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And just like that, the holiday season is upon us. Time to bust out the cozy socks, queue up some cheesy Christmas movies, and start baking. To celebrate the peak of baking season, I’m going to be sharing 12 different cookie recipes, or (to be more festive) 12 Days of Christmas Cookies.
Day two greets us with something ~fancy~. Peppermint hot chocolate macarons. Delicate, delicious, and intimidating. But don’t be scared, I’m here to walk you through it. I wouldn’t necessarily call macarons hard, they’re more just fussy. I will say though, you need a scale. That’s the secret to making consistently good macarons, weighing the ingredients instead of measuring them.
But how??
I use Martha Stewart’s macaron recipe for the base and then add any flavors from there. The egg whites and sugar are whipped to stiff peaks, but be careful not to over or under whip them. Add your color. Then the almond meal, powdered sugar, and cocoa are folded in until the batter resembles hot lava. That’s what all the recipes say. Idk how many people have seen lava in real life, though, so I use a different test. I pull the spatula out and let the batter drip back into the bowl and kind of draw a figure 8 with the batter. When it settles down easily, it’s ready.
Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe evenly sized dollops of batter. Then drop the trays onto the counter top a few times to knock any air bubbles out. The cookies need to sit on the counter for a half an hour or so until they feel dry when you tap the tops of them.
Once they’re dry, preheat the oven to 325oF. Bake the cookies for about 11 minutes, until they’re dry on top and have puffy “feet” on the bottom.
Match them up and pipe the marshmallow fluff onto half of them. Sandwich the shells together and roll the edges in the crushed candy canes.
Peppermint Hot Cocoa Macarons
Ingredients
- 71 grams almond meal
- 117 grams powdered sugar
- 10 grams cocoa powder
- 2 egg whites
- 53 grams granulated sugar
- marshmallow fluff for filling
- crushed candy canes for decorating
Instructions
- Sift together the almond meal, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder into a large bowl.
- In an electric mixer, whip together the egg whites and granulated sugar until stiff peaks. (Martha Stewart's recipe recommends 2 minutes on speed 4, 2 minutes on speed 6, and 2 minutes on speed 8.)
- Fold the almond mixture into the egg whites until the batter resembles lava or the batter runs off the spatula in a ribbon.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe quarter-sized dollops of batter onto a parchment lined tray. The batter should flow easily out of the bag but not run all over the tray.
- Tap the trays against the counter a few times to force out any air bubbles.
- Let the trays sit for at least a half an hour until the tops of the macarons are dry to the touch.
- Preheat the oven to 325oF.
- Bake the cookies for 11 minutes until they're dry on top and have puffy "feet" on the bottom.
- Once cooled, match up the macarons. Pipe marshmallow fluff onto half of the cookies and sandwich the other half together. Roll in crushed candy canes.
Hi Alison! Thank you so much for this recipe! You are right, macarons are really tough, I’ve tried making them before with no success. With your tips I was able to nail it on the second try (i think i may have over folded the first try). These have already been a fan favorite this holiday and have made for great gifts!!
Thank you so much, Lin! I’m glad you like them!