These chocolate strawberry macarons are filled with a creamy chocolate buttercream and homemade strawberry jam. They’re a little sweet, a little tangy, and completely delicious!
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Ingredients to Make Strawberry Chocolate Macarons
- Powdered sugar
- Almond flour – use blanched, finely sifted almond flour
- Egg whites – they should be at room temperature
- Granulated sugar – added to egg whites to make the meringue
- Powdered egg whites – this will help if you have problems getting a strong meringue
- Vanilla extract
- Gel food coloring – I used 3 drops of chocolate brown for these macarons
- Chocolate buttercream (recipe below) – made with cocoa powder
- Homemade strawberry jam (recipe below) – you can use store bought, but this homemade version is very easy and tastes so much better
- Melting chocolate wafers – for the chocolate drizzle
Chocolate Buttercream Filling
- Salted butter – I always use salted butter when baking. If you want to use unsalted butter, just add a pinch of salt to balance out the sweetness
- Cocoa powder – unsweetened 100% cocoa powder
- Powdered sugar – no need to sift, but make sure there are no clumps
- Heavy whipping cream
Whisk the butter and cocoa powder together so the cocoa powder dissolves. Add the powdered sugar in two parts so it mixes in well with the butter and cocoa powder. You’ll want to add the powdered sugar a little at a time so the buttercream doesn’t get grainy. Add the heavy cream and continue mixing until smooth and creamy.
Best Cocoa Powder for Buttercream
I like using this cocoa powder because it gives a rich, chocolate flavor to the buttercream. It’s 100% natural cocoa powder which has a more intense flavor. Since it’s natural cocoa, which is somewhat bitter, it works great for buttercream because it will balance the sweetness of the powdered sugar. It has a strong chocolate taste, so a little goes a long way.
Homemade Strawberry Jam with Frozen Strawberries
If you’ve never made homemade jam, you really should try it. This recipe is quick and easy and you really can’t beat the flavor. You can use either fresh or frozen strawberries, but I always have frozen strawberries in my freezer so I usually use those.
- Strawberries – I use frozen strawberries, but you can also use fresh strawberries. The only difference is the jam will take a few minutes longer to prepare since the frozen strawberries will take a few more minutes to defrost.
- Sugar
- Lemon juice – Helps to set the jam. You can use either bottled lemon juice or fresh.
How to Store Homemade Strawberry Jam
Store any leftover jam in a glass jar or a glass container. You can also use a plastic container, just make sure the jam has completely cooled before pouring it in.
How Long Does Homemade Strawberry Jam Last?
Homemade jam can last about 3 weeks in the refrigerator if properly stored.
Melting Chocolate for Drizzling
These chocolate melting wafers are my favorite for drizzling on macarons. The chocolate melts quickly and smoothly, sets firmly, and there is no need for tempering.
Place a few wafers in a small glass bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. I usually use 1 wafer per 2 macarons so that I don’t have a lot of chocolate left over. Remove from microwave and stir until all the wafers have melted.
If the wafers are still not completely melted after stirring, microwave for 10 more seconds, but try not to heat for too long because the chocolate can clump up and become unusable if heated too much.
How to Drizzle Melted Chocolate
When working with chocolate wafers, you need to work very quickly because the chocolate will start to set if it cools down too much. I like to drizzle the chocolate with a pastry bag, which is a much neater way of drizzling. You can also drizzle with a spoon, but that can get a bit messy.
Transfer the chocolate to an 8 inch pastry bag and cut a small opening at the tip and drizzle as quickly as possible. If the chocolate starts to cool down inside the bag, it’ll harden and get stuck inside the bag. Once that happens, there’s no way of saving that chocolate, and you’ll have to start over.
More fruit filled macarons to try
- Guava Macarons
- Mango Macarons
- Passion Fruit Macarons
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons
- Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons
- Orange Macarons
Macaron resources
Chocolate Strawberry Macarons
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Stand mixer
- Spatula
- One 16 inch pastry bag
- Three 8 inch pastry bags
- Round piping tip (Wilton 12)
- Two silicone baking mats
- Two half sheet pans
- Oven thermometer
- Small saucepan (for strawberry jam)
- Potato masher (to crush the strawberries)
- Small glass bowl (for melting chocolate wafers)
Ingredients
Macaron shells
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 80 grams almond flour
- 70 grams egg whites
- 70 grams granulated sugar
- 2 grams egg white powder (optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 drops brown gel food coloring
Chocolate buttercream
- ½ tsp cocoa powder
- ¼ cup salted butter (½ stick)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp heavy whipping cream
Strawberry jam
- ½ lb frozen strawberries (can also use fresh strawberries)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (bottled or fresh)
Chocolate drizzle
- 9 melting chocolate wafers
Instructions
Prepare dry ingredients
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour using a whisk to break down any clumps. Set aside.
- Line sheet pans with silicone mats.
- Insert the piping tip into the 16 inch pastry bag.
Make the meringue
- Whisk the egg whites on medium speed (speed 4) until you start to see small bubbles (this can take as little as 15 seconds sometimes).
- Slowly add 3 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time.
- Whisk until you start to see tracks in the meringue.
- Increase speed to 6 and continue slowly adding the remainder of the granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until you’ve added all the sugar.
- Once you have soft peaks, stop the mixer, scrape the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla.
- Whisk for about 2 minutes, or until medium peaks, and add 3 drops of gel food coloring.
- Whisk for another 5 minutes or until stiff peaks.
Combine ingredients
- Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the meringue and fold the batter until you can't see any of the dry ingredients.
- When folding the batter, slide the spatula under the batter, lift it in a U motion, go over the top of the batter, and slide it under again. This way you make sure to get the batter at the bottom of the bowl.
- Once fully combined, add in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and repeat the process of folding.
- Add in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients and fold until fully combined.
- Once all of the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture has been added, continue folding a few more times to make sure all the ingredients are combined well.
- Now you need to deflate some of the air in the batter by taking the spatula and smearing the batter on the sides of the bowl two or three times, and then folding once or twice.
- Continue this process of smearing some of the batter on the side of the bowl and folding once or twice until the batter starts to run off the spatula in ribbons.
- You can test the consistency by lifting the spatula and letting the batter run down. If it falls in ribbons and sinks into itself within 30 seconds, it's ready.
Pipe the shells
- Transfer the batter to the 16 inch pastry bag.
- Holding the pastry bag at a 90° angle, pipe the macarons into ¾ inch circles about 1 inch apart.
- Tap the tray against the counter about 8 times to release any air bubbles.
- Let the macarons rest until they form a skin and are no longer sticky.
- While the macarons are resting, preheat the oven to 310°F.
- Bake the macarons for 14-16 minutes.
- Macarons are ready when they no longer shift if you touch the tops.
Chocolate buttercream
- Using the stand mixer, whisk the butter and cocoa powder until the cocoa powder has dissolved.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and whisk until fully combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until you no longer see any sugar.
- Add the cream and continue to whisk until the buttercream looks smooth and creamy.
Strawberry jam
- Add frozen strawberries and sugar to saucepan and heat on medium, stirring frequently.
- Continue stirring and breaking down the strawberries with a spatula.
- Once it starts to boil, add lemon juice, and continue stirring so that jam doesn't burn.
- Boil for about 20 minutes and using either the spatula or potato masher, crush the strawberries. Jam will thicken as it cooks.
- Check the consistency by running the spatula down the middle of the jam, and if it takes a few seconds to come back together, it's ready. Jam will thicken as it cools.
- Remove saucepan from heat and let the jam cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to a glass container, or a bit longer if transferring to a plastic container.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour so the jam cools before filling the macarons.
Assemble the macarons
- Transfer the jam to an 8 inch pastry bag and set aside. Don't cut an opening at the tip yet.
- Fill another 8 inch pastry bag with the buttercream and cut about a ¼ inch opening at the bottom of the bag.
- Pipe the buttercream around the outer edge of half of the macaron shells, leaving a space in the middle for the jam.
- Take the pastry bag filled with the jam and cut a ½ inch opening at the tip and fill the middle of the macarons with jam. It will be a bit runny but the buttercream will keep it in place.
- Place the top half of the macaron shells on top of the filled macarons.
- Place 9 chocolate wafers in a small glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Remove from microwave and stir with a spoon until the chocolate has completely melted. If it needs more time, microwave for another 10 seconds, remove from microwave, and stir until melted.
- Immediately transfer the chocolate to an 8 inch pastry bag, cut a small opening at the tip, and drizzle on the macarons. This needs to be done very quickly as the chocolate will start to set inside the bag if it cools down too much.
I made these macarons for my husband and he loved them so much! He keeps asking me to make them again!