Took me like two years of working on the recipe on and off, but I'm SO HAPPY with my French-method chocolate shells!! I've made three batches in the last week. They all had smooth, strong, FLAT tops and shiny bottoms, so I figured I'd share with people who would understand my excitement!

I add Dutch-processed cocoa powder* to my dry ingredients and chocolate extract to my French meringue. Using both of those develops a well-rounded chocolate flavor with a little bit of tint to the batter, so I only need to add 5 drops of chocolate brown gel coloring for the brown color I wanted.

Resting/drying time was similar to other batches, but they do tend to bake 2-3 minutes faster than usual (which is kinda nice!).

Recipe is here: https://floralapron.com/chocolate-macarons/

*Over the last two years, I have gotten decent results with some brands of traditionally-processed cocoa powder, but all brands of Dutch cocoa gave me a stronger flavor and more consistent results, so that's what I recommend using for the best results.

No matter what I do my shells are hollow. It feels like I’ve tried just about everything. This is my recipe. 120 AF, 120 powdered sugar, 100 egg white, 100 sugar. Ive tried temps between 280 and 330 lol. Literally like every temp. I’m positive my meringue is strong and stiff. Macaronage I’ve tried less and more. It just seems like no matter what I do they are always hollow. Sad part is I think they are beautiful looking macarons, but every time I go to check the inside I get disappointed. Also yes, after maturing they are still delicious, but I would just like to figure out the problem. Anyone have any advice? I will attach some pics of my macarons.