Have you ever made all of your own dreams come true? Because that is exactly what it felt like when I came up with these fudgy brownie filled macarons. I felt like a kid in a candy shop, except the candy shop was my kitchen. Oh, and I had to do the work and make these myself, but that’s aside the point. These macarons are seriously life-changing. The texture of the macaron and the brownie work better than I could have ever imagined. The brownie is lovely and chewy and dense, and the macaron is so light and delicious. Together they make the perfect pairing, and when you try these, I think you’ll agree with me. Keep reading for tips and tricks on making the perfect brownie filled macarons!
This brownie recipe makes so little batter, but the pan you request to bake them in is so big?
Yes! So, I made a modification to my classic brownie recipe to make it small batch. Doing this allows you to bake a small amount of batter in a large dish so that you get very thin brownies. The thin brownies make it so easy to cut them into discs and stuff your macarons with.
I highly recommend lining your brownie pan with parchment paper to make sure the brownie discs come out cleanly. When I first made them, I didn’t line my pan, and it was hard to get the discs out in a perfect circle. The next time I made them, I used a liner, and it made life a thousand times easier! Trust me on this, parchment paper is a heaven-sent material that is a necessity for the kitchen!
Brownie Filled Macarons
Ingredients
For the Macaron Shells:
- 3 Egg Whites 100 grams
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar 100 grams
- 1 cup Almond Flour 100 grams
- ¾ cup Powdered Sugar 100 grams
For the Brownies:
- 2 oz Chocolate melted
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/3 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
For the Macarons:
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. For best accuracy, trace 1-inch circles onto the paper. Flip it over so the side that was drawn on is on the bottom and will not touch the food side.
- In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar, set aside.
- In a small or medium sized bowl, combine the egg whites and granulated sugar. Place over a pot of boiling water to form a double boiler. Whisk the mixture until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixture is warm to the touch and frothy. This will take 4-6 minutes.
- Take off the heat and using a hand mixer, whip the egg whites until you achieve stiff peaks. This will take 4-10 minutes.
- Once you have stiff peaks, pour in the sifted almond flour and powdered sugar mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients into the meringue in a “U” shaped motion. Continue folding until the batter becomes “drippy” and you can consecutively form a figure “8” in the batter. Youtube tutorials are very helpful for determining when your batter is just mixed enough, and when it is overmixed.
- Once the batter is totally mixed, fill a piping bag with the batter. The piping bag should have a ¼-inch circle tip, or something around there.
- Pipe macaron circles onto the parchment paper on the baking sheet. If you drew circles on it, follow the outline. If you did not, try your best to make them the same size.
- Once all of the macarons are piped, bang the tray on the table top hard. You want to make sure all of the air bubbles are out of the macaron shells, so you want to bang them at least 10 times to make sure there are no hidden bubbles.
- Once you have hit the air bubbles out of the batter, the tops should be fairly flat. Carefully pat down any points that might have resulted from piping them, but they will probably resolve themselves in the drying stage anyways.
- Next, preheat the oven to 310°F and allow the shells to dry for 20-40 minutes until the tops are not sticky when touched. While the shells are drying, you can make your curd and buttercream.
- After the shells have dried, bake the shells in the preheated oven. Rotate them after 5 minutes, of baking, and allow them to bake for a total of 16-20 minutes depending on your oven.
- Once the macarons are baked, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool before filling.
For the Brownies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F, and prepare a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper or non-stick spray.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave and add to a medium sized bowl. Add the vegetable oil and whisk together until completely mixed. Add the sugar and whisk until incorporated. Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- Sift the cocoa powder and salt in, whisking to combine and make sure you beat all of the lumps out.
- Add the flour and stir together until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Add 1 tbsp of warm water to the batter and whisk to incorporate it. This will thin the batter a bit and give a better texture to the brownies.
- Pour into a 9×13 inch pan and spread the batter to make sure it covers the entire bottom of the pan. These brownies are meant to be VERY thin, so do not sweat it if the 9×13 inch pan seems too big for the amount of batter.
- Bake in preheated oven for 7-13 minutes, checking every couple minutes after the initial 7 minutes until they look done. Allow to cool, then using a 1-inch cookie cutter, cut circles out of the brownies that will fit your macarons.
For Assembly:
- When you have everything prepared, melt a bit of chocolate and grab a spoon.
- Dab a little chocolate on one side of a brownie disc, and press it against the macaron. Allow to set for 2 minutes before dabbing chocolate on the other side of the brownie and adding the second macaron, sandwiching the brownie in-between the two macarons. Allow to set until the chocolate is firmed up, about 10 minutes. Enjoy!
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