Vegan Vanilla Macarons with Sprinkles (plus video)

Hello my baker friends! Let’s bake some more vegan macarons today! Today’s flavor is Vegan Vanilla Macarons with sprinkles, and multi-color buttercream filling. This post also includes a video on how to make the macarons!

Let’s start out by saying how much in love I am with these beautiful Vegan Vanilla Macarons! Cause I am deeply in love with them. With their color, with the sprinkles on top, with everything!

If you have been following the blog, you know how much I love baking Vegan Desserts. And also, how lately I have been getting into Vegan Macarons.

My vegan macaron baking journey has been evolving, and I feel the progress with each batch.

I’ve had my rough patch with the vegan macarons, as well as with the regular ones. And any macaron baker will tell you they had their own share of failures when it comes to mastering these cookies.

I hope my videos on Youtube and on my other blog posts, as well as my tips, can help you on your own macaron baking journey.

Tips on how to make Vegan Macarons

So, on this Vegan Vanilla Macarons post, I want to share with you some tips on how to make Vegan Macarons that I have learned so far.

Meringue

Make sure to whip the aquafaba to stiff peaks. It’s very important that the peaks are shooting straight up, not soft or bending down.

Please read this Vegan Macaron Basics Guide and also this Vegan Macaron Troubleshooting Guide for more information that will be very helpful to you when making vegan macarons.

If you don’t know what to do with so many chickpeas leftover from using all the brine, check out my Chickpea Tacos, or this Chickpea Salad.

What temperature to bake Vegan Macarons

So this is a huge one guys! When I started making vegan macarons, I was using the Italian method. And that required a very low oven temperature. My macarons had very tiny feet and were often lopsided. My results were not consistent, it was a hit or miss. Now, looking back, I believe the low temperature might have been a big culprit.

Even when I started using the French Method, with my Biscoff Macarons, I was still using a low temperature (215 F). And it worked fine for a couple of batches. But then, every batch after had: lopsided shells all over the place!

The trick to fixing that problem is to use a higher temperature. I’ve used 310 Fahrenheit for a while, but that was causing the feet of my macaron to explode. So now I am using 285ºF.

Please read this Vegan Matcha Macaron post to understand your oven better, with tips on how to figure out the best temperature for your oven, and why it’s so important to have an oven thermometer.

So, if you are asking yourself: why are my macarons coming out lopsided? The answer might lie in your oven temperature. Your temperature might be too low. If your macarons have tiny feet, and they are also lopsided, it’s most likely a low temperature issue.

If your macarons have huge feet, exploding to the side, and they are lopsided, the temperature might be too high, which is why so important to have an oven thermometer.

Huge exploding feet may also be due to over mixing the batter, as you can see on the Vegan Macaron Troubleshooting Guide.

Whip that aquafaba!

When should I stop whipping the aquafaba? Guys, it’s *almost* impossible to overwhip the aquafaba. So I say, keep whipping it until the peaks are really stiff! Underwhipping the aquafaba will cause for macarons that will not hold their shape at all.

I start whipping the aquafaba on low for about 1 minute with the cream of tartar (you can use vinegar if you can’t find cream of tartar).

After about 1 minute, once the aquafaba is starting to get white and foamy, raise the speed to medium. Whip on medium for another 2 minutes.

Once the aquafaba is white, and the whisk is leaving streak marks in the meringue, start adding the granulated sugar gradually, a little bit at a time, as you raise the speed to high.

Keep whipping on high for another 5-8 minutes. I usually whip for a total of 10 minutes from beginning to end. The peaks should be straight up, the meringue should be glossy.

So these are my tips for baking Vegan Macarons for today!

If you would like to know where to buy Vegan Sprinkles, this is a pretty cool guide with lots of information on brands and where to find vegan sprinkles.

Here are some suggestions of vegan sprinkles for you:

Here are some more Vegan Macarons ideas for you:

(If you want to keep using the French method I cover in this recipe -which I highly recommend- you can get the ideas for the fillings from these other posts too)

• Vegan Coffee Macarons
• Vegan Blueberry Lemon Macarons
• Vegan Chocolate Macarons
• Vegan Strawberry Macarons
• Vegan Matcha Macarons
• Vegan Biscoff Macarons
• Vegan Pistachio Macarons

I hope you enjoyed these Vegan Vanilla Macarons and my tips on how to make vegan macarons. If you give them a try tag me on instagram, and leave a review below!

These are some of the products I use to make macarons:

This is the container I use to store the macarons.

These are the piping bags I use.

This is the baking mat I use.

Vegan Vanilla Macarons with Sprinkles

Camila Hurst

These Vegan Macarons are filled with a Vegan Vanilla Buttercream, topped with sprinkles. I made the filling multicolor to make these festive!

4.18 from 23 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Servings 20 macarons

Calories 100 kcal

Ingredients

 

Vegan Macaron Shells

• 75 grams aquafaba (water from a chickpea can)
• 110  grams  almond flour
• 110  grams  powdered sugar
• 1/4  teaspoon  cream of tartar
• 66  grams  granulated sugar

Vegan Vanilla Buttercream

• 2 tablespoons vegan butter 1 oz, 28 grams
• 2 tablespoons shortening 1 oz, 28 grams**
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted (6.61 oz, 187.5 grams)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

 

Vegan Macaron Shells

• Gather all of the ingredients before starting to make macarons. Measure out all ingredients. Line two baking sheets with silicon mats. And fit a large piping bag with a large round tip, I use a 0.5" diameter. You want everything ready to go when you need it.
• Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together. Set aside.
• Place the aquafaba and cream of tartar in the bowl of a mixer.
• Start whipping on low speed for about 2 minutes, until it starts to get white and thick.
• At this point, raise speed to high, start to add granulated sugar, slowly, a bit at a time.
• Continue to whip until the aquafaba achieves stiff peaks.
• The whole whipping, from beginning to end, should last about 10 minutes. It can last more or less time depending on what mixer you are using, and what speed.
• Add the sifted dry ingredients to whipped aquafaba. Start folding with a spatula slowly.
• Add food coloring at this point, if using any.
• Fold forming a letter J with the spatula.
• Fold until the batter is flowing slightly. You don’t want the batter to be flowing continuously off the spatula. When it comes to vegan macarons, the folding time is very very brief. You are basically just looking to incorporate the dry ingredients with the meringue. Please watch the video to see what the consistency should look like. If you grab a spatula full of batter and hold it over the bowl, it should still be separating in chunks, and not flowing continuously on a ribbon. Do not get to the ribbons stage! If you get to the ribbon stage, the macaron feet will spread out in the oven.
• Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
• Pipe 1 1/2” circles on a baking sheet lined with silicon mat. I usually use 2 sheets. This will depend on how big you pipe your macarons.
• Bang the trays against the counter to release air bubbles.
• Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
• If using sprinkles, make sure to sprinkle them before the macaron shells dry. Sprinkle them on half of the sprinkles, as you will want the other half to be used as the bottom of the macaron sandwich.
• Let the trays rest for 30-45 minutes until the shells are dry. Test this by touching a macaron gently with your finger. Depending on humidity levels and weather, it might take longer or less time for your macarons to dry.
• Pre-heat oven to 285ºF.
• Bake one tray at a time.
• Bake for a total of 20 minutes, or until the macarons are easily coming off the silicon mat.
• Remember to rotate the tray every 5 minutes, to ensure even baking.
• Baking time might vary depending on your oven.
• Let macarons cool down before filling.

Vegan Vanilla Buttercream

• Place the butter and shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer.
• Whip on medium for about 1 minute, until fluffy and combined.
• Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined. Raise speed and cream for another minute.
• Add vanilla.
• If you notice the buttercream is too stiff or dry, add a bit of non-dairy milk, or water, 1 teaspoon at a time.
• If the buttercream is too runny, maybe the butter is too hot. If the butter is room temperature, then maybe you need to add more powdered sugar to the buttercream.
• I divided my buttercream into 4 bowls and colored 3 of the bowls with blue, purple, and pink food coloring.
• Then, I laid a piece of plastic on the counter, and made one strip of each different color buttercream lengthwise on the plastic. Rolled the plastic onto a log, and inserted it in a piping bag fitted with my tip of choice.

To assemble

• Pipe a dollop of buttercream on each bottom shell. Top with a shell with sprinkles.
• Make sure to let macarons mature in the fridge for 24-48 hours before serving. They will have a much better consistency and flavor.
• Let macarons sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before enjoying.

To store

• Keep the macarons in the fridge for up to 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Notes

Aquafaba is the water you obtain from cooking chickpeas (or other legumes). The aquafaba I use is water drained from a chickpea can. Some people use the juice from other beans also, and some people like to boil their own dry chickpeas to obtain the aquafaba, and you can do that, but make sure to study what are the best ratios water:chickpeas so your aquafaba is concentrated enough

Aquafaba: I used to reduce the aquafaba before. But I don’t reduce it anymore, and not only it works perfectly, but also it’s way less work.

Macaronage: If you are acquainted with making regular (egg white) macarons, one of the clues about knowing when the batter is ready to be piped, is when you can grab some batter with the spatula and start drawing a figure 8, if the batter doesn’t break up as you draw a few figure 8 shapes, that means the batter should be ready. However, I am learning with vegan macarons that it’s optimal to stop folding the batter right before it reaches this stage. Please watch my videos on youtube, as you can see in the videos what the batter should look like.

If the batter reaches the ribbon stage it’s over folded and the macaron feet will spread out in the oven. Don’t let the batter reach the ribbon stage.

Thick batter: If the batter is too thick while mixing, add a teaspoon of aquafaba as you mix, until you obtain the perfect consistency.

Oven thermometer: Please make sure to have an oven thermometer! I receive a lot of troubleshooting questions and the great majority are issues caused due to not having an oven thermometer. Read this post for more detailed information about how important this is.

Oven temperature: Please experiment with your own oven temperature. Temperatures will vary depending on your oven and technique. It’s important to experiment and see what works best for your own oven. In my old oven I used to bake this same recipe at 310ºF. However, with my new oven, I bake it at 285ºF. This comes to show that the temperature will vary greatly depending on your own oven. Please experiment and find out what works best for you.

Tray rotation: some bakers don’t need to rotate their trays when baking macarons. If your oven bakes evenly and doesn’t have any hot spots, you might be able to skip the tray rotation.

Troubleshooting: if your macarons are exploding, flattening out, with the feet spreading to the sides, that can mean a few things:

1- hot oven (make sure to have oven thermometer and experiment with the optimal oven temperature for your oven).

2- over mixed batter. It’s really easy to over mix vegan macaron batter. Mix it just until it starts to flow. Watch the videos on my youtube channel for reference.

3- under whipped meringue: make sure the meringue has really stiff peaks. It can take some time. Just be patient.

Buttercream: You can use a combo of butter and shortening, like I am doing here, or use all butter, or all shortening, replacing the amount of one with the other.

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1macaronCalories: 100kcal

Keyword macarons, vegan

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