Top 10 Halloween Macaron Ideas

Looking for some spooky or delicious inspiration as Hallowe'en creeps up on us this October? Then here are my Top 10 Halloween Macaron From fun, surprise flavours, easy creative ideas, to simple Autumn or Fall flavours. So take your pick and join the party!

Top 10 Halloween Macaron Ideas

It's funny. Every year the French become a little more accustomed to Hallowe'en. When I arrived here in 1992, it was a total non-event. Gradually, however, over the years with tourism, Autumnal shop windows have been embracing the Hallowe'en spirit too. We're seeing marzipan and chocolate pumpkins with the odd spider lurking around.

Perhaps my biggest surprise was last year, when our local fromagerie cheese shop in Saint-Germain-en-Laye put out a life-size witch who, whenever was touched, would hackle.  Even the buffiest of teenagers who past were spooked. It was far from cheesy!

Make your Own Edible Eyes

Mini and regular smarties are great for making quick and easy edible eyes. Create a one-eyed monster's bloodshot look using black and pink edible pens.

Stick them on with a dab of melted chocolate. It's what I did to create the Witch's Hat Macaron Tower. Don't be scared to make a mess, either, as too much chocolate 'glue' can make them look like black eyes!

Hallowe'en Macaron Recipe

Just looking for flavours for fall macarons? Then these are Autumn on a plate! Get the recipe for these Pumpkin Spice Macarons with Roasted Red Kuri Squash (potimarron).

Unlike the macarons in my books, this filling recipe can be eaten the day they are made. Many pumpkin macarons just use pumpkin spice but these ones actually contain delicious roasted pumpkin. They have a good hint of pumpkin spice too.

Looking for pumpkin recipes?
There are plenty more on the French market's pumpkin page.

Macaron Skeleton Faces

Here's an idea from Fortnum and Mason's in London. They have some Hallowe'en treats with names like Pick your Poison. These rum macarons have skeleton faces, done using a stencil for large quantities. However, for smaller quantities at home it's just as easy to draw them on by hand using edible food ink pens.

It's easy to create your own simple spooky faces using a jet black edible pen. These are available in all good specialist cake shops. If you have any of your favourite stores with good quality products, leave me know in a comment below and I'll share it.

Hallowe'en Black Macarons

I use good quality black food gel to make liquorice macarons extra black. Again, available in good baking specialist shops, my favourite brand in Paris is DecoRelief (not sponsored) but many others are good from any of the Parisian stores on Rue Montmartre.  I have found that gel is better than powder for creating black macarons.

Drawing Faces on Macarons

I'm not much of an artist but if you are, then I'm sure you can do more elaborate Hallowe'en decorations on your macarons.

Edible Glitter Look

Brush on some edible glitter (lustre) - such as bronze or deep pink - to make your macarons extra shiny. They're particularly good on salted caramel, rose and chocolate macarons.

Surprising Macaron Flavours to Die For

Exploding Sugar

Add some extra exploding sugar (sucre pétillant) to top these already fizzy Orangina or Fanta macarons.

The recipe is in Teatime in Paris and is easily adaptable to make Coca-Cola macarons too, making it a spookily black filling!

Pistachio, Coconut and Wasabi Macarons are definitely my favourite macarons to die for. The recipe is in Mad About Macarons with flavours inspired by Michelin starred chef, William Ledeuil from tasting these flavour associations in a pistachio and wasabi ice cream dessert years ago.

Did I say WASABI? Yes, this fiery Japanese mustard packs a punch. There's just enough wasabi to add some intriguing heat in that macaron filling. Yet the sweetness of the macaron puts out the fire!

Although it looks like a whopping load of wasabi in the ganache recipe, the right dosage of white chocolate, coconut cream, vanilla and pistachio makes a perfect Hallowe'en concoction. The surprising mixture cuts out the fire just leaving the hint of wasabi behind on the tongue.

Speaking of tongues, I should have made the smarties tongues green, I know! You'll do a better job, I'm sure. Give them angry faces.

Savoury Macarons: Witch One?

Mini savoury macarons create a real element of surprise (there's a whole chapter on them in Mad About Macarons).

Serve little cups of this mushroom cappuccino soup with mini savoury mushroom macarons with a hint of truffle. They're so much fun!

Have you tried the curry tikka mac'sala mini macs with creamy cauliflower soup, known in France as Crème Dubarry, for example? Curry macarons are great fun served with drinks - partnered with a Gin & Tonic for an adult Hallowe'en party!

Alternatively, what about these Thai Green/Red Curry mini savoury macarons? They are HOT! Great fun too. Yes, that's snow in that photo. It was so cold around Paris that we needed some heat via spicy macarons.

More Hallowe'en Flavours

More ideas around flavours and colours. Replace orange carrots with purple carrots - try this purple carrot cake, for example. Why not also replace purple versions of vegetables in soups (replace regular potato with Vitelotte; cauliflower with purple cauliflower - yes, it exists! It's natural too).

Moreover, for some purple fun serve mini beetroot and horseradish macarons (from Mad About Macarons) with a fun and fiery spicy beetroot and horseradish risotto.

There are also Bloody Mary macarons to choose from for a real trick AND treat. For more, see my post on what to serve with savoury macarons.

Witch's Hat Macaron Tower

Meanwhile, back to the sweet side, these spider macarons are far from creepy.

• How to make spider macarons: cut up some liquorice shoe-lace or coils and stick them into the ganache before placing the macaron shell on top.
• Marzipan strips stuck with melted chocolate also helps make Mummie decorated macarons.

This Hallowe'en macaron tower is in my 2nd recipe book's macaron chapter in Teatime in Paris: A Walk Through Easy French Pâtisserie Recipes.

Have you made any of the recipes from le blog, my books, or fancy sharing any of these Top 10 Halloween Macaron Ideas?  Please leave a comment below or take a picture and hashtag it #MadAboutMacarons on Instagram or Facebook.

A Hallowe'en Macaron Birthday Party!

Did you know that Mad About Macarons is celebrating its 12th birthday and still going strong? So a huge Merci et THANK YOU with all my heart for your support: for following, for liking, for taking the time to comment and for leaving a review on my recipes. It means so much.

Santé - and cheers to you for joining the party!

This post was first published 26 October 2018 but has now been updated.