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Heart Shaker Macarons

Heart Shaker Macarons

These Heart Shaker Macarons are super fun! They are unlike any other macarons you’ve ever seen before! Baked with a layer of hard candy melted in the middle of the scalloped heart macaron, and then the macarons are filled with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword macarons, valentines day
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings 9 macarons
Calories 200 kcal
Author camila

Ingredients

Heart Macaron Shells

  • 4 grams egg white powder optional read notes
  • 100 grams egg whites
  • 100 grams granulated sugar
  • 105 grams almond flour
  • 105 grams powdered sugar
  • Pink food coloring

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar 191 grams
  • 4 tbsp cream cheese softened 56 grams
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter softened 28 grams
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 -1 tbsp milk if necessary
  • One drop of pink food coloring

For the shaker

  • 36 pieces of clear Jolly Rancher or any other clear candy
  • 1/2 cup sprinkles

Instructions

Heart Macaron Shells

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF (read notes).
  2. Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare one large piping bag, fitted with a round tip, I use a Wilton 10.
  3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat. Place the template underneath the baking mat.
  4. Measure out all of the ingredients. Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour. Set it aside.
  5. Whisk the sugar and the egg white powder (if using) in a bowl, and place it over a pan with barely simmering water. Add the egg whites to the sugar and whisk the mixture 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.
  6. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
  7. Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
  8. Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
  9. With the whisk attachment, start whisking the syrup on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium or to 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.
  10. Whip until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whisk 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.
  11. Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
  12. Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
  13. Add food coloring if using any.
  14. Fold the batter until the perfect consistency is achieved. The batter should be flowing slowly and effortlessly off the spatula, you should be able to pick up some batter with the spatula and draw several figure 8s with the batter that’s flowing, without having the batter break up. And even after the batter breaks up, it should still continue to flow off the spatula slowly.

There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
  15. 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.
  16. Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with the Wilton 10 piping tip.
  20. Place the bag at the top left side of the indentation of the heart.
  21. Begin applying gentle pressure as you drag the piping bag around the left side of the heart.
  22. At the very top where the template gets a bit larger, you can apply more pressure to release a bit more batter, and as the template gets thinner at the bottom, don’t apply as much pressure.
  23. Stop piping at the bottom. Then place the piping bag at the top right side of the indentation of the heart and do the same, pipe around the side of the heart, releasing more batter on the thicker parts of the template, and less on the thinner ones.
  24. Then use a toothpick to help smooth out the batter, drag it out to the outlines of the template.
  25. Make sure to form a pointy shape with the batter at the indentations, so you can get a nice heart shape, because the shapes always tend to round up as the macaron bakes.
  26. Tap the tray against the counter or against the palm of your hand to release any air bubbles and help the batter smooth out.
  27. A few tips: always pipe one heart at a time and use a toothpick immediately after piping. You don’t wanna give the batter a chance to dry, and then when you do try to use a toothpick to drag the batter to the edges, it will be too dry, and form streaks in your shell.
  28. And also frequently tap the trays against the counter to help release air bubbles and to help the batter smooth out.
  29. Let the macarons dry for 20 to 40 minutes, when they feel dry to the touch you can bake.
  30. I bake mine at 325 Fahrenheit, baking time and temperature vary depending on your own oven.
  31. After 6 minutes baking I rotate my tray to help the macarons bake evenly.
  32. Not everyone has to do that, again it depends on your own oven.
  33. Bake for another 3 minutes, then you wanna have your hard candy prepared at this point.
  34. I used some transparent Jolly Ranchers, they were pineapple flavored, you could use any candy you’d like, I wanted a clear candy so we could see the inside of the hearts.
  35. Place two jolly ranchers inside the hearts, depending on the size of your candy you may need 3 or 4.
  36. Try to do this quickly so you don’t lose a lot of heat in the oven. I’ve made this experiment several times, it’s my third time testing for this recipe, and it was not an issue to leave the door open while doing this.
  37. You could also use isomalt for the window. And you’d pour it in after the macarons are baked.
  38. Let the macarons bake for another 4 or 5 minutes, until the candy has melted entirely.
  39. If the candy hasn’t spread out totally to the outlines, you can use a spoon to gently spread the melted candy around.
  40. Remove the tray from the heat and let it cool down.
  41. Just 10 minutes later you will be able to handle the macarons, how cool are these!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Sift the powdered sugar. Set aside.
  2. Add the cream cheese and butter to an electric mixer bowl. Cream on medium high speed for 2 minutes.
  3. Turn the mixer off and add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract to the bowl.
  4. Mix on low until the powdered sugar is incorporated.
  5. Raise the speed to medium high and cream for another minute until the mixture is creamy and fluffy. If the mixture is dry or stiff, add the milk to make the frosting come together. Start by adding the smaller amount of 1/2 tablespoon, and increase it and add a bit more as necessary. If the frosting is too runny, add more sifted powdered sugar.

To assemble

  1. Place the frosting in a piping bag and pipe it around the edges of the shells.

  2. Then fill the middle with the sprinkles of your choice.
  3. Place another shell on top.
  4. And that’s it!
  5. These are so fun! And they are also great to eat, the candy layer melts in your mouth with the macaron and the frosting!

Storage

  1. Store these macarons in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Recipe Notes

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. AmeriColor is my favorite gel food coloring currently.

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.

Egg white powder: Egg White Powder is not the same as meringue powder. Egg White Powder is made of only egg whites. They help with getting fuller shells, and specially when adding a lot of food coloring to the batter, because they make the shells dry faster. I recommend experimenting with it if you can find it. I use 4 grams for each 100 grams of egg whites.

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 Facts
Heart Shaker Macarons
Amount Per Serving (1 macaron)
Calories 200
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.