Vegan Chocolate Macarons
Hello friends! Today let’s make Vegan Chocolate Macarons! Please read the post below and the notes on the bottom of the recipe, because they are filled with tips that will certainly help you.
I’m going to start by talking about the MOST important thing when making macarons! Please make sure to have an oven thermometer when you bake macarons!
Everyday I get messages from people looking for help troubleshooting macaron issues, from regular macarons, and vegan macarons. And the most recurring issue is indeed due to oven temperature.
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You can do everything right up to the actual baking part, and if your oven isn’t on board, you can lose your whole batch of macarons.
Please read this post where I explain in detail why the oven is such an important factor when making macarons.
Basically, the tl;dr of the post is: home ovens are very inaccurate, and don’t do a good job at keeping the temperature you set it to, or at keeping a constant temperature if that. The only way to be able to control the temperature of the oven, is to have an oven thermometer, that will tell you what the actual temperature inside of the oven is.
Also, take time to get to know your oven. I have been baking at 285ºF, but with my previous oven, I was baking the vegan macarons at 310ºF, which seems to be way to high for my new oven, and causes my macarons to spread out their feet as they bake.
Another alternative if your feet are spreading out as the macarons bake, is to double pan the macarons. Which means, place the baking sheet on top of another baking sheet and bake it like that.
Anyway, I have a few more changes to my previous macaron recipes with these Vegan Chocolate Macarons. I have recently began to experimenting making macarons without reducing the aquafaba.
And it’s been working the exact same! I don’t think I will go back to reducing the aquafaba for the time being.
So, for these batch of Vegan Chocolate Macarons, I have changed my recipe below, to indicate that I do not reduce the aquafaba before making the macarons anymore.
These lovely Vegan Chocolate Macarons are filled with a Vegan Chocolate Ganache, made with coconut cream and dark chocolate.
These Vegan Chocolate Macarons are rich tasting, with a slightly crunchy shell, and a creamy filling.
For the ganache to achieve the perfect piping consistency, let it come to room temperature, and then place it in the fridge for about 30 or 40 minutes, and that will help the ganache obtain a nice and thick consistency.
These Vegan Chocolate Macarons can be stored in the fridge for a few days, usually from 4-7 days, and in the freezer for up to 1 or 2 months.
Here are the containers I use to store my macarons in the freezer.
If you like making macarons, here are some posts you might enjoy:
- Vegan Avocado Macarons
- Vegan Raspberry Macarons
- Lavender Lemon Vegan Macarons
- Vegan Pistachio Macarons
- Vegan Coffee Macarons
- Vegan Biscoff Macarons
- Vegan Vanilla Macarons
- Vegan Salted Caramel Macarons
- Vegan Matcha Macarons
I usually answer lots of macaron questions and troubleshooting, as possible on my instagram dm and email. Make sure to have pics if you’re sending me a message, since it’s easier to try and pin point what could have gone wrong.
Thanks for reading my blog! Have a lovely day!
Vegan Chocolate Macarons
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Sifter
- Electric mixer
- Spatulas
- Piping bags
- Large round piping tip
- 2 baking sheets
- Parchment paper, or silicone mat
- Whisk
Ingredients
Vegan Macaron Shells
- 100 grams almond flour
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 12 grams cocoa powder
- 75 grams aquafaba
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 66 grams granulated sugar
Vegan Chocolate Ganache
- 1/4 cup coconut cream 60 ml
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate (56.6 grams)
Instructions
Vegan Macaron Shells
- Gather all of your ingredients before starting to make macarons. Measure out all ingredients. Line two baking sheets with silicon mats. And fit a large piping bag with a round tip. You want everything ready to go when you need it.
- Sift almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
- Place 75 grams of aquafaba in the bowl of a mixer with the cream of tartar.
- Whip for about 1 minute on low, or medium low if the low on your mixer is way too slow. (On my hand mixer I whip on low, but on my KitchenAid I whip on medium low)
- At this point, raise speed to medium, and whip for another 2 minutes.
- Raise speed to high and start to add granulated sugar, slowly, a bit at a time.
- Continue to whip until the aquafaba achieves stiff peaks.
- The whole whipping, from beginning to end, should last about 10 minutes, but sometimes it may last longer. Make sure you have obtained stiff peaks, shooting straight up.
- Add sifted dry ingredients to whipped aquafaba. Start folding with a spatula slowly.
- Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
- Fold forming a letter J with the spatula.
- Fold until the batter is flowing slightly. You don’t want the batter to be flowing continuously off the spatula. When it comes to vegan macarons, the folding time is very very brief. You are basically just looking to incorporate the dry ingredients with the meringue. Please watch the video to see what the consistency should look like. If you grab a spatula full of batter and hold it over the bowl, it should still be separating in chunks, and not flowing continuously on a ribbon. Do not get to the ribbons stage! If you get to the ribbon stage, the macaron feet will spread out in the oven.
- Transfer batter to the piping bag.
- Pipe 1 1/2” circles on a baking sheet lined with silicone mat. I usually use 2 sheets. This will depend on how big you pipe your macarons.
- Slam the trays against the counter to release air bubbles.
- Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
- Let the trays rest for 30-45 minutes until the shells are dry. Test this by touching a macaron gently with your finger. Depending on humidity levels and weather, it might take longer or less time for your macarons to dry.
- Pre-heat the oven to 285ºF.
- Bake each tray separately.
- Bake for a total of 20 minutes, or until the macarons are easily coming off the silicon mat.
- Remember to rotate the tray after the first 5 minutes baking, to ensure even distribution of heat, so the feet rise the same.
- Baking time might vary depending on your oven.
- Let the macarons cool down before filling.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Ganache
- Heat up the coconut cream until hot. Pour over the chocolate chips.
- Whisk until all chocolate chips have melted. If they aren’t melting, microwave it for just a few seconds and whisk again to ensure the ganache is smooth without any chocolate lumps in it.
- Let the mixture cool down. Chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes, so it gains a firm consistency that can be piped.
To assemble
- Place the Ganache in a piping bag. Pipe a dollop of filling on top of half of the shells. And then top with another shell.
- Wait for the macarons to mature for 24-48 hours before serving them. And let them come to room temperature for 10 minutes before eating, for optimal results and enjoyment.
Storage
- Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Hi,
I have blue diamond as mentioned. Used other brand for canned chickpea for Aquafaba it didn’t work out.
Could u please tell me the brand for below items that u used to make this.
1. Canned chickpea
2. Chocolate powder
3. Powdered sugar
Waiting for the response
Hi,
Can u please tell me the right brand almond flour for making these macrons?
Waiting for the response
I like blue diamond the best
Hey 🙂
Do you mean with coconut cream the solid phase in the cans with coconut milk? Or is it something different? Also dark chocolate is not very liked here as a ganache, what’s your experience with milk chocolate? Is it too sweet? Thank you!
you can def use milk chocolate, and coconut cream is sold in a can it’s simply called coconut cream 🙂
Hello! Super interested in trying this recipe for my friend who has a long list of restrictions in her diet – including cane sugar. I expect that my usual substitute for her (coconut sugar) would be acceptable in the meringue, provided that I could prepare it Swiss method by cooking/melting it – would that ruin the aquafaba? It may be alright French method I’ll have to experiment. My actual question is if you have any idea how I might substitute the powdered sugar or if that’s possible at all. Or can you make macarons with sifted almond flour only, no powdered sugar? I know, very unusual questions lol thanks for you any input 🙏🏼
it is not possible to make it without refined sugar sorry
I love macarons! I haven’t had a good vegan one yet so I’m very excited to try these!
I have been wanting to try making vegan macarons with aquafaba for a while now. I am SHOCKED at how these taste exactly like normal macarons…or even better, honestly. I brought them to work and non vegans were saying they were “life changing.” I really am so pleasantly surprised at how amazing these are. I cannot recommend enough. I can’t wait to try other flavors.
That’s absolutely amazing to hear! Thank you!!
Great recipe! But do you think you could use chocolate buttercream instead of chocolate ganache ?
you can fill it with whatever you want
Do you use sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder?
unsweetened
Hello – tried this recipe for the first time. They looked perfect going into the oven and just as perfect coming out with very little ruffling. However, they didn’t have a base. The inside looked underdone so I’ve popped them in to dry out. Followed your recipe exactly. The only thing different was the oven temp – I had it at 120c – my oven runs hot. And they were on the bottom. Any suggestions on what could be the problem?
that means they weren’t baked long enough
I’m not sure what went wrong with these but they just would not dry even though I followed the directions closely. They cracked in the oven and never developed feet. Tried the vanilla vegan macarons before this and those came out perfectly! I don’t know what happened with this recipe though. Guess I’ll try again another day
your meringue wasn’t stiff.
It was. I know when my meringue is stiff enough and that wasn’t the issue here. The peaks were straight up and I could even hold the bowl upside down without any movement.
well there was definitely something wrong with your batter since they wouldn’t dry, and that indicates the batter was “wet” which usually means it was over folded, or the meringue was under whipped. However, since they didn’t form feet, that means the batter was not over folded. If the batter was over folded, the feet would have spread out, which means most likely the meringue was under whipped.
It can take a long time to whip the aquafaba meringue to the proper consistency required for macarons, and it might take beginners quite a few tries to get it right. The fact that the meringue wasn’t falling off the bowl without movement does not mean the meringue was ready, even if the meringue is at firm peaks it will hold on to the bowl without falling, but that doesn’t mean it’s stiff enough to be folded with the dry ingredients.
Also another classic sign of under whipped meringue is exactly what you described: cracked shells with no feet.
Could humidity have been a factor too? I’m sure I’ll try again another time. I think the humidity where I live definitely plays a factor too.
Hi Camilla, I tried out eggless macarons with aquafaba and it was a major disaster. I want to send you pics of my batch so that you can guide me.
Can you please share your email address
Thanks,
Havovi
camila@piesandtacos.com
Thanks. Have emailed you.