Chocolate peppermint macarons are so easy and delicious to make for the Christmas holidays using 4 simple ingredients in the filling. Pipe the macaron batter into cute bear in ugly Christmas sweater shapes for edible holiday gifts.
Peppermint Candy Cane Flavor for the Holidays
I'm really happy to bring you this new tutorial for Chocolate peppermint macarons piped into a Christmas bear shape. It's the first time that I am posting a #MacaronArt recipe that comes with an accompanying video and template! Hopefully, it will provide you with a comprehensive look into the makings of macaron art. We will be spending a lot of time decorating and preparing the special Christmas bear shaped macaron shell so I wanted to make the chocolate peppermint filling a bit more approachable. It's so easy to prepare and only requires 4 ingredients - chocolate, cream, butter and peppermint extract. Here's how:
How to Make Chocolate Peppermint Ganache
- Chop up the chocolate and place in a heat safe bowl. Try to chop it as fine as you can. This will allow the hot cream to effectively melt the chocolate.
- Heat up the heavy cream in a small sauce pan on low heat, watch it so that it doesn’t over boil.
- Once it comes to a light simmer, immediately pour it over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for one minute so the chocolate has a chance to melt.
- Blend with a spatula until fully incorporated.
- Add the room temperature butter and incorporate.
- Add 1/2 tsp. of peppermint extract (or more if you like a real minty taste) and incorporate.
- Place it in the fridge and let it cool off and firm up before piping (30 min. - 1 hour). Check on it every 15-20 minutes, use it as soon as it achieves a pipeable consistency.
Piping Christmas Bear Macarons
Prepare batter according to instructions in recipe card below. If you don't know how to make multiple colored batters, read this tutorial on How to Make Multiple Colors From One Batch of Macarons. First pipe the bear head on a silicone mat. Silicone mats are great for helping character macarons retain its shape.
Rap the tray on the counter and pop remaining bubbles with a toothpick or scribe tool. Do this for all the heads before moving onto the ears. This will give a chance for the batter to develop a light skin which prevents the batter from running into each other.
Next, pipe the bear ears. Do this for all the bears. A round #10 piping tip was used here. The smaller opening allows for more control during piping.
Gently add the holly sprinkles onto the bear head before a firm skin develops. Do this for all the bears before moving onto the next step.
Pipe red batter underneath bear head. Do this for all the bear heads before moving to next step.
Add holly and heart sprinkles onto bear's sweater before the batter dries completely.
Bake according to instructions, let cool. After cooling, fill bears with chocolate peppermint ganache filling. Place in fridge to set, about 30 minutes. This will make the macaron easier to work with while decorating.
Glue white melting wafer onto bear with edible glue. Do this for all the Christmas bears and let set before moving onto next step.
Draw in eyes with edible pen.
Give yourself enough time to practice making these chocolate peppermint macarons in Christmas bear shape before the big day, whenever that will be for you. Perhaps you might want to bring these to a holiday party or surprise your family on Christmas day. I know they will be thrilled to receive any type of goodies that you personally made with them in mind. If you want more ideas for holiday macarons, check out my guide: Ultimate Guide to Making Christmas Macarons.
Wishing you a happy holidays!
XOXO,
Mimi
Easy Chocolate Peppermint Macarons
Chocolate peppermint macarons are so easy and delicious to make for Christmas. Pipe the macaron batter into cute bear in ugly Christmas sweater shapes for edible holiday gifts.
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 65 grams almond flour
- 65 grams icing sugar
- 45 grams castor sugar*
- 50 grams egg whites, aged
- Brown gel colour (Americolor Warm Brown was used here)
Peppermint Chocolate Ganache
- 50 grams of semi-sweet couverture chocolate (or dark)
- 50 grams of heavy cream
- 10 grams butter
- Peppermint extract
Small Batch of Edible Glue
- 20 grams icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp. of meringue powder
- water in a spritzer bottle
- White melting wafer for bear snout
Instructions
- This set of instructions is for an experienced macaron baker, if you're new to macaron baking, make sure to go over my original Best Macaron Recipe before starting.
- Set aged egg whites out on counter until it reaches room temperature.
- Sift the almond flour and icing sugar.
- Whip egg whites with a handheld mixer until foamy, add cream of tartar.
- Once the beater starts leaving tracks in the egg whites and the bubbles have tightened up in size, add granulated sugar 1/3 at a time.
- Once all the sugar has been fully incorporated and before reaching stiff peaks, add 1-3 drops of gel colour to your liking. Whip until Stiff Peaks.
- Test meringue stiffness. It should have pointed peaks when the whisk is pulled out.
- Pour a third of the almond/powdered sugar mixture into the egg whites. Gently fold it into the egg whites. Then add the rest of the mixture and fold.
- Stop folding once the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated and the batter has reached a “lava” like or honey consistency. The batter should pass the figure-8 test.
- On parchment paper or silicone mats, pipe the batter to the size of the circle on the template. If making the Christmas bears, refer to post on how to pipe Christmas bear macarons.
- Remove the paper template from underneath the parchment paper or mat.
- Rap the tray several times on the counter to rid of excess bubbles.
- Before the batter dries, pop any remaining bubbles with a toothpick.
- Let it rest on the counter for 30 min. AND until a “skin” has developed. This will prevent the shells from cracking during baking.
- Preheat oven to 320 F.
- Place the tray on the middle shelf and bake for 12-14 minutes. Bake only one tray at a time.
- Take them out and test doneness. The feet should not push back and the shell should not be wobbly.
- Let them cool off on the pan (or off if they are overdone) while making Peppermint Chocolate Ganache filling.
Basic Macaron Shells
Peppermint Chocolate Ganache
- Chop up the chocolate and place in a heat safe bowl.
- Heat up the heavy cream in a small sauce pan on low heat, watch it so that it doesn’t over boil.
- Once it comes to a light simmer, immediately pour it over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for one minute.
- Gently blend with a spatula until fully incorporated.
- Add the butter, stir to incorporate.
- Add 1/2 tsp. of peppermint extract (or more if you like a real minty taste). Stir to incorporate.
- Place it in the fridge and let it firm up to a pipeable consistency before piping, remember to check on it and use it as soon as it's ready, about 30 min. - 1 hr.
Small Batch Royal Icing
- Combine the dry ingredients in a glass bowl.
- Spritz the water onto the dry ingredients a little at a time and then blend everything together until you reach a thick consistency. When you pick it up, it should not flow easily off the spatula.
- If it's too runny, add more sugar. A spritzer is great for controlling the amount of water you are adding at one time.
- Use immediately. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap when not in use.
Notes
1. Castor sugar (aka berry sugar or extra fine granulated sugar) is preferable but can be substituted with granulated sugar.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Rainbow Dust Professional Cake Decorators Food Pen Jet Black -
Ghirardelli White Melting Wafers (30 Ounce) -
Wilton Cookie Decorating Tool Set, 3-Piece Cookie Decorating Supplies -
Wilton Icing Bag Ties, 12-Count - Rubber Icing Bag Ties -
Ateco Disposable Piping Bags, 12-Inch, Pack of 100 -
Holly Berries and Leaves Sprinkles/Quins, 2.5 Ounces -
Rainbow Dust Professional Cake Decorators Food Pen Jet Black
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Round Piping Tip #10
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Oven Thermometer
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USA Pan Rimless Baking Sheet for Better Airflow to Macaron Shells
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Digital Scale
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Regular Sized Silpat Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat
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India Tree Superfine Caster Baking Sugar, 1 lb. bag -
C&h Powdered Sugar 4 Lbs (1) -
Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Gluten Free Almond Flour, 3 Pound
-
Callebaut Chocolate Block Semisweet 54.5% cocoa (11 Lb)
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 157Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 5gCholesterol 13mgSodium 22mgCarbohydrates 18gFiber 1gSugar 16gProtein 2g
This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although indulgewithmimi.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
BONUS Template: Christmas Bears on Candy Cane
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