
Is there a better combo than chocolate and peanut butter?? We love just about everything that is made with these ingredients. Who doesn’t, right??? So, we felt it was time to create Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Macarons recipe with you!
These French Macarons are filled with a luscious chocolate pastry cream in the center, surrounded by the best peanut butter frosting you will ever eat! All this goodness sandwiched between two chocolate macaron shells. Sounds amazing right??
In this post we do not go into detail on the macaron making process or tips for success. If you are looking for more detail check out our post for Snickerdoodle Macarons for some tips from our experience.
If you are a first time mac-maker and need some additional support, I highly recommend checking out THIS page.
Making Chocolate Macaron Shells
Making the macaron shell can be a frustrating process if you don’t carefully consider what is going in them to adjust the ratios perfectly. Macarons aren’t as forgiving as other types of cookies.
The recipe here utilizes the French method for the chocolate shells, but if you prefer the Italian or Swiss method, go ahead and do that.

It’s especially important with chocolate shells to account for the addition of the cocoa powder and weigh the difference or you may have some. wonky macarons.
For these shells, I used 15 g dutch processed cocoa powder, and I add it to the almond flour and confectioner’s sugar in the food processor in the beginning. For chocolate shells, I reduce the amount of confectioner’s sugar to account for the added cocoa powder.
As you will notice, the chocolate shells are quite light, so you can add a small amount of brown food gel coloring if you want them to be darker. Because I drizzled chocolate on top of the shells, I didn’t feel the need to make this batch darker.
Check out the following video to see the process of making these macarons from start to finish!
All about that Filling!
Dark Chocolate Pastry Cream

The pastry cream is something you will want to make several hours before making the shells, or the day before if possible.
The pastry cream takes at least 2 hours to set up, but is best if allowed to sit in the fridge overnight.
This dark chocolate pastry cream is quite easy to make and can be used for a variety of desserts, but we love it in these macarons to compliment the peanut butter.
Instant espresso powder is used in this pastry cream to give it an extra chocolatey taste. It does not actually taste like espresso. You can omit this ingredient if you feel so inclined, although I’m here to tell you that you are missing out if you do! But you do you!
A quick note about using pastry cream as a macaron filling:
Macarons filled with pastry cream will get soggy after about two days, so these need to be eaten pretty quickly. If you want your macarons to last a bit longer, I recommend using a ganache or buttercream filling instead. Although, the pastry cream is absolutely delicious in macarons!
Whipped Peanut Butter

Let me just start out by saying that this is literally a dream frosting that you may end up eating by the spoonful. It is so so tasty! It’s very easy to make and only requires smooth peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract, and butter.
To make the whipped peanut butter, I prefer to use a hand mixer. Simply add all ingredients to a bowl and whip until combined, then begin adding your butter, one tablespoon at a time. Your peanut butter mixture will begin to look smooth and fluffy and light enough to pipe into the macarons.
I transfer the whipped peanut butter into a piping bag and set aside until the macarons shells have cooled completely before piping.

Enjoy!
We hope you enjoy this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Macarons. If you give it a try, leave us a comment below or tag us on Instagram @cooking_with_wine.
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