven to 300°F.
  • Bake one tray at a time.
  • Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
  • Bake for 5 more minutes, check if it needs to be rotated again. You will know if it needs to be rotated again depending on how the macarons are baking. Take a look at them, if one side seems taller than the other, maybe you have to rotate the tray again.
  • Bake for around 4 more minutes or so. I would say I bake for a total of 15 to 20 minutes.
  • When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will peel off the tray easily.
  • Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
  • Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling
  • Place the peanut butter, cream cheese, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream until fluffy, for about 2 minutes.
  • Add the vanilla, and the powdered sugar.
  • Mix on low until the sugar incorporates with the peanut butter mixture.
  • Cream on medium high speed for another 1 to 2 minutes.
  • If the mixture is dry, or too stiff, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of milk. Add only 1 tablespoon of milk at a time, until you achieve a smooth consistency. You can also use water instead of milk if you prefer. If the frosting becomes too runny, add more powdered sugar to make it stiff.
  • Place the filling in a piping bag fitted with the tip of choice.
To assemble
  • Melt the chocolate, or the peanut butter chips, place it on a piping bag and snip the end of the bag. Drizzle the chocolate or the peanut butter on top of half of the shells and sprinkle some chopped peanuts on top.
  • Pipe a small amount of the Peanut Butter Filling in the bottom shells. Top with another shell.
Storage
  • These Peanut Butter macarons will store well in the fridge for up to 7 days, and they will also store well in the freezer for 1 to 2 months.

Notes

Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring. I use Wilton Color Right Performance Food Coloring Set.
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 Container I use to store my macarons.
Keyword macarons, peanut butter

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21 Comments

  1. Okay so love from India. I tried this recipe and trust when I say it was so much better than what I expected. I was so new to this whole process of macarons that it took me 25 eggs just to separate whites, after that the fear of over beating the eggs took over. And thats when I contacted you and realised that I did under beat my eggs also chose a extremely humid day. But since the recipe tasted so delicious that I might just keep my fear aside and make them again. All thanks to you and replying me when I needed you. So thank you so much! The recipe is just BOMB!

      1. you could use vegan butter and vegan cream cheese. However, some brands of vegan cream cheese are softer than regular dairy cream cheese, so I would add about half of what I am suggesting here, or leave it out and just use vegan butter instead.
        And for the consistency, if the frosting is too soft and runny, add more powdered sugar. And if the frosting is too stiff, add a touch of liquid (milk, or water) and by a touch I mean 1/2 tsp at a time.
        When you cream the vegan butter, don’t let it come to room temperature, just cream it right out of the fridge, in my experience vegan butter whips better when it’s cold.

  2. Can you explain to me about the addition of cocoa powder to a recipe. Is it a 1:1 deduction of almond flour for cocoa powder? If not, what is the ratio?
    Also, I note some of your recipes have odd (odd for me at least) numbers of macarons produced by a given recipe. I think alot of ppl, myself included use silpats now – they have circles for 15 whole macs (or 30 shells – 6 rows of 5 shells)….it’d be nice if your recipe had ingredient quantities that conformed to make quantities of 15 macs (or 30 shells). But you’re the expert so I’m just relaying my own sentiments – I figure I want to fully use my silpat so I try to magnify your recipe to make multiples of 30 shells. I hope this is helpful input. Sometimes magnifying a recipe isn’t always as successful as I’d like!!!! ughhh..
    Really appreciate the variety of your recipes – I’ve made many.

    1. I deduct the cocoa powder from the powdered sugar. I experimented with a lot of ratios years ago when I first developed my chocolate macaron recipe, and I started with 20 grams of cocoa, which was way to much, then I started reducing and landed on 14 grams. I had also experimented with different gram measurements for the powdered sugar and almond flour, and this is the formula that worked best for me.
      I dont think everyone uses silpats, the majority of people I see in our facebook groups don’t use silpats.
      The quantity of macarons will also vary depending on the consistency of the batter, so I put an average of what I get. I don’t even get the same quantity every single time I make them.
      Maybe you could try doing it with 60 grams of egg whites and change the measurements of the other ingredients based on that. That would be around 2 egg whites, I wouldn’t go any lower than that because most people have a 5 qt kitchen aid mixer, and the meringue won’t whip with less egg whites because the whisk doesn’t reach all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

  3. 5 stars
    This is the first recipe that I’ve found that I don’t get browning on my shells! Plus, they come off the silpat perfectly. The shells come out quite dry and crunchy. How long do you let your’s sit in the fridge to absorb some of the filling and be that nice soft interior?

  4. Hi!
    Just a question I’m curious about. I notice in your ‘plain’ flavoured macaron shells, all the recipe of yours I’ve made so far (quite a few as they’re all amazing!) have a total weight of 200g egg/sugar to 210g dry (almond+icing sugar). Why the reduction in the ratio of total dry weight to egg/sugar in the chocolate ones? Not doubting you just genuinely curious! 🙂

    Thanks!

    1. Because the cocoa powder makes the batter super thick for me. So sometimes the macarons will end up wrinkled if using the full amount. I’ve experimented with the full amount before and the macarons were either wrinkled, or too crunchy.

  5. 5 stars
    These are the first macarons I tried, came out perfect.Love the flavors I’ll definitely be making more of them soon. I used to be intimidated thinking about making macarons, but after making these I feel a lot better about it. I never knew it was this easy.

  6. I have been experimenting with macarons thanks to your site. So helpful! I made one recipe (the coffee macarons) with and without egg white powder, and the egg white powder did help to make the shells more full. Now I want to try these chocolate macarons, but I am wondering why you don’t use egg white powder in this one. Do you recommend adding it here as well?
    Also, I suspect that you used regular, NOT dutch-process, cocoa powder, but please correct me if I’m wrong on that.
    Thank you for all your tips and recipes!

    1. Well I should have waited for your reply! It’s a few hours after I asked that question, and I ended up using the egg white powder (about 4 g) and using dutch-process cocoa because that’s all I had (whoops). Every single one of the macarons cracked on top and none of them had any feet! But they are delicious still. Perhaps I didn’t macaronage enough (it passed the figure 8 test, but… oh well), or perhaps it was the cocoa. However, they are still delicious so I am happy enough!

  7. Can these be left out for hours at a time for a party? Or should they be refrigerated because of the cream cheese filling? TIA

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