Vampire Macarons
If you’re looking for a last minute macaron baking idea for Halloween, these Vampire Macarons are a must! Complete with black cocoa macaron shells, vanilla frosting and strawberry jam filling, they are the perfect addition to your spooky macaron baking lineup. Not only are they delicious, these spooky yet chic macarons, feature simple vampire bite decorations that will take you just moments to complete, with jam and a tipless piping bag! The black shells and white frosting also act as a blank canvas for the strawberry bite marks, sure to be enjoyed by all this upcoming Halloween!
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Vampire Macarons
Chewy vampire macarons, filled with a thick layer of vanilla frosting with a strawberry jam center. Decorated with strawberry jam bite marks for a sweet and spooky finish! Dairy/gluten-free.
How they taste
These vampire macarons are dangerously delicious with subtle black cocoa flavor from the shells, pairing wonderfully with light and fluffy mound of vanilla frosting and the tart and fruity strawberry jam center! A delicious flavor combination of fruit and sweet, hugged between by the nutty and chewy black cocoa almond shells.
Black Macaron Shells
The black color of the macarons, truly sets the tone for the halloween season and the vampire look, but the hue can often be challenging to achieve without adding a surplus of food coloring, which in turn can impact the flavor and sturdiness of the shells. Instead try using black cocoa powder to naturally flavor the macarons while cutting back on the food dye.
Black Cocoa Powder
Black cocoa powder is alkaline cocoa, generally used in baking for its color. Although used for the look it provides, the cocoa gives baked goods a delicious flavor similar to Oreos. A little bit goes a long way with this black cocoa powder, for flavor and color. In fact you’ll only need a few grams to enhance the black hue of your macaron shells with subtle chocolate/oreo notes as an added bonus! Due to the fat and oils that naturally occuring in the cocoa powder, adding more to the macarons will result in soft shells that don’t dry or bake properly.
How to make black macaron shells
I’ve learned through trial and error that adding black cocoa powder to macaron batter, in addition to black gel food coloring, will enhance and darken black macarons. To achieve black macaron shells, add 3 grams of black cocoa powder to the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture, while decreasing 3 grams of the measured powdered sugar (reduce to 103), so the total measurement stays the same. Add black gel coloring as directed. After macaronage, the black color of the batter will deepen!
Vampire macarons supplies:
If you love the look of these halloween macarons, here’s what you’ll need to make a batch at home:
Macaron Shells
- Egg whites divided, cream of tartar, quality fine ground almond flour, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, black cocoa powder, water, black gel or powder food coloring, silicone mat or parchment, a piping bag fitted with round tip, baking sheets.
Vanilla Frosting (dairy free)
- Plant based butter,(or regular butter) powdered sugar, milk of choice, vanilla bean, pinch of salt, piping bag fitted with round tip.
Strawberry Jam
- Fresh or frozen strawberries, water, lemon juice, granulated sugar, pectin powder
How to make Vampire Macarons
Making a batch of these vampire macarons at home involves making the macaron shells, frosting and jam. You can use store bought jam to cut down on time and any edible red filling of choice to create the vampire bite marks in the frosting, from royal icing to any edible food grade faux blood. I opted for jam for the flavor.
Black cocoa macaron shells
To make the black cocoa shells, follow the instructions in the step by step Italian macaron recipe below or visit the macaron tutorial here for more!
Vanilla frosting
The dairy free vanilla frosting is made with plant based butter, which is our go-to filling of choice for macarons, however your desired buttercream or filling will also work well with this recipe.
Mix the butter, with powdered sugar for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Then add the remaining ingredients until well combined. Transfer to piping bag fitted with a round tip.
Strawberry Jam
If making homemade jam, heat the strawberries, water, and lemon juice together in a saucepan until strawberries begin to break down. Use a potato masher or emulsion blender to puree the strawberries, then add sugar and pectin powder, mixing until incorporated. Bring to a light simmer, then remove from heat and cool. Place 1/4 of the jam into one tipless piping bag and the remaining into a second piping bag.
Assembling Vampire macarons
- To assemble the macarons, match up the shells, then flip the bottom shell feet side up.
- Pipe 2 layers of vanilla frosting along the outside edge of the bottom shell leaving a space in the center for the jam.
- Fill the space in the center with jam, then top with second macaron shell.
How to decorate macarons with vampire bite marks
Use the tipless piping bag to pipe two upside down triangle shapes onto the macaron shells evenly and about 1 inch apart.
Transfer to fridge for 12 to 24 hours to mature (or at least 2). See video for more details.
Vampire Macarons
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 20+ 1x
- Category: Baking
- Method: Vampire Macarons
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
Chewy vampire macarons, filled with a thick layer of vanilla bean frosting and a strawberry jam center. Decorated with strawberry jam bite marks for a sweet and spooky finish! Dairy/gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 106 grams of almond meal
- 103 grams powdered sugar
- 3 grams black cocoa powder
- 41 and 45 grams of egg whites divided
- 115 grams of granulated sugar
- 79 grams of water
- dash of cream of tartar or lemon juice for stabilizing
- Black gel food coloring
- 1 piping bag fitted with round tip (Wilton 12)
- Silicone mat(s)
- 1 cup plant based butter (or butter of choice)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1.5 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp milk of choice
- Pinch of salt
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pectin powder
- 2 tipless piping bags
- Edible glitter (optional)
Instructions
- Wipe down the mixing bowl and whisk attachment with vinegar to remove any built up residue. This will ensure that the egg whites whisk properly.
- Prep and measure all of the ingredients using a kitchen scale.
- Prep a piping bag with a round tip. I use Wilton tip 12.
- Line 2 baking sheets with silpat or a silicone mat.
- Combine measured almond meal, black cocoa powder & powdered sugar together in a bowl. Sift one time to remove any lumps, discarding of them, then mix together to break up clumps.
- Make a well in the center of the dry mix and pour the 41 grams of measured egg whites into the center of the dry mixture.
- Add black food coloring and fold together until fully incorporated. The finished mix will be paste-like. Set aside.
For the sugar syrup:
- To make the sugar syrup, heat granulated sugar and water in a pot on medium heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side. **Be careful to make sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pot**.
- Once the thermometer’s temperature reaches approximately 200 degrees F, place the 45 grams of measured egg whites in the stand mixer and whisk on medium speed, to soft peaks.
- Add a drop of lemon juice or dash of cream of tartar to stabilize, then continue whisking.
- If the egg whites are at soft peaks before the syrup reaches 248 F, turn the mixer down to low speed to keep the egg whites moving.
- Watch the sugar syrup closely.
- As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 248 degrees F, remove from heat.
- Quickly increase mixer speed to medium and begin slowly pouring the sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the meringue until thoroughly combined.
- Then increase the mixing speed to high and whisk sugar and meringue together until glossy and medium peaks form and the meringue has cooled.
- Gently transfer finished meringue into the almond/powdered sugar mixture in thirds, making sure that it’s fully incorporated before adding the additional 3rd of meringue.
- Continue to fold the batter in a circular motion, going around the edges of the bowl, then once through the center. Repeat these steps until smooth and even ribbons of batter slowly run off the spatula in one stream.
- **Be careful not to over-mix**
- You want the batter to be slightly thick, but not so thin that it does not hold the ribbon shape. Err on the side of caution.
- Transfer batter to the prepped piping bag(s).
- Pipe 1 inch rounds on the silpat lined baking sheet (s).
- Be sure to hold the piping bag about 1/2 inch directly above the baking sheet when piping the rounds.
- *Tap the macarons on the counter three times to release air bubbles.
- *Pop any air bubbles that might’ve come to the surface, using a scribe or a toothpick.
- Before placing the macs in the oven, let them rest until a proper skin has formed on the outside of the shell. This can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Test by touching the center of the piped macaron batter with a clean finger. They should be dry to touch with no batter coming off on fingers.
- Preheat oven to 315 degrees F.
- Once dry to touch, place the macarons in the middle rack of the oven.
- Feet will form halfway through the baking process.
- Bake for 13-14 minutes.
- You can open the oven and wiggle gently from side to side towards the end of baking to see if they need more time. A fully baked macaron should be sturdy when tested.
- Once fully baked, remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes to 30 minutes before removing the shells from the silpat.
- Once macarons are completely cool, gently remove from silpat.
- Repeat same steps to bake the remaining macaron batter.
- Set aside.
Vanilla Frosting (dairy free):
- Wash the mixing bowl, then cream plant based butter/or butter and powdered sugar, together for 2- 3 minutes.
- Then mix in milk, vanilla and salt on medium until well combined.
- Transfer filling to piping bag fitted with a round tip and set aside until ready to decorate.
Strawberry Jam:
- Heat the strawberries, lemon and water together until the berries begin to break down.
- Use an emulsion blender to puree the berries.
- Stir in sugar and pectin and bring back to a simmer until fully combined.
- Set aside to cool.
- Transfer to two tipless piping bags.
Assembling the Vampire macarons:
- To assemble the vampire macarons, match up the shells, then flip the bottom shell feet side up.
- Pipe 2 layers of vanilla frosting along the outside edge of the bottom shell leaving a space in the center for the strawberry jam.
- Fill the space in the center with jam, then top with second macaron shell.
Vampire Bite Decorations:
- Use the tipless piping bag to pipe two upside down triangle shapes onto the white macaron frosting evenly and about 1 inch apart.
- Transfer to fridge for 12 to 24 hours to mature (or at least 2).
- Enjoy!
Notes
The vampire macarons can be made a day in advance of Halloween. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve. Allow to come to room temp (about 15 minutes) and enjoy!
Enjoy these Vampire macarons just in time for Halloween! They’re the perfect balance of scary/chic and are also allergy friendly for kids, friends and family that area diary free and gluten free!
Be sure to bookmark and/or save to your halloween/fall Pinterest boards!
Also check out my amazon shop for a list of products/supplies to make them at home!
@poshlittledesigns.
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