When you think of French Macarons, you probably think about those cute, pastel-colored treats lined up in a rainbow fashion at your favorite bakery. Of course, I went the complete OPPOSITE route and made them jet-black (or gothic, if you will). These Healthy Black Velvet French Macarons are just as light, sweet, and delicate as your typical macarons, except these are all natural (no artificial food dyes here!), low fat, gluten free, and made without any of the bleached, highly-refined white sugar.
French Macarons hold a lot of symbolism for me. Perfecting my recipe for Classic French Macarons was one huge feat.
In case you’re up for a good laugh, I go into some depth about how many trials (aka failures) it took me to finally make a batch of perfect macarons in this post.
(Spoiler alert, it took me over thirty failed batches to make a SINGLE successful batch. Yes. Over thirty. I’m shocked I didn’t quit baking for good after like, try #15?)
If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook, then you know that I made these Healthy Black Velvet French Macarons for my first LIVE TV debut back in August. I was contacted by the station to make a dessert to celebrate the recent, first-time-in-38-years, solar eclipse. Since you have all gone crazy for my black velvet recipes, I thought I’d make something along those lines. Black Velvet French Macarons seemed perfect because once they’re filled with frosting, they kind of look like a solar eclipse with the black “moon” macaron and white “sun” frosting peaking through around the rim.
Feeling both nervous and excited, I tried my hand at adapting my French Macarons recipe. I tweaked the recipe a bit to add in cocoa powder, activated charcoal powder, and a little extra vanilla extract.
To my surprise, IT WORKED.
And ON A WHIM, no less.
Maybe I’ve gotten rid of my failed macaron hex?? PRAISE THE LAWD. To celebrate yet another feat in the macaron-baking sector of my life, as well as my 25th birthday — damn, I’ve been on earth for a quarter century? *reminisces past birthdays and ponders the ones to come* — I thought I’d host a little giveaway for y’all ?
Since these Healthy Black Velvet French Macarons were adapted from my Classic French Macarons, a recipe in my Naughty or Nice Cookbook, I think giving away some copies plus a few common ingredients used throughout the book would be a good idea!
Good luck everyone!
Naughty or Nice Cookbook Bundle Giveaway!
20 macarons
Healthy Black Velvet French Macarons
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Directions:
Adapted from the French Macarons in the Naughty or Nice Cookbook.
All images and text ©.
I realized my #804 round piping tip was in the dishwasher right as I was about to pipe the macaron batter, so I substituted it with a #845 closed star tip. This is why you see the crazy (cool?) star/swirl patterns on the macarons. If you want perfectly smooth tops, use the #804 round tip ?
Enjoy!
.
With love and good eats,
.
– Jess
.
.
PS: Want more “Black Velvet” recipes? I’ve got ya covered:
Black Velvet Cookie Dough
Raw Black Velvet Fudge
Black Velvet Frosting
Black Velvet DIY Protein Bars
.
Indulge ? no strings attached!
