Tiramisu macarons

I adore coffee: it is up there with chocolate for me as one of my top flavours. And tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts: so why not make a macaron version of this?

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The macaron shells are flavoured lightly with powdered instant coffee granules. It is best to use dry flavourings for macarons and as well as flavouring the shells, the powder gives a subtle coffee colour.

Tiramisu macarons

A tiramisu filling

For the filling you have the intensity of coffee, the rich lusciousness of marscapone and a kick of Marsala wine: essentially my macaron version of tiramisu. It sets a little firmer than tiramisu and is both easy and quick to make: you just beat the ingredients together until smooth!

For coffee intensity, I used roasted coffee bean butter. The link to my recipe for this is at the bottom of the page. The roasted coffee bean butter is best made in large quantities, stored in the fridge to use what you want as and when (it keeps as long as butter keeps).

However, if you are not using coffee butter, simply use unsalted butter and a little coffee essence, adding enough, a little at a time, to get the strength of coffee flavour you want. The easiest (and most inexpensive) coffee essence is simply using instant coffee granules and dissolving them in a splash of hot water to give a strong coffee liquid, which then needs to cool before using.

Macaron making

For the full instructions for making perfect macarons, my post on macarons is here. It is a long post, which also has a troubleshooting section and a Frequently Asked Questions section.

Shells piped and resting

The usual rules apply for the proportions of the ingredients, and so based on the weight of the egg whites you have:

• use the same weight in caster sugar
• multiply the weight of the egg whites by 1.25 for the amount of almonds
• multiply the weight of the egg whites by 1.25 for the amount of icing sugar

For this batch I had 66g egg whites (from 2 eggs), so I used 66g caster sugar, 83g ground almonds and 83g icing sugar. This gave me 55 shells ie) 27 filled macarons, plus a shell for me!

I added some instant coffee powder to the egg whites and sugar while whisking: 1/2 teaspoon for this amount of egg whites gave a subtle coffee tint and a gentle coffee flavour to the shells.

Recipe: tiramisu macarons

Tiramisu macarons

Macaron shells:

• see Macaron making above, and the link to making the macarons

Filling:

• 60g marscapone cheese
• 70g roasted coffee butter, softened (or use unsalted butter with coffee essence)
• 50g icing sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons Marsala wine (optional but makes the macarons even more special!)

To finish:

• a little cocoa powder, optional

(1) Make the macaron shells and leave to cool.

coffee macaron shells, ready to fill

(2) To make the filling, simply beat the marscapone, butter and icing sugar together to give a smooth mixture. Beat in the marsala, a little at a time. Spoon or pipe it onto the macaron shells and dust with cocoa powder.

(3) Place in an airtight container in the fridge ideally at least overnight for them to “mature”: the filling firms up and the shells gently soften up with the filling, becoming more melt-in-the mouth.

Tiramisu macarons

Key links

Perfecting macarons
Roasted coffee butter

Author: Philip

Finalist on Britain’s Best Home Cook (BBC Television 2018). Published recipe writer with a love of growing fruit & veg, cooking, teaching and eating good food. View all posts by Philip