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These coffee macarons are made with macaron shells that feature a hint of cocoa, then filling with coffee buttercream for the most delicious hit of caffeine!
Coffee and I have a love affair of sorts. No morning is complete without a large cup of coffee. My favorite place to be is writing in a coffee shop. And maybe one day I will own a coffee shop that will serve only the best coffee and of course macarons to go with it.
But until then, I’m experimenting with all things coffee in my tiny condo kitchen.
If you’ve been here before you know you’ll know you can find a lot of tea and coffee-infused desserts, like mocha cupcakes, masala chai macarons, and these espresso chocolate chip cookies!
But if coffee is not your cup of choice, you also find lots more macaron flavors. Some of my favorites to date are:
- Birthday Cake Macarons
- Rose Macarons
- Masala Chai Macarons / Tea Latte Macarons
- Hot Chocolate Macarons
- Chocolate Ganache Macarons
And if you’re still perfecting your macaron technique, here are some tips to help you get here! Or find ways to decorate your macarons here!
Tools & Ingredients for Coffee Macarons
For these Coffee Macarons, you’ll need a few tools and ingredients. These are some of my favorites:
- Almond Flour – I’m currently using Kirkland Almond Flour, which I usually get from Amazon.
- Digital Kitchen Scale and Oven Thermometer – Macarons can be finicky; I highly recommend these two tools for the precision and accuracy required in making macarons.
- Piping Tip like the Wilton #12 – This is the preferred piping tip that I attach to a piping bag.
- Instant coffee or espresso powder – these combine together to make a delicious filling for these macarons.
- Silicone Mats – I prefer silicone baking mats, but you can also use parchment paper.
How to make Coffee Macarons
STEP #1: Macaron Shells
These macarons use my basic macaron shell recipe with a little cocoa powder. The cocoa powder is only in there to add color naturally, and the shells do not taste like chocolate at all. I use a French meringue-based macaron recipe, similar to the one I use for many other macaron flavors like these Froot Loops Macarons or these Masala Chai Macarons.
If you would like to make chocolate shells, you can use the recipe for these Chocolate Ganache Macarons.
I highly recommend that you weigh the ingredients for the macaron shells to be as precise as possible. I use this scale for accuracy, but any kitchen scale will work. If you’d like more tips on macarons, check out this post on Macaron Tips!
Combine the dry ingredients:
Start by sifting the almond flour, icing/powdered sugar, and cocoa together a few times to remove clumps. It helps with making sure that the final shells are as smooth as possible.
I typically sift the almond flour and icing sugar at least twice to ensure that no clumps remain. This makes for smooth macaron shells! This is the sieve that I use to make sure no clumps remain!
Make the meringue:
Next, make the meringue, by beating egg whites, granulated sugar, and a pinch of cream of tartar.
You can do this part on a stand mixer or a hand mixer. For smaller batches of macarons, I prefer to use my Kitchenaid hand mixer.
Macaronage
Once your meringue has reached stiff peaks, add all the dry ingredients (almond flour and icing sugar mixture) into the meringue (egg white mixture) and start the macaronage (folding process).
Stop folding when the batter flows off the spatula in a ribbon.
Pipe onto Baking Tray:
Once you’re satisfied with the batter, it’s time to pipe it on the tray.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I like using these silicone baking mats with the circle templates drawn on. But you can experiment with parchment paper as well!
Transfer your batter to a piping bag, fitted with a round tip. I like to use this Wilton #12 round decorating tip.
Pipe into circles using following the template on the silicone baking mats. Use a toothpick or cookie scribe to adjust any of the shapes.
Rest, then Bake
Rest the batter until it is no longer tacky to the touch. It takes about 30 minutes in my kitchen. Once the shells have rested, bake them in a pre-heated oven at 300ºF.
STEP #2: Coffee Buttercream Filling
For the filling, I used an American Buttercream with an instant coffee concentrate. It is delicious on these mocha cupcakes!
- Instant Coffee Concentrate: Dissolve 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee in 1 tablespoons of boiling hot water. Mix until combined, then set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat room temperature butter until fluffy – about 5-7 minutes.
- Add in 1/3 cup icing sugar and mix until incorporated, then add 1/2 tablespoon of hot coffee mixture. Mix in completely.
- Repeat the process, until all the ingredients have been used up.
- Beat until incorporated and frosting is light and fluffy.
- If frosting is too soft, add in more icing sugar (2 tbsp at a time), if too frosting is too stiff, add a little cream (1 teaspoon at a time)
- Transfer frosting to a piping bag to fill the macarons.
STEP #3: Decorate, Fill, and Mature
- Fill the macarons: Pipe the frosting onto half the cookies, and sandwich them together.
- Mature: Macarons taste best when they’ve had some time to rest and mature in the fridge. So you can easily make these coffee macarons ahead of time!
Tips for Coffee Macarons
- The recipe below for the Coffee Macarons makes 12 macarons. It can easily be halved or doubled for the number of macarons that you need. (I would recommend making more!)
Macaron Shells
- Make sure to weigh the ingredients with a scale. This is the scale I have, and it has really helped me make better macarons!
- The recipe can be made without cocoa powder as well. If you prefer, add a drop of brown gel food color to get the same effect!
- Your oven needs to be at the correct temperature when baking macarons! I can’t imagine baking macarons anymore without this oven thermometer.
- I typically rest my macarons for about 30 minutes, until they are no longer tacky on the top.
- Make sure to cool the macaron shells completely before peeling them off the tray and filling them.
For the Coffee Buttercream Filling:
- Adjust the amount of coffee concentrate to your preferences.
- A little coffee goes a long way, start with a little add more as you prefer.
- You can also use espresso powder instead of instant coffee if that’s what you have on hand.
- Let the macarons mature for at least 4 hours or even overnight if possible for the best flavor.
Follow me on Instagram @sprinklesandscribbles for more baking inspiration!
Coffee Macarons
Equipment
- Measuring scale
- Sifter
- Oven thermometer
- Stand mixer or Hand mixer
- Pastry bag
- #12 round tip (optional)
- 2 aluminum baking sheets with silicone mats or Silpat
Ingredients
Macaron shells
- 67 grams almond flour
- 67 grams icing sugar
- 50 grams egg whites About 3 large egg whites
- 44 grams granulated sugar
- 5 grams cocoa powder
- pinch cream of tartar
Coffee Buttercream Filling
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee
- 1/2 cup butter softened (113 grams)
- 1 cup icing sugar 120 grams
Instructions
Macarons Shells
- Pre-heat oven to 300ºF.
- Separate the eggs from the egg whites (if using fresh eggs). Measure out 50 g (about 2 large eggs).
- In a separate bowl, sift the icing sugar, almond flour and cocoa powder together
- Repeat the sifting process to ensure there are no clumps. If there are any clumps, discard them.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites and a pinch cream of tartar. Beat on high until foamy.
- Once the egg whites are foamy, turn the mixer down to the lowest setting possible, and slowly add in the granulated sugar. Be sure to incorporate all the sugar into the egg whites.
- Turn up the mixer again on high, and keep beating egg whites until peaks form. DO NOT OVER BEAT.
- Once done, pour all the almond flour and icing sugar mixture into the egg whites.
- With a rubber spatula, fold the dry mixture into the egg whites, until the paste flows like a ribbon.
- Prepare a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat with a macaron template.
- Fit a pastry bag with a #12 round tip, if using, and trim the bottom as appropriate.
- Pour batter into the bag.
- Pipe circles onto the prepared baking sheet. You should get about 20-30 circles
- Once piped, rap the sheet on the counter to release all the air bubbles. Use a cookie scribe or toothpick to remove any smaller bubbles.
- Rest for 30 minutes, until the shells have formed a skin, and are no longer tacky to the touch.
- Bake in the oven, at 300°F for 12-13 minutes.
- Check for doneness, by wiggling the shell. Shells are done when they don’t move from the feet. If it wiggles from the feet, then bake for another minute, and check again.
- Cool the shells in the tray.
Coffee Buttercream Filling
- Dissolve 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee in 1 tablespoons of boiling hot water. Mix until combined, then set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat room temperature butter until fluffy – about 5-7 minutes.
- Add in 1/3 cup icing sugar and mix until incorporated, then add 1/2 tablespoon of hot coffee mixture. Mix in completely.
- Repeat process, until all the ingredients have been used up.
- Beat until incorporated and frosting is light and fluffy.
- If frosting is too soft, add in more icing sugar (2 tbsp at a time), if too frosting is too stiff, add a little cream (1 teaspoon at a time)
- Transfer frosting to a piping bag to fill the macarons.
Assembly & Decorate
- Once cool, remove macaron shells from the baking tray and pair similar-sized shells together to form the cookie sandwiches.
- Pipe in about 1-2 teaspoons of coffee buttercream filling onto half the shells.
- Carefully sandwich the cookie with its pair. Repeat to assemble all the cookies
- Macarons taste best when they’ve rested in the fridge for a day. Once all the cookies are assembled, store the macarons in the fridge for at least 24 hours to mature. Remove from fridge 20 minutes before serving.
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