Eggnog Macarons
Growing up, eggnog was my go-to Christmas flavor! I couldn’t get enough of it’s rich creamy flavor, and it’s warm and cozy spiced undertones! These eggnog macarons bring together the classic French cookie with that delicious holiday eggnog flavor! The macarons shells are spiced with nutmeg and the filling is a rich eggnog white chocolate ganache!
Swiss Meringue Macaron Method
Many of you may know me from my How to Make Macarons: A Step by Step Guide + Tips/Tricks guide. That guide, and recipe, uses the Italian Method for making macarons, mainly due to it’s superior stability compared to the French method. Another amazing method for making macarons is Swiss Meringue Method Macarons! I have used that method to make these Eggnog Macarons!
The swiss method for macarons has all the great benefits of the Italian method – mainly that the meringue is quite stable and easier to work with, while eliminating the lengthy process! That’s right, the Swiss method is easier and faster than the Italian method for macarons!
The Swiss meringue method for macarons involves heating the egg whites and sugar over a bain marie until it reaches the proper temperature. The hot egg whites and sugar are then beaten into a stiff meringue. Finally combined confectioners sugar and almond flour are folded in during the macaronage process!
Tips & Tricks for Swiss Meringue Macarons
I have included some of my old, still relevant tips & tricks, as well as some new ones specifically for the swiss meringue macaron method:
Tip 1) Use a food scale and weigh everything out
As with the Italian method, it is critical that you measure out your macaron ingredients by weight! Macarons have a very low tolerance for error. Volumetric measurement can result in a HUGE variance in the amount of ingredient used. So for something as finnicky as macarons, it is better to be precise, down to the exact gram, with the measurements.
Tip 2) Wipe all utensils/bowls/apparatus with vodka or vinegar
Wipe anything that will be coming into contact with the egg whites with vodka or vinegar. This is to ensure no oil residue is present that would ruin your meringue!
Tip 3) Use Egg White Powder
I found adding egg white powder to the eggs and sugar made for PERFECT macarons! If you ever struggle with hollows – this is the trick for you!
Tip 4) Beat meringue to stiff peaks:
I have found the Swiss meringue macaron method requires the meringue to be beaten to stiff peaks. Stiff peaks means the meringue completely holds it’s shape and stands up straight when you lift the beater up. When looking in the bowl, the meringue should also be gathering inside the whip attachment.
Tip 5) Stop folding once the batter ‘ribbons’
When the macaronage process is complete, the batter should flow like lava, and ribbon off your spatula. If it falls off in chunks it is under-mixed, and if it runs right off the spatula without ribboning, it is over-mixed! The ‘ribbons’ of batter should disappear completely into the rest of the other batter within 30 seconds.
Tip 6) Tap the pan and remove air bubbles
Smack the pan against counter, rotate 90° and smack again, continue until all sides have been smacked. Alternatively, lift the pan up and drop it down onto the counter a few times. This has two purposes, the first being that is causes any air bubbles in the macarons to rise to the surface and pop – resulting in smoother and more stable macarons, and the second being that it causes the batter to flatten out along with any humps left over from piping.I usually smack mine more than 4 times. I just do it until I feel like all the air bubbles have surfaced and the batter has flattened nicely.
Tip 7) Use a toothpick to ‘pop’ any remaining air bubbles
Get up close and personal with your beautifully piped little macs and look for any remaining air bubbles. You are looking for any obvious ones, but also some hidden ones that may just look like a very slight irregularity on the surface, or even a tiny bump. Then use a toothpick and simply pop them, and lightly use the toothpick to swirl batter to fill the hole. I find if I skip this step I can sometimes be left with hollow macarons, so it is definitely important!
Tip 8) Allow the macarons to form a “skin”
This is crucial – I repeat THIS IS CRUCIAL. Do not skip this step whatever you do! This step allows the macarons to rise vertically and reduces the amount that it will spread out horizontally, leading to the oh-so-perfect little feet we’re after! The skin will form faster in cold dry climates, and conversely will take longer to form in hot humid climates. I live in the Prairies in Western Canada (relatively cold and very dry climate) so my skin forms in about 8-10 minutes, while someone living in a less dry climate may have to wait 30 minutes to an hour.
As a side note, macarons are very finicky with humidity – meaning that if you live in a very humid climate or it is a humid day out, you may have trouble forming the skin, resulting in failed macarons. That being said, macarons are also finicky with excessively dry climates (Because of course they are *eye roll*). My macarons will over-dry and stick to my silicone mats, resulting in lopsided macarons, even if I let them dry for 5 minutes too long! You can tell when they are ready to go when you can delicately touch your finger on the top and they feel dry and your finger does not pick up any batter.
Tip 9) Know your oven
Okay, this is a weird one, and kind of vague, but it is important to know your oven. Does your oven run hot? Cold? Uneven heating? Is the fan overly strong? All of these factors can be the difference between beautiful, perfect macarons and failed macarons. It may be annoying, but sometimes you’ll just have to play around with your oven to find the best method and temperature for cooking.
Tip 10) Find ‘perfect pairs’ before filling
Lets face it, we’re not all master macaron makers, and our macaron shells are most likely going to have slight variations in sizes. For this reason, it is important to find ‘perfect pairs’, meaning 2 macaron shells that are the same size, before you begin filling and sandwiching. There’s nothing worse than being left with a bunch of mismatched macaron shells!
Making the eggnog white chocolate ganache
Making the filling for these eggnog macarons is as easy as making a chocolate ganache. Basically, you just heat up the eggnog on the stove until it begins to simmer, then pour it over some chopped white chocolate! You’re going to want to wait a few minutes to let the chocolate get all melty, then simply just whisk it until it’s smooth! SO EASY!
Finally, just allow the ganache to come down to room temperature (or a tiny bit colder is fine too if you’re using the fridge to move things along faster). Just ensure that the ganache isn’t too warm or too cold. Too warm = too runny to pipe. Too cold = hard to pipe.
Products & Equipment I used for the Eggnog Macarons
Note, these links are all affiliate links with amazon – simply meaning that I make a small commission off them if you purchase them!
My preferred pan is this USA Pan Cookie Pan – This pan is sturdy and warp-resistant. As well, these pans circulate air better, meaning you’re less likely to have issues with lop-sidedness.
These are my favorite silicone mats for macarons! I find they have perfect spacing, and the guide size creates the perfect macaron size (not too big or too small!).
This is the almond flour I like to use! It is very finely ground, meaning that your macaron shells will be smoother!
Recipe Acknowledgement
This recipe used Swiss method for its macaron shells. The base Swiss meringue macaron recipe was created by Camila at Pie and Tacos. Check out her website for a ton more macarons!
More Macaron Recipes
Enjoyed these eggnog macarons and looking for more recipes? Check these recipes out:
•Nutella Macarons
• Red Velvet Macarons
• Maple Pecan Macarons
Get the Recipe: Eggnog Macarons
Ingredients
Eggnog Macarons
- 105 g Sifted Super Fine Almond Flour
- 105 g Sifted Confectioners Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 100 g Egg Whites
- 100 g White Sugar
- 3 g (1 tsp) Egg White Powder,, otherwise known as meringue powder (optional but highly recommended)
- Cinnamon or Nutmeg,, for sprinkling on top
Eggnog White Chocolate Ganache
- 200 g White Chocolate,, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup Eggnog, (do not use light variety)
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Instructions
- Note: I recommend making the eggnog white chocolate ganache several hours before or even the day before you make the macarons.
Dry Ingredients
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or silicone mat (if you have enough, prepare 2 baking sheets).
- Over a large mixing bowl on a scale, sift almond flour until you reach 105g. Discard any large pieces of almond flour. Repeat with the confectioners sugar, then also add in the nutmeg. Whisk the almond flour, confectioners sugar and nutmeg until very well-combined. Set aside.
Making the Meringue
- Add egg whites, white sugar, and egg white powder to the bowl of your stand mixer, and whisk together. Place the bowl over top of a simmering pot of water (bain-marie), ensuring a tight seal and ensuring that the bottom of the stand mixer bowl is not actually touching the water.
- Continuously whisk the mixture while it heats up over the bain-marie, heat the mixture until it reaches 140°F (60°C). When temperature is achieved, remove the bowl from the simmering water pot and place onto your stand mixer, fitted with the whip attachment.
- Beat the mixture, starting on low. Once soft peaks have been formed, increase the speed to medium. Once medium peaks are achieved, increase the speed to high. Beat on high until stiff peaks have formed.
Macaronage
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and place a sieve over top. Pour the dry mixture into the sieve, then sift the dry ingredients into the meringue.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. I like to scrape around the sides of the bowl in an entire circle, and then cut through the centre – similar to the Greek letter phi which looks like this: Φ
- Be gentle and careful not to overmix or over-deflate the meringue. The mixture is ready to be piped when it ribbons off your spatula, meaning that the batter, when lifted with a spatula, should keep flowing off the spatula in ribbon shapes nonstop, without drizzling off too quickly. If it is coming off in large V shaped chunks it still needs to be folded further. Another test is the figure 8 test: If you can lift some batter up and use it to draw several figure 8’s without the stream breaking, it is ready!
Piping and Drying the Macarons
- Add mixture into a piping bag with medium to large sized round tip. Pipe small circles of batter onto a cookie sheet fitted with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Ensure piping bag is held straight up and perpendicular to baking sheet. Using a stencil or a macaron mat makes this process much easier and fool proof, I try to make my macarons around 1½” in diameter.
- Tap the baking sheet multiple times against counter to remove any air bubble from the macarons. If some air bubbles still remain, use a tooth pick to gently poke them out. Sprinkle the tops of the macarons with additional nutmeg or cinnamon.
- Preheat oven to 300°F, or 275°F for convection oven. While oven is preheating, allow the macarons to sit and form a skin. This skin will ensure the macarons bake up and not out, giving them those classic “feet”. This skin should form anywhere from 8 minutes to an hour. You know the macarons are ready to be baked when you can touch them lightly without having the batter stick to your finger. Keep checking them to see if they have formed a skin– overly dried macarons are just as much of a problem as under-dried macarons!
Baking
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Your bake time will depend on the size of your macarons. Check at 15 minutes, and if they are not ready then keep checking every minute. The macarons are ready when the tops are firm and do not move around their base at all.
- Allow the macarons to cool completely before attempting to remove them from the sheets/mats/parchment. When cooled, find “perfect pairs” of macaron halves and set aside to be filled.
Eggnog White Chocolate Ganache
- Add the chopped chocolate into a heat proof bowl and set aside.
- Add the eggnog into a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then pour the eggnog over the chopped chocolate and lightly stir. Allow to sit for 2 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt.
- Whisk the ganache until it comes together and is smooth. Cover with plastic, then place into the fridge to cool for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.
Assembling the Macarons
- Pipe the eggnog white chocolate ganache onto ½ of the macaron shells (bottoms of perfect pairs), then top each bottom with it’s corresponding top. Place into the fridge overnight to mature and meld together.
Recipe adapted from Pies and Tacos
Made these as soon as you post. Very good
I made this ganache to a T, and it still seemed a bit runny when I piped and letting it cool to a firm texture for hours in fridge. My macarons are filled and currently maturing. Will they still be slippery upon taking them out, or did you notice your macarons were nice and firm after maturing?
It should firm up – it should create a macaron that is firm on the outside and softer on the inside.
I tried to make the ganache last night using the recipe with 200 gram white chocolate and 1/3 cup eggnog but it’s so thick and i put on the fridge all night and now it’s froze and hard like white chocolate. What did i do wrong? and i don’t taste the egg nog. still taste like white chocolate only