Strawberry Macaron Shells
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
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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.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
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Measure out all of the ingredients.
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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.
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Sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and freeze dried strawberries together. Set it aside.
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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.
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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.
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Don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
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Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
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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.
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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.
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Pour the sifted powdered sugar, almond flour, and freeze dried strawberry powder into the stiff meringue.
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Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I added a drop of fuschia gel food coloring.
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Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
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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.
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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.
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There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
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Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
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If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds. Test again.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
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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.
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Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
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Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
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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.
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Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
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Bake one tray at a time.
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Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
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I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
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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.
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Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
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Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Strawberry Buttercream
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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.
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On low speed, beat the ingredients together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy.
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Add 2 tbsp of liquid (water or milk) only if necessary, if the buttercream seems dry or stiff.
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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.
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Place the buttercream in a piping bag.
To decorate
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Melt white chocolate in a microwave bowl. Place it in a piping bag and snip the end with scissors.
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Drizzle the white chocolate over half of the macaron shells. Top with freeze dried strawberry powder to decorate.
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Pipe a small amount of filling on each bottom shell, then top with a decorated shell.
Storage
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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.
Recipe 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.