Hello friends! Today I am bringing these Cherry Macarons to the blog! Check them out!
To make these Cherry Macarons, I decided to go with a chocolate shell. I didn’t add too much cocoa powder to it, because I didn’t want it to be too dark.
The filling of these Cherry Macarons is a Cherry buttercream, so delicious you’ll want to eat it with a spoon!
To make these Cherry Macarons, I piped my macaron shells a bit larger than usual. Because I wanted a lot of room on the macaron shell so I could pipe some Cherry buttercream and place a cherry on top. Because everything is just better with a cherry on top.
While my macarons cooled down after baking, I made my cherry buttercream. So easy to make, specially if you use store-bought jam.
I used homemade and included a recipe below. But feel free to use whatever kind you would like. Don’t go overboard with the amount of jam you are adding to the buttercream, or it might make it way too runny, which almost happened to mine.
These cherry macarons made me feel super fancy! And I am loving the pink filling.
If you want more macaron ideas and flavors, please check out my macaron recipes!
Here are some of my favorites:
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons
- Blueberry Macarons
- Cookie Dough Macarons
- Dulce de Leche Pecan Macarons
- Toffee Macarons
- Blackberry Macarons
- Strawberry Macarons
- Pomegranate Macarons
- Raspberry Macarons
If you are new to making macarons and want to learn more, you can check out my youtube channel, with some macaron tutorial videos I started to post. And also there are tones of resources on my blog, tips, explanations, frequently asked questions throughout my posts!
Make sure to read the recipe carefully, and understand that mastering macarons is a journey, and you will end up finding what works best for you, as you dive deeper into this adventure.
Sometimes, the same things that work for me might not work for you and vice-versa, but in any case, each time you attempt something, if you take both victory and failure as a learning lesson, you will advance much faster.
Please read these Macaron Tips and also a lot of information on how to make perfect macarons.
Have a great day! Thanks for reading my blog!
Cherry Macarons
Ingredients
Chocolate Macaron Shells
- 100 grams egg whites
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 105 grams almond flour
- 75 grams powdered sugar
- 14 grams cocoa powder
Cherry Buttercream
- 1/4 cup cream cheese softened (2 oz, 56 grams)
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp cherry jam store-bought, or homemade- check below
Cherry Jam
- 1/2 cup pitted cherries
- 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp cold water
Instructions
Chocolate Macaron Shells
Before the start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
Measure out all of the ingredients.
Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
Place the egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
With the whisk attachment, whisk the mixture on low, and gradually increase the speed over the next 2 minutes, until you achieve high speed. Then continue to whip for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peaks should be shooting straight up. The peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top, but not bending down to the side.
Pour the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to form a figure 8 a few times. If you can draw a figure 8 with the batter falling off the spatula a few times, without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
Then, you can perform what I call the Teaspoon Test. Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat, then tap the tray gently against the counter and wait one minute.
If the batter stays stiff and doesn’t spread out a bit, fold the batter a bit more, then test again.
Once the teaspoonful of batter smooths out on top and starts to look glossy on the parchment paper/silicone, without forming a peak at the top it means it's ready.
You don’t want the batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to over mix. It’s always best to under mix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
Once you’ve piped as many 1 1/2” circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking. Use a toothpick to poke any air bubbles on the surface of the macarons.
Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
- Pre-heat the oven to 325F.
- Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
Bake for 5 more minutes, check if it needs to be rotated again. You will know if it needs to be rotated again depending on how the macarons are baking. Take a look at them, if one side seems taller than the other, maybe you have to rotate the tray again.
Bake for around 4 more minutes or so. I would say I bake for a total of 15 to 20 minutes. Until you try to move a macaron and it doesn't feel jiggly.
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will peel off the tray easily.
- Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
- Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Cherry Buttercream
Place the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream at medium high speed for 1 minute. With the mixer off, add powdered sugar. Mix on low until combined. Raise speed. Cream on medium for 1 minute. Add vanilla and cherry jam. Stir to combine.
- If buttercream is too liquid and runny, you might want to add some more sifted powdered sugar in.
- If the buttercream seems too stiff, add just a tad of milk or more jam (about 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve desired consistency)
Cherry Jam
- Place cherries in a small food processor, puree until liquid. Pour in a small saucepan with sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir and let mixture simmer at medium heat for 10 minutes, or until thickened, and with a very deep color.
Mix the cornstarch with the water until dissolved. Then add it to the pan.
Let the mixture cook for a few minutes, while stirring non-stop in order to make it thicker.
Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and let it cool down completely.
To assemble
Pipe a small amount of buttercream on a bottom shell. Top with another shell. I also sprinkled some chocolate sprinkles over the filling.
Storage
Keep these macarons in the fridge for up to 7 days, and in the freezer for up to 1-2 months, very well packaged.
Recipe Notes
Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy.
Macaron amount: it will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.
Baking time/temperature: Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray.
Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.
Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.
Macaron é tudo de bom e esses ficaram fantásticos!!!!!!!
I love fresh cherries, and cherry and chocolate go so well together! These are beautiful Camila! The cherry on top is perfection!