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Giraffe Macarons with heart sprinkles around, and a mama and a baby giraffe.

Giraffe Macarons

These are macarons shaped like giraffes! I made a mama giraffe macaron, and a baby giraffe macaron! Templates for both sizes are available for download!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword giraffe, macarons
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 40 minutes
Servings 20 giraffes
Author camila

Ingredients

  • 100 grams egg whites
  • 100 grams granulated sugar
  • 4 grams egg white powder optional read notes
  • 105 grams almond flour
  • 105 grams powdered sugar
  • 2 grams cocoa powder
  • Yellow and brown food coloring

To decorate

  • Edible Marker
  • Brown food coloring plus water
  • Pink Luster Dust

Instructions

Macaron Shells

  1. Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare 2 piping bags fitted with piping tips. To pipe the large giraffes, I used a Wilton #8 for the body, and Wilton #4 for the spots, the tail and the ossicones, which are the little horns the giraffe has. And to pipe the small giraffes, I used Wilton #6 for the body and #3 for the brown areas. You can use the same piping bag, and switch the tips when you go to pipe the other size giraffes.
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
  3. Have the printed out templates ready to go. You will need two templates for each size. Don’t forget to print the reverse of the template, so you have two cookies that will be able to match and be sandwiched together.
  4. Measure out all of the ingredients.
  5. Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together.
  6. 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.
  7. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water.
  8. Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
  9. Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
  10. With the whisk attachment, start whisking the mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually increase the speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the meringue is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to medium-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.
  11. Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. The peaks should be shooting straight up, not bent down to the side.
  12. Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
  13. Fold the dry ingredients with the meringue until just incorporated. When you can’t see any more streaks of dry ingredients in the batter, separate the batter into two different bowls.
  14. I scooped about 1/4 of the batter into one bowl to dye it brown and make the giraffes spots, ossicones, and tail.
  15. The remaining batter will be used for the body, so we will dye it yellow.
  16. Work with one bowl at a time, and keep the remaining one covered so the batter doesn’t dry out.
  17. Let’s begin by coloring the batter yellow. I used egg yellow gel food coloring by americolor. After adding the food coloring, start the macaronage, folding until the proper consistency.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
  21. Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
  22. If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out a bit, start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
  23. Test again.
  24. Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, it’s ready to go.
  25. You don’t want the 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.
  26. Pick up some batter with the spatula and hold it on top of the bowl, the batter should fall off the spatula slowly but effortlessly. The batter will continue to flow off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
  27. Once you achieve the perfect consistency, transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a wilton number 8 if piping the large giraffes, or wilton number 6 if piping the small giraffes.
  28. Use a bag tie to secure the top of the bag closed, to ensure the batter won’t dry out. Set that bag aside.
  29. Move on to the brown color batter. I added a bit of cocoa powder for color, and brown food coloring. Fold until the perfect consistency is achieved, and the batter is falling off the spatula slowly and effortlessly.
  30. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a #4 piping tip if making the large giraffes, or a piping tip number 3 if making the small giraffes.
  31. Once both batters are ready, begin piping.
  32. Pipe the yellow part of the body first by carefully following the template. I like to pipe one giraffe at a time this way the batter won’t start drying making it hard to make the brown details later.
  33. Tap the trays against the counter or against the palm of your hand, which will help the batter smooth out. And use a toothpick to make the ears more defined, and to pop any air bubbles.
  34. Pipe the ossicones, which are the horns, then the tail, and the spots on the giraffe’s body.
  35. Use a toothpick again just to pop any air bubbles, or make the tail more defined.
  36. Always make sure the two batters, the yellow and the brown are connected where they meet, because if they have too much room between them, the tail or the horns will break after baked.
  37. Dont forget to pipe the reverse giraffe, so you have a top and a bottom cookie to be able to make the cookie sandwiches later.
  38. Now to pipe the small giraffes, simply change the piping tip to a smaller size. For the body we will use a number 6, and for the brown details a piping tip number 3.
  39. Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out. You’ll know they’re ready to be baked when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
  40. Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
  41. Bake one tray at a time.
  42. Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
  43. Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.
  44. I baked each tray for 15 to 18 minutes total for the small giraffes, and about 20 minutes for the large giraffes.
  45. 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.
  46. Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
  47. Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
  48. After the macarons are cool, I used an Edible Ink Marker to draw the eyes on the giraffes, and the nose. Then I dipped a small brush in brown food coloring dissolved with a drop of water, and used it to paint the inside of the ears. And with a brush dipped in pink luster dust, I made the cheeks of the giraffes.

To assemble

  1. Pipe some of the frosting on each bottom giraffe shell. Top with another giraffe.

Storage

  1. Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for 1 month.

Recipe Notes

Filling: I used my White Chocolate Buttercream frosting to fill these macarons. Grab the recipe here.

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.

Food coloring: Make sure to use gel or powder food coloring, not liquid. If you are a beginner macaron baker, I recommend going easy on the food coloring, as it can alter your batter a lot, and it can take extra mixing time, specially if you continue to add the food coloring as you do the macaronage. I used egg yellow gel food coloring from americolor, and brown gel food coloring.

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.

Nutrition Facts
Giraffe Macarons
Amount Per Serving (1 macaron)
Calories 0
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.