Here Emilie Thyebaut, Founder of France Just For You, shares her favorite recipe for making Chocolate Macarons! These normally turn out better if you're baking them on a dry day rather than on a rainy day.

Chocolate french macarons

Homemade chocolate French macarons (Photo©: France Just For You)

 

Ingredients

For about 20-25 macarons

Biscuit:

  • 3 egg whites
  • 200g powered sugar
  • 125g almond powder (grounded very thin)
  • 30g sugar
  • 15g bitter cacao (French brand Van Houten)
  • 20 drops of red food coloring

Ganache filling:

  • 120g baking chocolate
  • 80g butter
  • 30g thick crème fraiche



How to make macaron biscuits: 

  1. Mix the bitter cacao, powered sugar, and almond powder together until you have a very fine powder.

     
  2. Whip up the egg whites (very hard) and the fine caster sugar, and add the food coloring at the end so that it mixes with the rest.

     
  3. Sieve the powder from  step 1 and add it to the whipped egg whites from step 2.

     
  4. With a piping bag, squeeze small domes of the mixture, about 3cm in size, onto silicone baking paper. When you make them, the tip of the pastry bag must touch the plate.

     
  5. Let it rest for about 30 minutes (very important: during wet weather, have them rest near a warm radiator).

     
  6. Cook them in the oven for 12 to 13 minutes at 175°C. The biscuits must unstick from the paper easily.

 

Making French chocolate macarons

Guillaume and Jeanne sticking the biscuits together with the chocolate ganache (Photo©: France Just For You)

 

HOW TO MAKE MACARON GANACHE:

  1. Melt the chocolate, butter and crème on a low heat.

     
  2. Let it cool in the fridge until it’s hard.

     
  3. When the biscuits are cool, stick two of them together with some ganache cream in the middle.

     

 Et voilà! You should be left with 20-25 perfectly delicious chocolate French macarons! 

Keep the macarons in a cool, dry place and you can quick-freeze them… if you don't eat them all in one go!

TIP: you will know that the macaron biscuit is well-cooked and that you made a nice paste when you see the ring forming around the edge of the biscuit while they cook. This is called the “collerette” in French. If you're buying macarons, make sure that they have the collarette. This is how you know that they won’t stick to your teeth and that they've been cooked well. But don't worry if you don't get it right the first time; this is the most difficult part of making macarons!

 

Jeanne and Pauline enjoying French chocolate macarons

Jeanne and Pauline enjoying their homemade French macarons! (Photo©: France Just For You)

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

Travelers Reviews

5.0
Kim, Eric & Family
We had a great vacation thanks to you. Your arrangements and attention to detail were unsurpassed. We got to enjoy such a wonderful experience of France because of your little details and suggestions; things we did and saw we would never had been aware of or done if we traveled on our own itinerary or had a canned tour. Thanks so much for all of …
Dan
I am a planner by nature and my wife and I found that Emilie at France Just For You exceeded all of our expectations for our trip to France. The daily itineraries the restaurant recommendations things to see and even things not to see. The B&B's we stayed at were outstanding. She even planned a few surprises for us on some of our activities. Do not …
Susan & Richard from the US
This trip was amazing, and Laura did such a fantastic job at planning it for us, with us. Wow, the detail and care the whole team put into our package was astonishing.
Marlene & Terry
Emilie, You are the best! Everything you selected for us was perfect in every way. All the tickets, tours and reservations were handled well and we thank you for arranging such a beautiful vacation. We are recommending you to everyone we talk to. If you are ever in Toronto, we would be happy to host you and Guillaume!
Roger
The planning and coordination of our holiday was quite awesome and far exceeded all of our expectations and indeed our imagination. The 300 odd page personalised guide book with maps, times and distances, restaurants on route and at our destinations, recommended places to visit on route and the accomodation itself and hosts at each location were …
Jenifer
When planning my 60th birthday celebration, my sister and I stumbled upon France Just For You, which saved us from the potential nightmare of traveling with 40 strangers on a bus. As a result, my sister and I, along with our husbands, experienced a trip of a lifetime! From the beginning, Emilie was extraordinarily responsive, informative, and more …