Strawberry Macarons

5 from 6 votes

Learn how to make French macarons with these step by step instructions. This recipe will teach you how to make strawberry macarons with just a few ingredients!

Prep Time1 25

Cook Time48

Inactive Time1

Total Time3 13

Servings: macarons

Calories: 93kcal

Author: Brooke & Emma

Ingredients

For the Macaron Shells

For the Strawberry Buttercream Filling

▢ ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ ¾ cup icing sugar sifted
▢ ¼ cup seedless strawberry jam

Instructions

Making the Batter (35 min)

Sift the icing sugar and almond flour together into a bowl, discarding any large pieces of almond flour left in the sieve. Repeat this process two more times until the mixture smooth and well combined.
Place the room-temperature egg whites in a large, grease-free steel mixing bowl. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until foamy, then add in the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time, beating between each addition.
Keep whisking until it forms stiff peaks. The meringue on the beaters should hold its shape in a stiff peak, with a slightly curled tip standing up tall and proud. You also should be able to turn the bowl upside down without the mixture falling out of it. Be careful not to under or overmix!
Add some gel food coloring. Use a little more than you would like, as the color will lighten.
Gently pour in the sifted almond flour and icing sugar mixture and carefully fold it in with the spatula. The mixture will deflate some, which is what we want, but be gentle. Keep folding until the mixture is smooth and perfectly well mixed. Most importantly, the mixture should fall in a smooth ribbon without breaking when the spatula is lifted from the mixture. You should also be able to make a complete figure 8 with the batter; if not, keep folding a little longer and test again. This process is called macaronage. Stop as soon as the batter is ready; under or over mixing here is potentially fatal! It's better to be a little undermixed than overmixed.
Gently spoon the mixture into a large piping bag fitted with a 1 centimeter round tip, twisting the top of the bag to seal.

Piping the Macarons (15 min + 20-40 min resting)

Line three large rimmed cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Pipe 1¾ inch circles of batter in rows, spacing them about 1½ inches apart. Hold the piping bag at a 90-degree angle to the tray and lift it straight up. If there are little tips on the top of the macarons from piping, just smooth them with a lightly damp finger.
Hold the cookie sheet about 10 inches above the countertop and drop the tray onto the counter. Repeat this 4-5 more times. This knocks out air bubbles, which is crucial to a good result.
Let the macarons rest uncovered at room temperature. They'll need to sit until you can gently touch the batter without it sticking to your finger. Depending upon the humidity in the room, the resting time could take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour. Don't skip this step, though, or the macarons won't have the delightful ruffled edge, called a "foot," when they are baked.
Before they are done resting, preheat the oven to 275°F.

Baking the Macarons (16 min baking per tray)

Bake the macarons at 275°F in the middle of the oven for about 16 minutes. Only put one tray in at a time.
Test them by lightly tapping on the ruffled edge, or "foot," of the macarons. It should be perfectly crisp and not even a little bit bendy or soft. The tops should also be crisp.
Let them cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then carefully peel them off the parchment and let them cool completely.

Making the Strawberry Buttercream (10 min)

Place the softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium-high speed until fluffy. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until well combined.
Beat in the vanilla and half of the strawberry jam, then taste. Adjust the amount of icing sugar and strawberry jam to suit your tastes, making sure that the icing is a light pink and has a good strawberry flavor.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and twist the top of the bag to seal.

Filling & Chilling the Macarons (20 min)

Pair similar-sized shells together.
Pipe a small blob of icing onto the center of a shell, then gently twist the top shell until the filling almost reaches the edges.
The macarons can be eaten immediately, but their flavor improves after 24 hours of refrigeration. Store them in an airtight plastic tub in the fridge for up to a few days.

Notes

Follow the recipe exactly. This is a very delicate recipe, and one wrong move can spoil the result.
Use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients. Do not use measuring cups here, because they are not as accurate as a scale.
Use the right egg whites. To get the maximum volume out of your egg whites, they should be a couple of days old, have a thick (not runny!) texture, and absolutely must be at room temperature.
In a hurry? Warm up your egg whites faster by putting them in a grease-free stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl inside of another shallow bowl filled with hot tap water. Let the whites sit in the bath for about 15 minutes, or until they've warmed up to room temperature.
Every oven behaves differently. I recommend using an oven thermometer to determine if your oven is actually baking at the correct temperature. You may need to adjust the temperature up or down a little to accommodate.

Nutrition