These delicate strawberry treats are bright in color, and irresistible! This recipe stared with my Vanilla Macarons, just leave out the butter extract and add a few drops of pink gel food coloring. Use gel food coloring to be safe. I tried to make a batch of these last week using liquid food coloring and they ended up in the trash can as the batter was toooo thin. Huge bummer! I gave these another go after I picked up some gel based food coloring, and if you haven’t used it before it is so potent! You don’t need half as much as you think you will. When piping the batter into the circles be sure to remember they will spread a little while drying so try not to place them too close together. This next step is mandatory! Let them dry out for at least 30 minutes! Otherwise you could end up with dry or cracked tops, and none of those little “feet” on the cookie. I was at our local grocery store on Tuesday morning and local strawberrys were on sale, which is perfect to throw into buttercream. Fresh strawberry buttercream, it tastes like a strawberry milkshake, you need to try it! I threw about 3-4 strawberrys into a processor, after washing and de-stemming them, and voila a puree to go into my buttercream filling! This might just be the best part of these macarons. These macarons can be a bit tricky, but they are so worth it, so don’t be intimated with the long directions! Have any other Maracon flavour that you like? Be sure to let me know!
What You’ll Need
- Stand Mixer
- Large Bowl
- Metal Sifter
- Silpat or Parchment Paper
- Cookie Sheets
- Piping Bag and a Round Tip (I used Wiltons 12)
- Wire Cooling Rack
- 1 cup (4oz) Almond Flour - sifted
- 2 cups (8oz) Powdered Sugar - sifted
- 5oz Egg Whites - about 4 -5 eggs
- 1/3 cup (2.5oz) Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 teaspoon. Salt
- 1 - 2 drops pink gel based food coloring (optional)
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter - softened
- 2 Cups Powdered Sugar - sifted
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon strawberry puree - about 4 strawberrys washed and de-stemmed in a food processor or blender.
- 1-2 tablespoons Heavy Cream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour in egg whites, salt, and sugar.
- Set timer for 3 minutes and beat at a medium speed using the whisk attachment (4 on my KitchenAid).
- Once the 3 minutes are up turn it up about 3 notches to speed 7 and beat for another 3 minutes.
- Once the time is up turn it all the way up on high and beat one last time for 3 minutes.
- While your egg whites and sugar is mixing, sift your almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl.
- Once all is sifted you should have some small bits of almond that were too large to pass through.
- If there is a teaspoon or less you just leave them out, if there is more you will want to send them through a food processor to grind them up before pouring into the batter.
- Once your egg mixture is done beating, add in your vanilla extract and pink gel food coloring and beat for 30 seconds, scrape sides down and beat for another 30 seconds.
- Add your dry ingredients into you egg whites, you need to mix carefully to make sure it has the right consistency, or you will end up with flat or dry macarons.
- Using a spatula fold in your dry ingredients in a swooping motion making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- At first it will seem really thick and clumpy but it will smooth out quick.
- You want a thickness that is still thick enough to hold a little shape but thin enough to fold back into itself.
- It took me 30-35 turns with my spatula to get a good consistency.
- Fill your piping bag with the filling and pipe 1 1/2" circles on your silpat - you will have slight peaks at first and by about the fifth circle you've piped they should flatten out.
- Preheat your oven to 295 degrees and let your macarons dry on the counter for 25-30 minutes - I accidentally left a batch on my counter to dry for an hour and a half and when I put them in the oven they seemed to make no difference.
- After about 30 minutes your macarons should have a slight "crust" on them - they shouldn't stick to your finger when you touch them.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes, depending on size.
- Once they're fully cooked allow to cool completely before removing from your silpat or parchment paper.
- Once fully cooled pipe your filling and sandwich together.
- Using your stand mixer or hand mixer whip the butter on medium speed for 3-4 minutes.
- Slowly add in 1 cup of the sifted icing sugar, mix until combined.Add the vanilla and the last of the icing sugar and continue mixing.
- Add in 1 tbsp of the heavy cream at a time until the consistency is right.
- Add the strawberry puree and mix until combined.
- Once all is added beat on high speed until light and fluffy - at least 2 minutes.
- You want the frosting nice and creamy, but for it to be able to hold a point at the same time.
- Match your macarons in pairs according to size.
- Using the same Wiltons 12 tip pipe a small circle of buttercream on one side of the macaron and carefully sandwich together - making sure not to squish them as they are delicate.
- Store in an air tight container for up to a week.
I did exactly 30 strokes and my macarons were still flat and feetless… what could I be doing wrong?
Hi Itzel,
Did you whip your egg whites enough? Did you be sure to gently fold in the dry ingredients?
You might need to fold the batter a little bit more/less. You’ll want the batter to be thick enough to hold some shape, but thin enough to fold back into itself.
http://makebakecelebrate.com/caramel-coffee-macarons/ maybe check out this post from Toni. She has a great detailed post about what the batter should look like.
Hi Stacey,
I gonna make macrons this weekend,but I am really worried that I am gonna mess up the part with 30-35 strokes.i am really good at baking but this is my first time making macrons. If I do mess up the strokes part what should I do. Oh and congrats on the baby.
So I read the directions but how do I get the round shape?????????????????????????!?!??!
Hi Lynn,
You want your batter to have a smooth consistency. (I followed her photos for refrence: http://makebakecelebrate.com/caramel-coffee-macarons/)
As for the shape you’ll need to pipe them onto either parchment paper or a silpat. I use a piping bag and a small round tip.
Let me know if you have any other questions! 🙂
And thank you! 🙂
Hi Stacy,
Do u have to u almond flour or can I use almond meal⚽️
Hi Lynn,
Almond meal tends to be a bit on the coarser side, where almond flour is ground finer. I would recommend using almond flour, I’m not sure how the recipe would turn out with almond meal.
This shows you a bit more about the differences if you’re interested http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-almond-flour-and-almond-meal-word-of-mouth-205771
Thanks
You’re welcome 🙂
When I cooked my macaroons I tried taking them off the paper but the middles stayed on the paper and the “crust”came off fine. What did I do wrong?
Hi Mariana,
They may need to be cooked for an extra few minutes. I’ve had this happen to me as well and leaving them in the oven for an extra minute or two and then letting them cool before trying to pop them off seems to do the trick.
Can you make a video
Hi Daniela,
I’m working on getting something set up so I am able to make videos for some of my recipes. Once I can figure that out I’ll get one made for this asap!
Thanks for the idea! 🙂
Stacey
Great recipe! It was my first time making macarons and it went better than I expected!
That’s awesome Sarah! I’m so glad they turned out! 🙂
The almond metalworker I did not use the strawberry filling instead I used strawberry in the batter
Strawberry in the batter sounds great! How did they turn out??
Best recipe ever!!! It’s my sisters Bachelorette Party next weekend and I needed 3 dozen macarons. All the local bakeries were so expensive so I found this recipe and thought I’d give it a shot. IT’S SO EASY AND THEY TASTE AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for this recipe I will never by store bought again. Piece of advice, take your time while making these. I rushed the first batch and made some mistakes. The second batch was perfect!! Thank you so much!!!!
I am so glad you enjoyed them Mia! You are definitely right about taking your time, but it is totally worth it! ❤️
I’m planning to try your recipe tomorrow! I made plain macaron shells and filled with Nutella, but I’m excited to try food coloring on the shells and make my own buttercream! 🙂 I’ll have to try your 30-35 turns; the consistency of my shells were good, but they still had peaks in the center and didn’t look very shiny.
I can’t wat to hear how hey turn out, Lynn! They’re pretty easy once you get the hang of noticing the consistency you want! Good luck! ❤️
Hey stacie im sorry if i spelled your name wrong, but i was going to ask permission so that if i can use your story for my project at school? i just didnt want to get you mad if you found out that i used your story for the macaroons for my project. If youdont know what im talking about i mean the paragraph at the top of the page . please get back to me as soon as possible. thank you
Hi Deidra,
Sure, I hope your project goes well!
Stacey
I made the buttercream filling, and definitely recommend adding powdered freeze-dried strawberries to it. I made the recipe as written, and wanted a bit more oomph. Still, it was good. 🙂
That is a great idea!! I’ll need to grab some freeze dried strawberries and give it a go! 🙂