1 cup strawberries fresh or frozen 283 grams, 10 oz
3 tablespoons maple syrup you can use granulated sugar or other sweetener instead
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
Chocolate Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of your ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon 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 powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
Place 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. 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.
Transfer 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 speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise 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 form a bird’s beak shape, but shouldn’t be falling to the side, the peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top.
Pour 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. You can add a bit of brown food coloring to enhance the color of the shells if you want to.
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, I pick up some batter with my 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 a bit, I 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, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
You don’t want your 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.
The best way I can describe this stage being perfect is when you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
Place 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.
Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles of air that may have formed on the surface of the macaron shells.
Let your 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 300°F.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
I bake each tray for a total of 18-20 minutes.
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will be coming off the mat easily, and with a completely formed bottom.
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Start by melting the chopped chocolate in the microwave, or over a double boiler. I usually just microwave the chocolate for 15-30 seconds at a time, always stirring in between to help the chocolate melt evenly and faster, without having to overheat it. You never want to overheat chocolate. Set the melted chocolate aside to cool down.
Now, sift the cocoa powder and powdered sugar together. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer, combine cream cheese and butter. Cream for 2 minutes, until creamy and fluffy.
Pour melted and cooled chocolate in the bowl of the mixer. Mix on slow until combined. Scrape the bowl to ensure everything is getting incorporated.
With the mixer off, add sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
Mix on low until combined. Raise speed to high and cream for one minute.
Add vanilla.
If frosting is too thick and dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of milk, or as necessary. If frosting is too runny, it might need some more powdered sugar. Adjust to find the perfect creamy consistency.
Strawberry Jam
Mix strawberries, maple syrup (or sweetener) and lemon juice in a small pot. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Use a spoon or spatula to break up the strawberries as you stir.
Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl.
Once strawberries have boiled and reduced a bit, add cornstarch and water to the pan.
Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened.
Let the jam cool. Cover it and place it in the fridge.
You may process the jam in a small food processor to make it smooth if you want to, which will help when filling the macarons, since you will only need a tiny bit for each macaron, and you don’t want to have huge chunks of strawberries in there.
How to assemble
Pipe a circle of buttercream around the edges of the macaron. Fill the middle with a bit of strawberry jam. Don’t overfill it. Place another shell on top.
Storage
These Chocolate Strawberry Macarons will be at their best for up to 4-7 days in the fridge.
I don’t recommend freezing macarons with jam fillings, since they will often turn soggy because of the jam.
Notes
*You can use store-bought jam or preserves to fill the macarons, you will need about 1/3 cup. You will also have leftover jam from the recipe, store it in the fridge for up to 1 week.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.