Eggnog Macarons are light, airy Christmas cookies with the delicious taste of nutmeg and cinnamon. They are filled with eggnog buttercream!
These tasty eggnog cookies are fun to make during the holidays because they are different than most traditional Christmas cookies! The combination of the light, crunchy cookies with the creamy buttercream inside is irresistible.
What You’ll Find In This Post
How To Make Eggnog Macarons
Turn the basic macaron batter into an eggnog macaron batter by adding half a teaspoon of nutmeg to the basic recipe. Pipe the batter onto parchment paper and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 300˚F for about 18 minutes.
Allow the eggnog macarons to cool completely. Then, make the eggnog buttercream frosting and fill the macarons. I used a large drop flower decorator tip to make a swirled look with the buttercream.
When we got together to do some wedding prep for my sister, I brought some of these eggnog macarons along to share, and everyone loved them! Plus, they are now my son’s favorite new treat, and he is quickly finishing off the rest of the eggnog from the fridge!
Tonia’s Notes
Last year, I completely missed out on making eggnog recipes during the holiday season. So, I’ve got a few different ones planned for this year if I can squeeze them in. The first is eggnog macarons with eggnog buttercream frosting! I tried making French macarons for the first time last May.
Then, I made a bunch of them for my sister-in-law’s wedding reception in July, but I haven’t made them since. Every time I make macarons, I get mixed results…some of them turn out, and some don’t…but that is fine with me. We still eat the ones that aren’t perfect, and they still taste great!
More Eggnog Recipes
- Eggnog French Toast Bake is a great way to feed the whole family in one fell swoop.
- No Bake Eggnog Cheesecake With a gluten-free crust is delicious and easy to make!
- Eggnog Truffles are cute little holiday cookies that are delicious and easy too.
- Eggnog Cookie Cups are adorable sugar cookie cups filled with eggnog ganache!
Eggnog Macarons Recipe
Ingredients
Eggnog Macarons
- 4 ounces almond flour
- 8 ounces powdered sugar
- 5 ounces egg whites
- 2½ ounces granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon for sprinkling
Eggnog Buttercream
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon eggnog
Instructions
Eggnog Macarons
- Preheat the oven to 300˚F. Line 2 pans with parchment paper.
- Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together and set aside.
- Mix the egg whites, granulated sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and kosher salt on low for 3 minutes, then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes and finally on high for 3 minutes. The meringue should be very stiff.
- Add the almond and powdered sugar mixture and fold it into the meringue until it has deflated. It should look like molten lava that will hold its shape for a bit and then melt into the mixture.
- Pipe the batter into small circles on the parchment paper. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Hold the pan and firmly smack it against the counter a couple of times. Turn the pan and smack it again to remove the air bubbles.
- Bake at 300˚F for about 18 minutes or until the macarons can be easily removed from the parchment paper. If they stick or the shell comes off but the bottom sticks, bake them a little longer.
- Cool completely on the pan.
- Pipe eggnog buttercream onto one macaron and top it with a second one.
Eggnog Buttercream
- Beat butter, shortening until creamy and light in color.
- Mix in the vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
- Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, with the mixer on low speed. After the second cup, add one tablespoon of eggnog. Then, add the last two cups of powdered sugar and finally the last tablespoon of eggnog.
- Beat until light and fluffy.
Ashly says
Do you let them sit and “develop a skin” at all?
Tonia says
Hi Ashley,
It didn’t seem to matter. I put one pan right into the oven and the second pan sat out waiting to go in the oven. The results were the same on the two pans.
Enjoy!
-Tonia
Victor says
Maybe try switching the ounces for the egg whites to a number becuase my batter turned out way too runny but great idea!!
Caleb Eubanks says
This was a GREAT recipe and instructions!! I am an experienced baker but have never made Macarons due to being intimidated haha. I made these today and they came out fantastic! They looked an tasted just like I picked them up from a French Pastry shop!
Lisa says
I am definitely NOT a professional baker and these came out great for me as well :). My daughter works at a bakery/coffee house and said they’re “sellable”! Before she ate too many of my double-batch, I packaged them up and gave them out to friends and neighbors with gourmet hot chocolate as a Christmas treat. They all loved them and I was told by one of my neighbors (who is a fabulous baker) how much she enjoyed them – she repeated herself three times!
Thank you for making me look like a fabulous baker too!
Megs says
Mine turned out flat and full of air bubbles -due to not wanting to smash my pampered chef pan against the counter haha. I think meringue was not firm enough, also this was the first time I’ve made macaroons. Great recipe though!!
Yuki says
Tried this last week (3rd time is the charm, some had feet). Since eggnog happened to be immediately out of season on my first try (and the one in the fridge was immediately spoiled), I used Jamaican rum cream in the buttercream mix. Someone said something about gooey, I guess I wouldn’t know, not a connoisseur.
Anyway, the first two tries were more about lack of equipment than anything else (like using wax paper, or not having a scale and overestimating the cups for the powdered sugar and guessing for everything else (which isn’t bad). Basically 1 cup of almond flour is ~4oz, maybe even 4.10oz 5 large egg whites and scoop out a little bit (less than a spoonful, trace amounts) would yield approx 5oz. Forgot the sugar quantities, but used light brown sugar rather than granulated white as 2.5 oz because it made more sense to me with the cinnamon.
Used 2 cups of powdered sugar for the buttercream, but my family thought it was too sweet, then again they wanted to eat them **immediately** because they like eating things fresh. Learned immediately that this is ridiculous for macarons. It seems as if they need to chill in the fridge in order to settle down (mine I did for 24 hours, as articles note). They were no longer too sweet once they were allowed to rest.
Brittany says
Is there any way to substitute the almond flour for all purpose flour? My nephew has allergies to almonds, but he would love these if I could make them without the almond flour in it.
Tonia says
Hi Brittany,
I’ve only made them with almond flour. Try doing a Google search for nut free macarons to see if anyone else has a recipe. If not, you could try making small sugar cookie sandwiches instead. Best of luck!
~Tonia
Megs says
This may be why mine are messed up.. I used all-purpose flour because I had no almond flour..
Nicole says
I think I will try this! WHat about making Spiced eggnog macaroons? Do you think I can put a little rum or vodka in the frosting? Or will it make it too gooey?
Tonia says
Hi Nicole,
Wonderful! I don’t drink alcohol, so I’ve never experimented with adding it to frosting. Happy Baking!
~Tonia
Kelly - Life Made Sweeter says
These macarons are gorgeous! I love eggnog desserts and could easily eat 10 of these in one sitting! The eggnog buttercream is totally calling my name – pinning!
Tonia says
Go for it, girl! Thanks Erin!
Jeni says
I am in love with eggnog recipes and am dying to try this one!!! They look fabulous!
Tonia says
Thanks Jeni! I can’t wait to make more eggnog recipes!
Liz says
Thank you Tonia – looks so good.
Tonia says
You are very welcome! Thanks Liz!
Danielle | Krafted Koch says
These look so gorgeous and pretty delicious too!
Tonia says
I love how cute they are! I think that is one of the main reasons I love making macarons! Thanks Danielle!
ami@naivecookcooks says
These are like the cutest macarons ever and the way you have piped filling inside – gorgeous!
Tonia says
Thanks so much Ami!
Ashley | The Recipe Rebel says
These macarons look PERFECT. I only tried once, a LONG time ago, and I really need to try again. They seem so intimidating, but man are they good!