These coffee macarons use instant coffee and coffee buttercream frosting with a chocolate drizzle to make a deliciously sweet coffee treat. They’re a perfect addition to add to your macaron repertoire and jazz up your next party or dessert table!
I adore French macarons. They’re one of my favorite cookies to make. I love the versatility, the flavor possibilities are absolutely endless. And these coffee macarons do not disappoint. They’re a fun and unique flavor for all coffee lovers.
Plus you can really mix up the flavors, like substituting half of the almond flour for hazelnut or pistachio flour for pistachio coffee or hazelnut coffee macarons. Delicious!
Ingredients and Tools
- Almond Flour: Also known as almond meal. aYou can also grind your own almonds to a very fine powder, just make sure to sift out any larger pieces.
- Egg Whites: This recipe does not call for aging the egg whites. Make sure there is no egg yolk in the eggs or oil in the mixing bowl or else your egg yolks might not whip up properly.
- Instant Coffee or Espresso Powder: you can use either in the recipe, just make just the espresso powder is very fine
- Coffee Buttercream Frosting: you’ll need a half batch of coffee frosting. You can find the recipe here.
- Granulated Sugar
- Kosher Salt
- Powdered Sugar
- Melted chocolate, for drizzling, optional
Tools
- Kitchen Scale
- Standing Mixer with a Whisk Attachment or Hand Held Mixer with Large Bowl
- Flour Sifter
- Pastry Bags with Large Piping Tip
- Heavy Duty Baking Sheets
- Rubber or Silicone Spatula
- Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper
- Toothpick or Scribe
How to Make
Step 1: Prep
- Preheat over to 425℉
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat
- Prepare a large pastry bag with a medium or large tip
- Sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, and instant coffee or espresso powder and set aside.
Step 2: Whip Egg Whites to Stiff Peaks
Add the egg whites, granulated sugar, and kosher salt to a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or a large bowl with a hand held mixer.
Whip the egg whites until they reach stiff peaks. About 6-8 minutes on medium high on a standing mixer.
You want the egg whites to start to clump together in the whisk part of the mixer:
Step 3: Macaronage
Now for the most important part, the macaronage. This is the process of combining the dry ingredients with the egg whites.
It’s the most important part of the macaron making process. If the batter is undermixed the macarons can crack or have air pockets. If you overmix the batter will too runny and aren’t to pipe it. Using a spatula or spoon, you want to mix the batter until it has a lava like consistency and runs off the spatula in a smooth (not watery) ribbon.
This post goes into detail the different ways to tell if the macaron batter is properly mixed.
Step 4: Pipe and Bake Shells
Now, fill a large pastry bag with a medium or large tip with macaron batter and pipe 1.5 inch circles on the parchment.
Once you’ve piped the macarons tap the whole pan on a hard surface. Turn the pan 180 degrees and tap it again. You want to tap it pretty hard to bring up any air bubbles in the macaron batter.
Then, take a toothpick or scribe and gently poke any visible air bubbles.
Once the air bubbles have been popped place pan in the middle of the oven and turn down the heat to 300℉ and bake for 17-19 minutes.
I normally bake my shells one pan at a time. The batter is fine to sit out at room temperate while they bake. You can pop it in the fridge if you want.
Step 5: Fill shells
Once the shells have cooled and you’ve removed them from the baking sheet, try to match up each shell with a shell of a similar size. If you want, you can drizzle melted chocolate on the top shell as shown below.
Then, fill with coffee buttercream and top with the matching macaron shell.
Step 6: Mature the macarons
While you’re welcome to eat the macarons right away, letting the macarons sit in the fridge for 2-3 days really helps distribute the flavor of the macarons and helps with a soft and chewy texture. You can read more about it here.
Tips for Perfect Coffee Macarons
- If this is your first time making macarons, I recommend checking out this post for detailed instructions and tips and tricks as macarons can be notoriously finicky.
- This recipe for macarons is great for beginners because you do not need to age the egg whites or rest the macarons.
- I highly recommend using a digital scale to measure out all ingredients. This really helps ensure the ratios are correct and the macarons turn out.
Storing Coffee Macarons
Macarons are such a great make-ahead dessert because they actually taste better after they’ve been sitting in the fridge for a few days.
They can be left in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week and and frozen for up to two months.
Let come to room temperature before serving. 
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Coffee Macarons
Equipment
- Standing Mixer with a Whisk Attachment or Hand Held Mixer with large bowl
- Flour Sifter
- Pastry Bags with Large Piping Tip
- Rubber or Silicone Spatula
- Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper
- Toothpick or Scribe
INGREDIENTS
Coffee Macarons
- 4 ounces fine almond flour 115g
- 8 ounces powdered sugar 230g
- 5 ounces egg whites 144g, 4-5 eggs
- 2 1/2 ounce sugar 72g
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp instant coffee or espresso powder
- 1/2 cup melted chocolate optional, for drizzling on macaron shells
Coffee Buttercream
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1.5-2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tbsp instant coffee or espresso powder
- 1/2 tbsp boiling water
- pinch salt omit if using salted butter
- 1-2 tbsp milk or heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat over to 425℉
- Prepare baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat
- Prepare a large pastry bag with a medium or large tip
- Sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, and instant coffee or espresso powder and set aside.
- Using a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or a large bowl with a hand held mixer add the egg whites, granulated sugar, and kosher salt.
- Whip the egg whites on medium to medium high until they reach stiff peaks, about 6-8 minutes on a standing mixer. The egg whites should start to clump together in the whisk part of the mix. Once it clumps in add the vanilla and mix until combined.
- Now for the macaronage - the process of mixing together the egg whites and almond flour sugar mixture. Add the almond flour mixture to the egg whites and using a rubber spatula or large spoon start mixing together.
- At first it will look crumbly but eventually it comes together to a smooth mixture. Do not overmix the batter You want to mix the batter until it has a lava like consistency and runs off the spatula in a smooth (not watery) ribbon. See notes for more tips.
- Once the egg whites are mixed, add the almond meal/sugar and mix using a rubber spatula or spoon. You're looking to beat some of the egg whites down so you do not need to be too gently, but do not over mix the batter. You want to mix the batter until it has a lava like consistency and runs off the spatula in a smooth (not watery) ribbon. See notes for more tips.
- Add the macaron batter to the prepared pastry bag and pipe 1.5 inch circles onto the prepared parchment, about 1-2 inches apart.
- Once you’ve piped the macarons tap the whole pan on a hard surface. Turn the pan 180 degrees and tap it again. You want to tap it pretty hard to bring up any air bubbles in the macaron batter.
- Take a toothpick or scribe and gently poke any visible air bubbles.
- Once the air bubbles have been popped place pan in the middle of the oven and turn down the heat to 300℉ and bake for 17-19 minutes. Let cool completely before removing the macarons from the baking mat. Repeat with remaining batter.
- Once cooled, match the macaron shells by size. If you want you can drizzle some melted chocolate along the top macaron shell.
- Then, fill the bottom shell with coffee buttercream and add the top shell. You can eat right away, or let mature in the fridge a few days until they get to the desired consistency.
Coffee Buttercream
- Mix in instant coffee to the hot water. Set aside.
- Cream butter in a standing mixer or hand held mixer 3-5 minutes
- Add powder sugar and mix another 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Mix in coffee mixture, salt, and milk or cream
Notes
- If you've never made macarons, I recommend checking out this post with tons of tips on macaronage and maturing macarons.
- This recipe does not require aged egg whites or resting the macarons before baking.
- Be sure to measure out all your ingredients using a kitchen scale. With macarons, it’s very helpful to have exact measurements.
- Make sure there are no traces of egg yolk in the egg whites and the bowl for the egg whites is very clean. Any oil can cause the egg whites to not whip up properly.
- The coffee buttercream is a half batch of this coffee buttercream recipe. The post has full step by step picture instructions.
estella says
good recipe
Sarah says
These tasted delicious! Unfortunately, my shells cracked and were hollow. The no wait recipe was new, so maybe I just need practice with it. I’ll try again!