There’s nothing like a bite-sized treat that fills your heart with sweet pleasure and makes your tastebuds dance! Yes, we are talking about the beloved French classic – Macarons! These White Chocolate & Mango Macarons are made with plain almond shells and sandwiched together with good quality white chocolate and mango ganache. What a perfect sweet treat for any occasion or party!
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The Challenge of a Macaron
I don’t know about you, but we love eating macarons here, at Somebody Feed Seb. Having said that, we haven’t always loved making them, as we had our fair share of failures. Macarons are notoriously difficult to make! So much so that they are always left up to the professionals to make and home cooks shy away as soon as they hear the name ‘macaron’. However, having had a tutorial from Seb’s French auntie, we are now confident that anyone can master these delicious French delights!
The challenges many bakers face when making macarons are numerous. Beat your egg whites too little, and they won’t hold their shape and won’t rise. And what is a macaron without its famous ‘leg’. Overwhisk the egg whites and you are left with hollow macarons. If you don’t dry them out properly, your tops will crack. The list goes on, so it’s no surprise that French macarons have such a bad reputation.
With so many variables, I can’t help but wonder who was the first to arrive at all these finicky little steps that make a perfect macaron. Did someone leave their piped macarons to dry out by mistake? Was it some overqualified chef with a science degree who knew exactly what would make a meringue and almond mixture rise without bursting the top?
Anyway, I’m glad that there are well-established rules allowing anyone who follows them to make and enjoy the perfect macaron! Below is one of our favourites, French Macaron with White Chocolate and Mango Ganache!
Note on Ingredients
- 115g egg whites: aged, that is, separated, weighed out and placed in a bowl loosely covered with clingfilm or a plate. Stored this way overnight, egg whites make a much better meringue.
- 100g caster sugar: caster sugar is much finer than granulated sugar. It dissolves quicker when making a meringue.
- 155g ground almond: look for finely ground, better yet grind them yourself into a fine powder. We really like Stock’d Almond Flour.
- 150g icing sugar: don’t worry if it’s in clumps, it will be sieved anyway.
- 90 g white chocolate: choose good quality white chocolate with high cocoa butter content.
- 55 g double cream: use double, thick or whipping cream.
- 40 g ripe mango: you will be pureeing the mango, so you may choose to use pureed mango that usually comes in the tin (look for it in the international aisle if you’re in the UK). But note that if it’s very liquidy, your ganache may not set enough to be pipeable, so be careful choosing the right brand. If you’re using mango, use a ripe one, otherwise, you won’t get enough mango flavour in your mango macaron filling.
- 10 g butter: use unsalted butter in this recipe.
Equipment
There are a few kitchen tools you will need to make the mango macarons:
- Piping Bag with a Round 0.8-1cm Nozzle
- Digital Kitchen Scales
- Fine Sifter
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment or Hand Held Mixer
- Large Baking Sheets
What is more, if you want your macarons uniform, you may need a template with circles. We have recently bought these silicone mats, but previously made macarons by simply printing out a couple of sheets with 3 cm circles spaced out by approx. 2 cm. These templates are then placed under the baking parchment when piping and removed from underneath before baking.
Method
Line your baking trays with greaseproof paper or silicone mats. If using greaseproof paper, place your templates underneath the paper (templates are simply pieces of paper with circles printed on them, so you can pipe your macaron shells evenly sized).
Make Macaron Shells
Weigh out your ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl. Sieve both the ground almonds and icing sugar through a fine sieve twice. If you have lots of big almond bits leftover, whizz them in a blender and sieve again.
To make the meringue, start whisking the aged egg whites in a clean dry bowl on a high setting. When the eggs turn into foam, gradually add the caster sugar. Continue until the meringue reaches stiff peaks.
Combine half of the sieved ground almonds/ icing sugar with the meringue, folding them in gently with a spatula until just combined.
Add and fold in the remaining ground almonds/ icing sugar. Once fully combined, use the spatula to press the batter against the side of the bowl rotating it as you go.
Continue this until the batter flows like thick honey. It should continually flow from the spatula allowing you to draw a figure of eight without breaking. Stop mixing as soon as this stage is reached or it will become too liquid.
Transfer the batter into a piping bag. With the nozzle kept at 90° degrees to the tray, pipe your macarons. Remove the nozzle quickly once the template circle is just filled.
Pick up the trays and drop them back onto the surface from approx. 20 cm height to remove the air bubbles from the macarons.
Leave the macarons to dry out at room temperature. It should take 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on the temperature and humidity of the environment. When they’re ready, they will not leave any residue on your finger when gently touched and feel quite dry on the surface (it’s an important step! if you don’t dry them out properly, your macarons will burst and crack when baking).
Preheat the oven to 140°C Fan. Place the macarons in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the macarons. You can try one tray first to establish the time needed.
The foot of each should be solid and not move when pushed but they shouldn’t start to colour/ go brown. Leave them to cool before gently peeling them off from the greaseproof paper.
Make Mango Macaron Filling
Place the chopped up white chocolate in a bowl. Set it over a pot of simmering water making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir the chocolate until melted.
Take the chocolate off the pot, stir in the cream and let it cool down for a few minutes.
In a food processor, puree the ripe mango until it’s smooth and silky.
Add the mango puree to the chocolate-cream mixture and stir to incorporate fully. Add butter while the mixture is still warm and stir until butter melts and it is completely incorporated. Place the mixture in the fridge for 2-4 hours to set.
Assemble Macarons
Pipe generous amounts onto half of the macaron shells and sandwich with the second shell.
Place them in an airtight container in a single layer and store them in the fridge! These White Chocolate & Mango Macarons also freeze well.
Once you’ve practised macarons a couple of times, they are no longer daunting to make. We actually think they come together very quickly once you are confident in what you’re doing. One of our other favourites is Cranberry & White Chocolate Macarons, which are perfect for the Christmas period.
Other French Desserts
But if you’re looking for ideas for your next French dessert adventure, have a look at our other recipes below:
- Lavender-Scented Chocolate Souffle | A Recipe that Never Failed Me
- Individual Elderflower Fraisier Cakes
- Canelés de Bordeaux
Mango Macarons (With White Chocolate and Mango Ganache)
Equipment
- Piping Bag with a Round 0.8-1cm Nozzle
- Digital Kitchen Scales
- Fine Sifter
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment or Hand Held Mixer
Ingredients
For Macaron Shells:
- 155 g ground almonds/ almond flour fine
- 150 g icing sugar
- 115 g egg whites aged see text above
- 100 g caster sugar
For the Filling:
- 100 g white chocolate
- 20 ml double cream
- 40 g ripe mango
- 10 g butter unsalted
Instructions
- Line your baking trays with greaseproof paper or silicone mats. If using greaseproof paper, place your templates underneath the paper (templates are simply pieces of paper with circles printed on them, so you can pipe your macaron shells evenly sized).
- Weigh out your ground almonds and icing sugar into a bowl. Sieve both the ground almonds and icing sugar through a fine sieve twice. If you have lots of big almond bits leftover, wizz them in a blender and sieve again.
- To make the meringue, start whisking the aged egg whites in a clean dry bowl on a high setting. When the eggs turn into foam, gradually add the caster sugar. Continue until the meringue reaches stiff peaks.
- Combine half of the sieved ground almonds/ icing sugar with the meringue, folding them in gently with a spatula until just combined.
- Add and fold in the remaining ground almonds/ icing sugar. Once fully combined, use the spatula to press the batter against the side of the bowl rotating it as you go.
- Continue this until the batter flows like thick honey. It should continually flow from the spatula allowing you to draw a figure of eight without breaking. Stop mixing as soon as this stage is reached or it will become too liquid.
- Transfer the batter into a piping bag. With the nozzle kept at 90° degrees to the tray, pipe your macarons. Remove the nozzle quickly once the template circle is just filled.
- Pick up the trays and drop them back onto the surface from approx. 20 cm height to remove the air bubbles from the macarons.
- Leave the macarons to dry out at room temperature. It should take 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on the temperature and humidity of the environment. When they’re ready, they will not leave any residue on your finger when gently touched and feel quite dry on the surface (it's an important step! If you don't dry them out properly, your macarons will burst and crack when baking).
- Preheat the oven to 140°C Fan. Place the macarons in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the macarons. You can try one tray first to establish the time needed.
- The foot of each should be solid and not move when pushed but they shouldn’t start to colour/ go brown. Leave them to cool before gently peeling them off from the greaseproof paper.
- Place the chopped up white chocolate in a bowl. Set it over a pot of simmering water making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir the chocolate until melted.
- Take the chocolate off the pot, stir in the cream and let it cool down for a few minutes.
- In a food processor, puree the ripe mango until it’s smooth and silky.
- Add the mango puree to the chocolate-cream mixture and stir to incorporate fully. Add butter while the mixture is still warm and stir until butter melts and it completely incorporated. Place the mixture in the fridge for 2-4 hours to set.
- Pipe generous amounts onto half of the macaron shells and sandwich with the second shell.
- Place in an airtight container in a single layer and store them in the fridge! These White Chocolate & Mango Macarons also freeze well.
Nutrition
Amanda Wren-Grimwood
I could eat a plate of these – love macarons. I really like the flavour combination of the white chocolate and mango too.
Ieva
We love the combination too! It’s one of our favourite macarons! 🙂
Claudia Lamascolo
Those are a work of art I have tried 4 times to make other recipes going to try this one I never can make them right thanks for posting these are gorgeous
Ieva
Oh, I understand how you feel, Claudia! Our first attempt at macarons was a disaster, but with practice, they don’t even seem that hard to make… 🙂
Tavo
really authentic combination! I loved all those flavors. Thanks for the clear directions; they were super helpful!
Ieva
Glad you found the directions easy to follow! 🙂