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Rudolph the red nosed reindeer chocolate macarons recipe for Santa at Christmas
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5 from 1 vote

Rudolph Reindeer Chocolate Macarons

The cutest little Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer Chocolate Macarons with chocolate ganache filling, candy coated chocolate eyes and pretzel antlers.
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 72 cookies
Calories 53kcal

Ingredients

For the macarons

For the filling

For the decoration

  • 37 red M&M's candies
  • 2 cups pretzel twists

Instructions

For the macarons

  • Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 3 half sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone mats. (I used macaron mats with pre-marked circles.) Set aside.
  • Place almonds and 1 ½ cups powdered sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine, then process until nuts are as finely ground as possible; this could take several minutes. Mixture should be powdery. Pulse in cocoa powder.
  • In a large, clean, grease-free bowl, whip egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining ¾ cup powdered sugar and beat until stiff but not dry peaks form. Fold nut mixture into meringue. Scrape mixture into a pastry bag fitted with ½ inch round tip (I used a plastic coupler - see example below recipe). Pipe 1-inch rounds 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Allow to sit for 10 minutes so that the "kiss" shapes begin to settle iinto smooth rounds.
  • Bake until dry to touch and you can lift one from parchment (or mat) without it breaking, about 10 minutes; tops may look crackled, which is okay. Slide parchment onto racks to cool cookies completely. Recipe should make about 72 cookies or 37 cookie sandwiches, once filled and decorated.

For the filling

  • Place chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl. Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan (as soon as bubbles cover the top, remove from heat) and pour over chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes. Then whisk until smooth. Stir over ice filled bowl until thick enough to spread (if needed). Do not put ice in chocolate (you probably knew that already but just wanted to make sure).

For the decoration

  • Break up pretzels to look like antlers. Set aside.
  • Using a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a round tip (such as Wilton #12) pipe a swirl of ganache onto half of the cookies on their flat bottoms. Another option is you can use a butter knife to spread the ganache. Place 2 pretzel antlers on top of ganache, then place a plain cookie on top, flat side down.
  • Then switch out the pastry tip of the ganache and use a smaller round tip (such as Wilton #3). Pipe eyes, nose and smile. Put one red M&M on top of the ganache piped nose. Cookies are ready to serve. Store covered at room temperature up to 24 hours. You will need to refrigerate them after that, but keep in mind that the M&M candies fade when chilled.
  • Note: If you want to make the macarons ahead of time, the plain cookies can be frozen in an airtight container before they are decorated.

Nutrition

Calories: 53kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 19mg | Potassium: 35mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 34IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg