Honey Macarons (plus video)

Hello friends! Today we are making Honey Macarons! They are simply sublime! Make sure to watch the video in this page, or on my Youtube Channel, showing you exactly how to make these macarons.

These Honey Macarons are filled with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting! They are absolutely delicious!

If you notice on the video, I am adding some bee pollen to the tops of the shells before baking them, which gives the macarons a very delicious fragrancy and taste!

I also added bee pollen to the shells after baking them, after drizzling the macarons with melted white chocolate.

One big advice: if you are going to add sprinkles, crystal sugar, or even bee pollen to your shells, make sure to do it after piping the macarons, banging the trays against the counter, and before they get a chance to dry.

If the dry, whatever you sprinkled on top won’t stick to the shells.

Lately, I have been working on a series of posts containing the best tips, knowledge, and material to help you on your macaron journey!

The first post of the series went out yesterday! And you can find it by visiting this page.

And if you are interested in mastering macarons, make sure to read my tips on my blog posts as well. I have over 70 macaron posts here on the blog (I believe this Honey Macarons recipe right here is post number 76), you can find them by clicking here.

I also recommend watching my Youtube videos on my Youtube channel. It’s so helpful to get a visual of what each stage of the macaron making is supposed to look like: the meringue, the macaronage, etc.

And you can find these Honey Macarons on my Youtube channel as well. Visit this link to watch the video on Youtube.

Making macarons is all about practice and I hope I can help you achieve your macaron goals and dreams! It’s possible! You just have to empower yourself with all the knowledge, and get practicing!

And you will make mistakes, but the beauty of the mistakes is that they teach us so much about what NOT to do, and about how to do better. Mistakes are a blessing in disguise!

I always get asked about the equipment I use to make my macarons. So here are some links. Click on the pictures below to be directed to the products on Amazon.

This is the food coloring I use. Always make sure to use gel food coloring.

I store my macarons in this air-tight container. Ps. these Honey Macarons freeze beautifully in these containers, for up to 2 months!

These are my favorite piping bags.

And finally, these are the mats I am currently using. You will notice that on most of my videos I am using white mats, and they were fabulous, however, I can’t find them anymore and needed new mats, so I am using Silpat now.

If you like these Honey Macarons, here are some more macaron suggestions for you. Click on the links below to be directed to the recipes:

• Banana Macarons
• Nutella Macarons
• Passionfruit Macarons
• Chai Macarons
• Pear Macarons
• Vanilla Bean Macarons
• Oreo Macarons

Click here to see over 70 macaron flavors and ideas!

I hope you liked today’s recipe. Please make sure to watch the video, and read the detailed instructions and notes below. Tag me on instagram if you make any of my recipes! Thank you for reading!

Honey Macarons

Camila Hurst

These Honey Macarons are filled with a delicious Honey Cream Cheese Frosting. If you have access to bee pollen, make sure to use it on the recipe, since it will provide a delicious fragrance and enhance the taste of the filling in these macarons.

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Servings 22 macarons

Calories 140 kcal

Equipment

• Bowl
• Whisk
• Small pan (or double boiler)
• Electric mixer
• Spatulas
• Sifter
• Baking sheets
• Silicon mats (or parchment paper)
• Piping bags
• Piping tips

Ingredients

  

Macaron Shells

• 100 grams egg whites (3.5 oz)
• 100 grams granulated sugar (3.5 oz)
• 105 grams almond flour (3.7 oz)
• 105 grams powdered sugar (3.7 oz)
• Food coloring if using I used yellow with a tiny smidge of black

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter softened (28 grams, 1 oz)
• 1/4 cup cream cheese softened (56 grams, 2 oz)
• 2 tbsp honey 30 ml
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 187 grams, 6.5 oz

To assemble

• 2 oz white chocolate 56 grams
• 3 tbsp bee pollen

Instructions

 

Macaron Shells

• Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip, I use a 1/2” diameter tip. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• I use a baking mat with the macaron template already in it. You can make your own or print it from the internet, and just place it under silicon mat, or parchment paper. I recommend using a silicon mat.
• Measure out all of your ingredients.
• Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together.
• Set it 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 of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking mixture over the water bath.
• Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
• Also, don’t over heat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
• Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
• With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing the speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high 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 peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending to the side.
• Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
• Add the food coloring at this point, if using.
• How to know when to stop folding the batter: 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 draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
• There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
• Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
• If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
• Test again.
• Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, transfer it to the piping bag.
• You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
• When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
• Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
• Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply equal pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
• Once you’ve piped as many 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 pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
• Before the macarons dried, I sprinkled some bee pollen on top of the shells. This will give the macarons a delicious honey fragrance and taste. And it has to be done before the shells have a chance to dry, or the pollen won’t stick.
• 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 300ºF.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
• Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.
• I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.
• Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
• Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

• Add the butter and cream cheese to a bowl, and cream with a mixer for about 2 minutes, until fluffy.
• Add the honey, and mix to combine.
• Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until incorporated, then raise the speed to medium-high until creamy.
• If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar to thicken it. And if the buttercream is too stiff, add a teaspoon or so of water or milk to thin it out.

To assemble

• Place the Honey Cream Cheese Frosting in a piping bag. Pipe the filling on half of the shells. Top with another shell.
• I also decorated the top shells with melted white chocolate (about 2 oz), and sprinkled bee pollen on top.

Storage

• Store these Honey Macarons in the fridge for 5 to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months, in an air tight container.

Notes

Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring. I use Wilton Color Right Performance Food Coloring Set.

Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy.

Cornstarch: sometimes I add about 5 grams of cornstarch along with the dry ingredients (powdered sugar and almond flour). I didn’t this time, but you might read this ingredient in some of my other recipes. That being said, the cornstarch is optional. You don’t have to use it. I like to add it often times because it does help with obtaining fuller shells. Make sure not to add too much, or might make the shells too soft, and fragile. If your shells are becoming too soft, consider not using cornstarch anymore.

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.

Storage: This is the Storage Container I use to store my macarons.

Keyword honey, macarons