Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Karen

A decadent combination of dark chocolate and orange in a beautiful French macaron.

Easter weekend has come way too early this year! If there’s anything that Easter reminds me of, it’s chocolate and lots of it too. I’ve got a decadent recipe in store for you to try this long weekend and it’s a special one with chocolate and orange.

These chocolate macarons are filled with a dark chocolate ganache infused with orange flavor. You can’t really go wrong with this flavor combination – I brought these to the office and everyone who tried them loved them so I’m really happy with the finished result!

Here is a free macaron template you can print out and slide under the parchment paper to use as a guide for piping the rounds.

Some more of my favorite kitchen tools for macaron making success:

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Dark Chocolate Orange Macarons

A decadent combination of dark chocolate and orange in a beautiful French macaron.

Author Karen @ The Tasty Bite

Ingredients

For the chocolate ganache:

4 oz dark chocolate finely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp orange zest finely grated

For the macarons:

3.2 oz egg whites room temperature
2.8 oz granulated sugar sifted
5.6 oz confectioners' sugar sifted
3.2 oz almond meal sifted
0.5 oz unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
Brown gel food coloring optional

Instructions

To make the chocolate ganache:

Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat and remove from heat. Stir in orange zest.
Pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and stir until ganache is smooth. Refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

To make the macarons:

Whisk egg whites until they begin to foam, about 1 minute. Slowly add in granulated sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Mixture should be thick and glossy; you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the whites falling out.
Add sifted confectioners’ sugar, almond meal, cocoa powder, and food coloring to the mixture. Using a spatula, fold until it is well incorporated and has the consistency of molten lava. To test, scoop up a spoonful of batter and drop it back into the mixture; it should flatten and disappear into the batter in about 15 seconds or so. If it doesn’t, continue folding the mixture. It should take about 50-60 strokes for the batter to reach the right consistency.
Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with large round tip, and pipe small rounds onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you can place a template underneath). The rounds should be no larger than 2 inch in diameter with at least ½ inch of space between.
Gently tap the bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air, then let the macarons dry on the counter for about 30 minutes until a skin is formed on the surface (the batter shouldn’t stick to your hand when you touch it).
Place the macarons in a 350F oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes until the shells harden. Let cool completely on the baking sheets.

To assemble:

Match the macaron shells in pairs. Pipe chocolate ganache on the flat side of a macaron shell then sandwich together with a matching macaron shell. Repeat with the remaining macarons.

Notes

*The assembled macarons can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
*I leave the egg whites on the counter for three days, cover with plastic wrap, leaving some space for the moisture to escape.