Strawberry Macaron Shells

Today we’re making Strawberry Macaron Shells made with real freeze-dried strawberry powder and filled with silky strawberry buttercream. Using freeze-dried strawberries gives these shells an intense strawberry aroma and a natural fruity flavor without adding moisture to the batter.

If you’ve ever wondered “Can I add freeze-dried strawberry powder to macaron shells?” — yes. And these shells are proof that it works beautifully when done correctly.

How to flavor macaron shells

The short answer: yes, but only with the right ingredients.

Macarons are extremely sensitive. Even tiny amounts of fat or moisture can cause:

• hollows
• spreading
• cracked shells
• lopsided feet

This is why most macaron bakers keep shells plain and flavor only the filling. The only shell-safe flavorings are powders (such as cocoa, matcha, freeze-dried fruit), or other ingredients such as vanilla bean seeds, which aren’t moist.

Avoid adding liquids, extracts, oils, or anything with fat.

With freeze-dried strawberries, you can get great flavor — but only in small amounts.

And my last recommendation is: experiment to see if it’s even worth it adding the flavoring to the shells. Depending on the ingredient you are trying to add, you will have to add so little of it to make the shells turn out fine, that you won’t even be able to taste the flavor in the shells. And that just means that it’s not worth it adding it to your macarons.

In that case, focus on the filling instead. Make delicious and scrumptious fillings with outstanding flavor and quality ingredients, because that will make a whole world of difference.

My Experiment With Strawberry Shells

My first attempt used freeze-dried strawberries without food coloring. The shells tasted great but turned orange.

For the version you see here:

• The shells baked beautifully with a clear strawberry flavor and smooth tops.
• I used 5 g freeze-dried strawberry powder (weighed after sifting).
• Added fuchsia gel food coloring to enhance the pink tone.

How to Prepare Freeze-Dried Strawberry Powder

If you can’t find pre-ground powder:

1. Buy freeze-dried strawberry slices.
2. Grind them in a small processor or spice grinder.
3. Sift and weigh only the fine powder.
4. Discard large pieces — they cause bumps in shells.

You may need to process more than 5 g to yield 5 g of sifted powder.

Tips for Perfect Strawberry Macaron Shells

• Weigh after sifting — this is crucial.
• Mix the strawberry powder into the almond flour + powdered sugar to prevent clumping.
• Use gel food coloring, not liquid.
• Stick to 5 g powder — more will destabilize the batter.
• Keep the batter slightly pink before folding; the color fades while baking.
• A reminder: even if your shell flavoring is subtle, the filling is where the real strawberry punch happens. A bright, rich strawberry buttercream or ganache will give you far more flavor impact than adding more powder to the shells.

About Egg White Powder

If you’ve followed my macaron journey, you know I often add egg white powder.
But this winter, my house was extremely dry, and adding egg white powder made the shells dry too fast, causing:

• lopsided feet
• hollows
• uneven tops

Drying too fast can cause the tops harden before the bottoms spread, which leads to the classic lopsided shell.

Troubleshooting Strawberry Macarons

Shells turned orange
That’s natural — freeze-dried strawberries alone don’t make a pink shell. To obtain pink shells, add gel food coloring.

Shells cracked
The meringue wasn’t whipped to a stiff consistency, or the shells didn’t rest enough before baking.

Shells spread
The batter was over mixed during the macaronage.

Shells were dull / blotchy
Humidity or under-sifted strawberry powder.

If you are looking for more ways to improve your macaron skills, check out my Macaron School page, where I keep all of my best resources, knowledge and all the information that will help you tremendously in your macaron journey.

Click here to visit Macaron School.

If you enjoy strawberry macarons, you might want to try these Strawberry Lemonade Macarons, or these Strawberry Mint, my personal favorite Strawberry Rhubarb Macarons, or these Strawberry Chocolate ones.

Thank you so much for reading! Have a beautiful day!

Strawberry Macaron Shells

Camila Hurst

Strawberry Macaron Shells, the shells are made with freeze dried strawberries, and the macarons are filled with a Strawberry Buttercream for a burst of strawberry flavor!

5 from 12 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

Servings 20 shells

Calories 120 kcal

Ingredients

 

Strawberry Macaron Shells

• 100 grams egg whites
• 100 grams white granulated sugar
• 105 grams almond flour
• 100 grams powdered sugar
• 5 grams freeze dried strawberry powder
• One drop of fuchsia food coloring

Strawberry Buttercream

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter softened 56 grams
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar sifted 187.5 grams
• 1/3 cup freeze dried strawberry powder about 30 grams
• 2 to 4 tbsp milk or water as needed

To decorate

• 56 grams white chocolate
• 5 gram powdered freeze dried strawberries

Instructions

 

Strawberry 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 1/4” diameter tip. Set aside.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
• Measure out all of the ingredients.
• If you can’t find powdered freeze dried strawberries, simply process about 8 grams of freeze dried strawberries in a small blender or grinder. Then sift the freeze dried strawberries to eliminate any large chunks. You may need to process a bit more than 5 grams in order to obtain 5 grams of powder for the recipe, since the large chunks should be discarded.
• Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and freeze dried strawberries together. Set it aside.
• Place a bowl over a pan with barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water. Add the sugar and egg whites to the bowl.
• Whisk the sugar and the egg whites until frothy and the sugar is 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 the mixture over the water bath.
• Don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
• Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
• With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high, or medium-high and whisk 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 down to the side.
• Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and freeze dried strawberry powder into the stiff meringue.
• Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I added a drop of fuschia gel food coloring.
• Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
• 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, fold 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 or silicone mat, it’s ready.
• 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 gentle 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.
• Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
• 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 310ºF.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
• 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.

Strawberry Buttercream

• Cream the butter at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 1 minute. With the mixer off, add all of the powdered sugar, the strawberry powder.
• On low speed, beat the ingredients together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy.
• Add 2 tbsp of liquid (water or milk) only if necessary, if the buttercream seems dry or stiff.
• Sometimes you may find that the consistency of the buttercream is already perfect and doesn’t need any more liquid. If the buttercream seems too runny, add more sifted powdered sugar until you obtain a firm, but smooth and creamy consistency.
• Place the buttercream in a piping bag.

To decorate

• Melt white chocolate in a microwave bowl. Place it in a piping bag and snip the end with scissors.
• Drizzle the white chocolate over half of the macaron shells. Top with freeze dried strawberry powder to decorate.
• Pipe a small amount of filling on each bottom shell, then top with a decorated shell.

Storage

• Let the macarons mature in the fridge for 1 to 2 days before serving. Best way to store them is in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 to 2 months.

Video

Notes

Egg White Powder: Notice that I am not using any egg white powder in today’s recipe, and if you watch my videos you will see that recently I have been using it every time I make macarons. However, the weather has been quite dry where I am, and since I am also adding strawberry powder to the shells I decided to skip the egg white powder in today’s recipe.

Freeze dried strawberry powder: Weigh the powder after sifting it, not before. Any large chunks should be discarded, so you might have to process more than just 5 grams of freeze dried strawberries to obtain 5 grams of powder.

Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring, not liquid, as it will affect the batter, and it will destroy the protein bonds in the meringue that form the structure of the macarons.

Vinegar: Before starting make sure to wipe down the bowls, whisks, silicone mats and everything you are going to use with vinegar, to avoid any grease particles of coming into contact with the meringue and batter.

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. Read more about how to figure out your oven here.

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.

Troubleshooting: Please visit this article for troubleshooting tips.

Nutrition

Serving: 1macaronCalories: 120kcal

Keyword macarons, strawberry

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