Chocolate Malt French Macarons

These Chocolate Malt French Macarons taste just like a nostalgic chocolate malt milkshake, but there is absolutely no malt powder in these making these naturally gluten free cookies!

If you love making French macarons as much as I do, be sure to check out some of my other favorite recipes like Strawberry French Macarons Without Food Coloring, Chocolate French Macarons, or Green Tea French Macarons.

chocolate malt french macarons on a baking sheet on a marble counter.

A Quick Look At The Recipe

Recipe Name: Chocolate Malt French Macarons
Ready In: 1 hour 30 minutes
Makes: 30 sandwich cookies
Main Ingredients: egg whites, almond flour, powdered sugar, Dutch cocoa
Flavor Profile: creamy, chocolate malty
Dietary Info: gluten free, no seed oils
Difficulty: Hard
Why You’ll Love It: French macarons with the flavor of your favorite malted milkshake

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Why You'll Love This Recipe

Crispy & Chewy: I love French macarons because of their texture! This is the magic of these petite cookies. They are both crispy and chewy at the same time. They will loose their luster if you keep them for longer than a day. They can either become too crispy or too soft. So, these are best eaten right away!
No Malt Powder: This recipe for Chocolate Malt French Macarons tastes like chocolate malt, but it doesn't use any malt powder! That makes these naturally gluten free cookies.
Petite: French macarons are a petite little cookie. That makes them a perfect little bite of sweetness that won't leave you sluggish.
Organic Cookies: I love making organic cookies at home because I can control the ingredients. This way, I'm using mindful organic ingredients that I can feel good about indulging in!

Jump to:

A Quick Look At The Recipe
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
What are French macarons?
What makes these malt?
Ingredients
Baker’s Tips
How to Make Chocolate Malt French Macarons
Trouble Shooting
Chocolate Malt French Macarons FAQ’s
Serving Ideas
More Homemade Cookie Recipes
Chocolate Malt French Macarons
The Bake Shop

What are French macarons?

French macarons are a meringue based cookie that was created in France. These petite cookies are usually filled with buttercream, chocolate ganache, or even jams. These are naturally gluten free cookies because almond flour is the base. And, most of the time they are colored in beautiful pastel or bright colors. They have a crisp outer shell with a chewy center, making them both crispy, chewy and incredibly light all at the same time. Their texture is what makes these organic cookies so special!

What makes these malt?

This recipe for Chocolate Malt French Macarons tastes just like a nostalgic chocolate malt milkshake (try the Bone Broth Chocolate Milkshake for one of those!), but there is no malt powder! If you are gluten free, then you're aware that malt powder is not gluten free. Malt powder is made from barley which is not gluten free, so traditional malt powder contains wheat.

But, in this recipe, I use the right ratio of Dutch cocoa powder that creates a “chocolate malt” filling. The combination of the lightly sweetened almond cookie with the chocolate, and you'd swear that was malt powder in these naturally gluten free cookies!

If you love the nostalgic malt flavor, be sure to check out some of my recipes that do use malt powder! Homemade Malted Milk Waffles, Homemade Vanilla Malt Pudding, Chocolate Malt Biscotti and Chocolate Chip Cookies With Malt Powder are all deliciously creamy malt recipes!

Ingredients

Eggs: I use organic large eggs to separate the whites. But, be sure to weigh the total whites to ensure you have the right amount. If you get any yolk in the whites, then discard them and use for something else. You don't want any fat in the whites.
Vanilla Extract: Be sure to use a high quality organic vanilla extract, skip the imitation.
Almond Flour: I use store bought organic almond flour for ease. If you are using homemade almond flour that you make by adding almonds into a food processor and grinding until fine you need to make sure you sift the ground almonds as you will get large bits and we don't want that.
Butter: I use organic salted butter, which was how we made these at my bakery. If you want to use unsalted butter you can, just add a pinch of salt.
Dutch Cocoa Powder: I'm using organic Dutch cocoa powder for a sweet chocolatey flavor that really helps create a “malted” chocolate flavor without actually malt powder.

*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.

Baker's Tips

Use a scale! While I always recommend a scale for every recipe, it's especially important for French macarons.
When separating your egg whites, be careful not to get any yolk in the egg whites as this is fat.
You can whip egg whites using a hand mixer if you prefer, I just don't like this method as it takes much longer in my opinion.
When whisking egg whites make sure you whisk until stiff peaks form.
Be careful not to overstir the batter. If you overstir the batter, the feet can not form properly or you can end up with hallow shells.
I always use parchment paper, but a silicone mat will also work for French macarons. But, you definitely need something!
A little trick I like to use when piping macarons to get them all the same size is count to 2.
The resting time is super important in French macarons. If you need to let them rest longer, make sure to do that until the shell has formed. If you don't let them rest properly, the iconic feet will not form.
High Altitude — Bake for 8 minutes or until the macs look dry and the shells look shiny.

How to Make Chocolate Malt French Macarons

meringue whipped into stiff peaks on a whisk sitting on kitchen counter.

Line 2 cookie sheets with a piece of parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk, starting on low to avoid splattering, and slowly in creasing the speed to high, until stiff peaks form.

chocolate malt french macaron batter partially mixed in a stand mixing bowl.

Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together into the bowl of meringue. Turn the mixer on low for 10 to 15 rotations until the dry ingredients start to blend into the meringue.

Pulse the mixer on medium speed 4 to 5 times to incorporate the batter.

french macaron batter being stirred with a spatula in a mixing bowl.

Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer, and gently stir the mixture with a spatula just until there are no pockets of egg whites or dry bits of almond flour, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl. The batter should be smooth, glossy, but still thick, don’t overstir. Transfer the batter to a prepared piping bag fitted with Ateco tip #804.

Pipe the macaron batter onto the prepared cookie sheets (30 should fit on each baking tray).

french macarons after banging on a baking sheet on a marble counter.

Holding a cookie sheet firmly in both hands, and making sure the parchment paper doesn’t slide around, bang the cookie sheet on the counter (or a flat surface) a few times. Rotate the cookie sheet and bang it a few more times. Repeat with the other cookie sheet. This will smooth out the batter and will help form the macarons’ famous “feet.” Let rest for 45 minutes, or until the rounds of batter have formed shells. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

baked chocolate malt french macarons on a marble counter.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the macs look dry and the shells look shiny. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets.

chocolate malt french macarons on a baking sheet.

To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, Dutch cocoa powder, and water. Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high for 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag with no tip. Turn over every other macaron and pair them together. Pipe a dollop of filling onto each turned over macaron and sandwich together.

Trouble Shooting

What is a French macaron shell?

After you pipe the batter, the macarons have to rest until a shell forms. All recipes will say this, but what is a shell? When you pipe the batter it is sticky, and after you bang the macarons and let them rest, a shell will form. This means that the batter is no longer sticky to the touch, but dry and smooth feeling. So, that's what you are looking for when it says to let them rest until a shell forms.

What if my shell isn’t forming?

If you are having a difficult time with the shell, it could be your climate or weather – and nothing that you did! French macarons are very temperamental, and when it is humid out they are the worst cookie to bake. So, if it is snowing or raining then do not make French macarons as they will have a very difficult time with the shell forming because of this very reason! French macarons are best in dry climates, so weather with moisture can just make them worse. So, keep that in mind when deciding what day you are going to bake French macarons!

If it is not raining or snowing and your shell isn’t forming after an hour, just be patient. It can take a little bit longer for the shell to form. If it’s been almost 2 hours and your shell hasn’t formed, then bake your French macarons anyways as it shouldn’t take that long. It could be your mixing, stirring, or banging that prevented the shell from forming. And take it as a learning experience for the next time that you make these cookies.

French macarons take time to learn from your mistakes and get the feel of making them. No one gets it first try, and even seasoned macaron bakers (such as myself) even have days where we just don’t know what happened! That’s part of what makes these cookies so fun to make because it’s a challenge every time and when you get them right, there is nothing better!

If your feet splooge out (for lack of a better word) and they are very flat and don't sit under the cookie then a couple things could have happened. You could have baked them too soon. If you don't allow them to rest properly, this can hinder the feet from forming correctly. So be sure they have rested until a shell has formed. Or you could have stirred the batter too much. And in this case, even if you did let them rest properly, the batter would have been too runny to form the feet.

chocolate malt french macarons on a marble counter with a glass of milk.

Chocolate Malt French Macarons FAQ's

Do I need a scale to make macarons?

Yes, I highly recommend using a scale as French macarons are incredibly temperamental. So, using a digital food scale will set you up for the most success. This way, you can practice your technique and not worry about incorrect measuring.

Are these macarons gluten-free?

Yes, traditional macarons are made using almond flour so they are naturally gluten free. This recipe is also gluten free, even though I call them chocolate malt French macarons, there is no malt powder in this recipe.

Why don’t you use malt powder in this recipe?

I originally created this recipe at my bakery. And, I wanted all macarons to be gluten free, because they are naturally gluten free. So I didn't want to confuse staff or customers by making one flavor of macarons that wasn't gluten free. because malt powder is made using wheat. But, these still taste like a chocolate malt, no malt powder needed!

How do these macarons have a malt flavor without malt powder?

These taste like malt, but they don't have malt powder because of the combination of cocoa and powdered sugar along with the flavor of the almond macarons. The filling is a light chocolate, which is creamy and not overly chocolatey (like chocolate whip ganache) so it is similar to a malty chocolate flavor. But, combined with the vanilla and almond in the macaron cookie itself, these taste so much like chocolate malt that you'd swear that's malt powder. But, there isn't, making them completely gluten free. This was a best seller at my bakery and people always had to double ask us if we were sure there wasn't malt powder in them after tasting!

Do these taste like a chocolate malt milkshake?

Yes! If you are a fan of chocolate malt milkshakes, you will absolutely love this macaron recipe.

Can I use natural cocoa instead of Dutch cocoa?

No, because the whole flavor of this cookie depends a lot on the cocoa. Natural cocoa is not as sweet as Dutch so the amount needed may be different to achieve the right flavor of chocolate malt.

What is macaronage and how do I know it’s done?

This is the fancy name for folding your macaron batter just right. You wan to fold it enough that it's smooth, shiny, but also still thick enough that a nice ribbon of batter will flow off the spatula when lifted out of the bowl.

Why don’t my macarons have feet?

If you don't allow them to rest properly, this can hinder the feet from forming correctly. Be sure to let the macarons rest until the shell forms to get the feet to form properly.

Why are my macaron shells hollow or flat?

If you end up with a cracked or hallow shell, that can mean that you over mixed the batter and too much air was incorporated.

How do I know when macarons are done baking?

When the tops are dry, the feet are formed and the edges start to turn a slight golden brown color.

Why do macarons need to mature before eating?

This is so untrue. I don't know how this rumor started on the internet or why people are asking this question. I'm about to get really heated about this. French macarons are made up of meringue. And, meringues are best eaten right away or their texture starts to soften, or get sticky and just less than ideal. It's the same for French macarons. So, as soon as the cookies cool, fill them, sandwich them, and eat them. This is when you get the magic trio texture of crispy outer edges, chewy center and soft buttercream in the center. The longer they sit out the more these textures will dull. As they get older, they become one note. They can either become all crispy and stale, or all soft and mushy, just one note. This is why you never do this! Trust me, as someone who owned a bakery for over a decade that sold macarons, we tried everything we could to make these little cookies last longer (to save money, of course). We tried the refrigerator, the freezer, room temperature, airtight containers, paper bags, light plastic wrap, full plastic wrap, bakery boxes, bags, tin tie bags, you name it, we tried it. Nothing worked, so we sold them the same day they were baked and that was it. EAT THE COOKIES right away!

How do you store French macarons?

I do not believe these cookies can be stored. I think they are a bake and eat sort of situation. So, I always make French macarons and either eat or gift them the same day! While I know many people will say put them in the fridge, or freezer, or an airtight container but I've tried all that and the cookie always suffers. I do not recommend it.

What’s the difference between macarons and macaroons?

French macarons are a French cookie made of meringue and filled with buttercream, ganache or jams. Macaroons are also made of meringue but with fine shredded coconut, so it's a coconut meringue cookie.

Serving Ideas

These Chocolate Malt French Macarons were a popular menu item at my bakery. Most often ordered with Caramel Hot Cocoa, Coconut Hot Chocolate, or Chai Tea Hot Chocolate for a cozy treat!

You can also enjoy these with Boozy Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate, Iced Blueberry Latte, Organic Pink Lemonade, or Creamy Vegan Chocolate Smoothie With Almond Butter for an afternoon snack.

chocolate malt french macarons on a marble counter.

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