Chocolate shells filled with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword macarons, peanut butter
Prep Time 2 hourshours
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Resting time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 3 hourshours20 minutesminutes
Servings 22macarons
Calories 150kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Chocolate Macaron Shells
100gramsegg whites3.5 oz
100gramswhite sugar3.5 oz
96gramsalmond flour3.4 oz
75gramspowdered sugar2.64 oz
14gramscocoa powder 0.8 oz
Brown food coloringoptional to deepen the color
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling
4tbsppeanut butterI like to use creamy - 64 grams, 2.26 oz
3tbspcream cheesesoftened (45 grams, 1.59 oz)
2tbspbuttersoftened (28 grams, 1 oz)
1tspvanilla extract
2cupspowdered sugar250 grams, 8.8 oz
2 to 3tbspmilkonly if necessary
To decorate the top
2ozmelted chocolateor melted peanut butter chips
1/4cupchopped 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.