Macarons can be taken to the next level by adding a few beautiful toppings.
Some toppings can be added right after piping the macaron batter. Some macaron toppings won’t do well in the oven, therefore they need to added after the macarons have baked.
Keep this mind when selecting toppings for your macarons.
Caramel Sauce
To add caramel or chocolate drizzle, place your macarons on a large plate.
Put the caramel into a piping bag with a narrow circular tip.
The caramel sauce will come out very quickly. You won’t even need to squish the bag for the flow to come out.
Make one line on 1 half of the macaron. Continue making 2 more lines that criss cross a little to have an elastic band look to it.
Melted Chocolate
Melt a small amount of chocolate (1/4 cup or less). You don’t need much at all to add chocolate as a macaron topping.
Place the melted chocolate into a piping bag with a narrow circular tip. You’re going to need to work quickly if you’re using a piping bag.
Another option is to dip a spoon into the chocolate, and use the edge of the spoon to place the chocolate onto the macaron.
Melted chocolate works well as a macaron topping, because you can use it to add sprinkles or nuts to the tops of your macarons.
Let the melted chocolate dry for 30 minutes prior to storing the macarons away.
Nuts
Finely chopped nuts can be used as a macaron topping, but it needs something to “glue” it to the macaron.
You can use caramel sauce, or chocolate. Chocolate will work the best, because it actually dries and doesn’t cause any mess like caramel sauce does.
- pistachios
- walnuts
- pecans
Sprinkles
Macarons can be decorated with sprinkles right after piping the batter and removing the air bubbles.
Since the batter is sticky while it’s awaiting drying, the sprinkles will adhere to the macaron batter.
Only put a few sprinkles on the macaron, and they should be quite small. Large sprinkles have the risk of melting in the oven and ruining the macaron shells.
Another option is to add melted chocolate after your macarons have been baked and filled. Then gently dust your sprinkles on top of the melted chocolate for it to be “glued” to the top of the macaron.
Coffee Granules
You can decorate macarons with coffee granules by sprinkling a couple of granules on the macaron as soon as they are done piping and have had the air bubbles removed.
The coffee granules will stick well to the macaron batter as it dries prior to baking.
Cookie Crumbs
To add cookie crumbs to the top of your macarons, sprinkle a dusting of cookie crumbs on the macarons as soon as you are done piping them.
You can also put 1 tbsp of cookie crumbs directly into the dry ingredients when making macaron batter. This will give the macaron shells a hint of flavor cookie flavor.
