Vegan Chocolate Macarons
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
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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.
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Sift almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
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Place 75 grams of aquafaba in the bowl of a mixer with the cream of tartar.
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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)
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At this point, raise speed to medium, and whip for another 2 minutes.
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Raise speed to high and start to add granulated sugar, slowly, a bit at a time.
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Continue to whip until the aquafaba achieves stiff peaks.
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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.
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Add sifted dry ingredients to whipped aquafaba. Start folding with a spatula slowly.
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Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
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Fold forming a letter J with the spatula.
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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.
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Transfer batter to the piping bag.
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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.
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Slam the trays against the counter to release air bubbles.
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Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
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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.
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Pre-heat the oven to 285ºF.
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Bake each tray separately.
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Bake for a total of 20 minutes, or until the macarons are easily coming off the silicon mat.
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Remember to rotate the tray after the first 5 minutes baking, to ensure even distribution of heat, so the feet rise the same.
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Baking time might vary depending on your oven.
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Let the macarons cool down before filling.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Ganache
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Heat up the coconut cream until hot. Pour over the chocolate chips.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Recipe Notes
Aquafaba is the water you obtain from cooking chickpeas (or other legumes). The aquafaba I use is water drained from a chickpea can. I prefer low or no sodium chickpea water, mainly because of the taste, I feel like the salted chickpea water adds a weird taste to meringues and such. Some people like to boil their own chickpeas to obtain the aquafaba, and you can do that, but make sure to study what are the best ratios water:chickpeas so your aquafaba is concentrated enough.
Reduced aquafaba: I have recently stopped reducing the aquafaba to make my vegan macarons, and they have been working fine. I used to reduce the aquafaba for my previous vegan macarons, but I decided to start skipping this step to experiment, and the macarons have been turning out great. I still like to use low sodium chickpea water.
Macaronage: If you are acquainted with making regular (egg white) macarons, one of the clues about knowing when the batter is ready to be piped, is when you can grab some batter with the spatula and start drawing a figure 8, if the batter doesn’t break up as you draw a few figure 8 shapes, that means the batter should be ready. However, I am learning with vegan macarons that it’s optimal to stop folding the batter right before it reaches this stage. Please watch my videos on youtube, as you can see in the videos what the batter should look like.
If the batter is too thick while mixing, add a teaspoon of aquafaba as you mix, until you obtain the perfect consistency.
Macaronage: Do not let the batter reach ribbon stage. If it reaches ribbon stage it will be over mixed, the batter is supposed to be thick. Watch my videos on YouTube to see what it should look like.
Oven thermometer: Please make sure to have an oven thermometer! I receive a lot of troubleshooting questions and the great majority are issues caused due to not having an oven thermometer. Read this post for more detailed information about how important this is.
Oven temperature: Please experiment with your own oven temperature. Temperatures will vary depending on your oven and technique. It’s important to experiment and see what works best for your own oven. In my old oven I used to bake this same recipe at 310ºF. However, with my new oven, I bake it at 285ºF. This comes to show that the temperature will vary greatly depending on your own oven. Please experiment and find out what works best for you.
Troubleshooting: if your macarons are exploding, flattening out, with the feet spreading to the sides, that can mean a few things:
1- hot oven (make sure to have oven thermometer and experiment with the optimal oven temperature for your oven).
2- over mixed batter. It's really easy to over mix vegan macaron batter. Mix it just until it starts to flow. Watch the videos on my youtube channel for reference.
3- under whipped meringue: make sure the meringue has really stiff peaks. It can take some time. Just be patient.