Chocolate cinnamon macarons - sweet with a hint of fragrant spice and perfect for wintertime.
A rich chocolate ganache filling is flavoured with cinnamon and sandwiched between two macaron shells. The perfect elegant petit four to serve after Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner or at holiday season parties, I like to decorate my chocolate cinnamon macarons with a bit of gold lustre spray and piped chocolate to make them even prettier but macarons are one of the most elegant delicacies around and are just as pretty on their own.
If this is your first time making macarons be sure to check out my full detailed guide to making Italian macarons before you dive in. I always make macarons with Italian meringue rather than French or Swiss meringue, it gives them more stability.
Love Christmas macarons? Try this savoury macaron recipe with cranberry and goat cheese filling.
Ingredients
- Almond flour (also known as almond meal or ground almonds)
- Powdered sugar (also known as confectioners sugar or icing sugar)
- White granulated sugar (also known as caster sugar)
- Egg whites
- Water
- Dark chocolate
- Double cream
- Ground cinnamon
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 145 degrees Celsius / 295 Fahrenheit.
Prepare and weigh out the ingredients, separating the egg whites from egg yolks if necessary.
Blend the ground almonds and powdered sugar together until they are a very fine consistency and completely combined. Sieve the mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Place the water and granulated sugar into a saucepan. Gently warm the water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once it has dissolved, turn up the heat, stop stirring and place the sugar thermometer into the mixture.
Once the thermometer starts to climb above 105 degrees Celsius/220 degrees Fahrenheit, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
When the sugar syrup reaches a soft boil temperature of 115 degrees Celsius/240 degrees, start whisking the egg whites again and pour in the sugar syrup a little at a time.
The Italian meringue will turn a smooth, glossy and opaque white. Continue to whisk once all of the sugar syrup has been added to bring down the heat until you can touch the side of the bowl and it feels warm but not hot.
Make the almond paste by mixing the remaining egg white with the ground almond/powdered sugar mixture until it is fully incorporated.
Now mix the Italian meringue into the almond paste in three stages.
Firmly mix in the first third of the Italian meringue with a metal or wooden spoon to loosen the almond paste and fully combine the two mixtures.
Fold in the remaining two thirds one at a time using the softer spoon or spatula, being very gentle with the final third to not overmix the batter and make it too slack.
Move the macaron batter to a piping bag. Tie a knot in the end and relax the mixture slightly in the bag with your hands for a few seconds. Cut half a centimetre from the tip of the piping bag.
Position the piping bag perpendicular to the tray with the nozzle a few millimetres above the surface. Squeeze the bag without lifting it up for two or three seconds, then stop squeezing and make a little circle to twist it off. Fill the trays leaving a 2cm gap in between each macaron.
Firmly smack it down onto the work surface twice to settle the Italian macaron batter and get rid of any air bubbles.
Bake straight away for 17 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow the macarons to cool on the tray. This is a no-rest macaron recipe, but if you cannot fit all of your macarons in the oven at once, it won't harm the remaining macarons to be out on the worktop for 17 minutes.
Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
Heat the cream in a saucepan until it reaches steaming point. Turn off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until it dissolves and you have a glossy ganache.
Add cinnamon to taste and allow to cool.
Put the filling into a piping bag and pipe a circle in the centre of each macaron shell. Then pipe a circle around it before sandwiching with another macaron shell.
Melt the remaining chocolate and add to a piping bag. Decorate the shells as you like!
Hint: To cool and thicken up the cinnamon chocolate ganache before piping, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Equipment
- Weighing scales. Digital is best. Baking is a science, after all, so we need precision! I do not recommend using the cup system to make macarons. I use this one.
- A sieve to ensure that the powdered sugar and almond flour is as fine as possible.
- A blender/food processor to thoroughly combine the almond flour and powdered sugar. This ensures a completely smooth finish on your macaron shells.
- A small saucepan to make your sugar syrup.
- A jam or sugar thermometer to measure the temperature of the hot sugar syrup. The sugar syrup needs to be at a particular temperature to make Italian meringue and it is impossible to judge without a thermometer. The best thermometers for sugar syrup do not allow the bulb to touch the bottom or sides of the saucepan, thus ensuring you are measuring the temperature of the sugar, and not the pan.
- An electric whisk or stand mixer to whisk your egg whites into soft peaks before slowly adding the hot sugar syrup.
- Two large bowls, preferably glass. Try to avoid using a metal mixing bowl for the Italian meringue as it will conduct heat and prevent the mixture from cooling.
- A metal mixing spoon for combining ingredients more vigorously.
- A silicon mixing spoon or spatula for further, more gentle mixing.
- Baking sheets/trays - not high-sided ones as this builds up too much steam
- Silicon mat or baking parchment paper (but the silicon mats are better and allow for lower waste as they are not single-use)
- Piping bags - to pipe your macarons onto a baking tray, and then also to pipe your fillings and finish your chocolate cinnamon macarons.
Storage
Store leftover chocolate cinnamon macarons in the fridge and consume within 2-3 days.
Filled macarons do not freeze well.
Top tip
Age the egg whites after separating them from the yolks by doing it a day in advance and keeping them in the fridge. It helps make a better Italian meringue.
Chocolate cinnamon macarons
Equipment
- 1 Weighing scales
- 1 Sieve Blender/food processor
- 1 Small saucepan
- 1 Jam or sugar thermometer
- 1 electric whisk or stand mixer
- 2 Large bowls, preferably glass
- 1 Metal or wooden mixing spoon
- 1 Silicon mixing spoon or spatula
- 3 Large baking sheets/trays
- 3 Silicon baking mat or baking parchment paper
- 2 piping bags
Ingredients
Almond paste
- 185 grams Powdered sugar (icing sugar or confectioners sugar)
- 185 grams Ground almonds (almond meal or flour)
- 63 grams Egg whites
Italian meringue
- 185 grams Granulated sugar
- 100 ml Water
- 63 grams Egg whites
Cinnamon chocolate ganache filling
- 150 grams Dark chocolate
- 150 ml Double cream (heavy cream)
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
Piped chocolate garnish
- 50 grams Dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 145 degrees Celsius / 295 Fahrenheit.
- Prepare and weigh out the ingredients, separating the egg whites from egg yolks if necessary.
- Blend the ground almonds and powdered sugar together until they are a very fine consistency and completely combined. Sieve the mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Italian meringue
- Place the water and granulated sugar into a saucepan. Gently warm the water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once it has dissolved, turn up the heat, stop stirring and place the sugar thermometer into the mixture.
- Once the thermometer starts to climb above 105 degrees Celsius/220 degrees Fahrenheit, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.
- When the sugar syrup reaches a soft boil temperature of 115 degrees Celsius/240 degrees, start whisking the egg whites again and pour in the sugar syrup a little at a time.
- The Italian meringue will turn a smooth, glossy and opaque white. Continue to whisk once all of the sugar syrup has been added to bring down the heat until you can touch the side of the bowl and it feels warm but not hot.
Almond paste
- Make the almond paste by mixing the remaining egg white with the ground almond/powdered sugar mixture until it is fully incorporated.
Macaronage
- Now mix the Italian meringue into the almond paste in three stages.
- Firmly mix in the first third of the Italian meringue with a metal or wooden spoon to loosen the almond paste and fully combine the two mixtures.
- Fold in the remaining two thirds one at a time using the softer spoon or spatula, being very gentle with the final third to not overmix the batter and make it too slack.
Piping macarons
- Move the macaron batter to a piping bag. Tie a knot in the end and relax the mixture slightly in the bag with your hands for a few seconds. Cut half a centimetre from the tip of the piping bag.
- Position the piping bag perpendicular to the tray with the nozzle a few millimetres above the surface. Squeeze the bag without lifting it up for two or three seconds, then stop squeezing and make a little circle to twist it off. Fill the trays leaving a 2cm gap in between each macaron.
- Firmly smack it down onto the work surface twice to settle the Italian macaron batter and get rid of any air bubbles.
- Bake straight away for 17 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow the macarons to cool on the tray. This is a no-rest macaron recipe, but if you cannot fit all of your macarons in the oven at once, it won't harm the remaining macarons to be out on the worktop for 17 minutes.
Chocolate cinnamon ganache filling
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
- Pour the cream into a saucepan and heat it until it reaches a steaming point, but don't boil.
- Add the chopped chocolate into the cream and gently stir to melt it and form a glossy ganache.
- Stir the ground cinnamon, add more to taste if preferred.
- Add the chocolate cinnamon ganache to a piping bag and allow it to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Pipe the ganache onto each macaron shell before sandwiching it with another.
Piped chocolate decorations
- Melt the chocolate and add to a piping bag.
- Pipe the melted chocolate onto the cinnamon chocolate macarons and allow to set in the fridge before serving.
Nutrition
Food safety
- Boiling sugar can be dangerous, so do not leave it unattended and keep pets/children out of the room.
- Clean surfaces and utensils thoroughly after handling raw eggs.
Eddie says
Delicious! I love all of your macaron recipes and the detailed breakdown post you did really helped me get the technique right. Thank you!