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pride macarons, heart and circle shaped macarons with a rainbow decoration.

Pride Macarons

These Pride Macarons are decorated with rainbows painted with an air brush pen. The technique is super cool! Check it out!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword macarons, pride
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings 20 macarons
Calories 110 kcal
Author camila

Ingredients

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

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 85 grams cream cheese softened 6 tablespoons
  • 42.5 grams unsalted butter softened 3 tablespoons
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 125 grams powdered sugar

To decorate

  • Air brush pen
  • Air brush food coloring

Instructions

Macaron Shells

  1. Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare one large piping bag, fitted with a round tip, I like to use a Wilton 10 or 12 to pipe the shells.
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
  3. Measure out all of the ingredients. Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour. Set it aside.
  4. 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.
  5. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
  6. Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
  7. Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
  11. Add the food coloring at this point, if using. I didn’t add any.

  12. Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula until the batter reaches the proper consistency.

  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
  16. Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
  17. If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds. Test again.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. Transfer the batter to the piping bag.

To pipe circles:

  1. Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 to 5 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
  2. Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
  3. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.

To pipe the heart macarons:

  1. Place the piping bag at a 90 degree angle, at the top left side of the heart template. Apply pressure as you slide the bag down to the center in a diagonal, also make sure to release less batter at the bottom than at the top, because you need the batter at the bottom to be thinner in order to obtain a nice pointy tip.
  2. Now place the piping bag on the top right corner of the heart, and apply pressure as you slide the bag down to the center in a diagonal.
  3. After piping a few hearts, use a toothpick to help spread the batter to the edges of the heart template. Make sure to form a point at the bottom, because as they bake, the macarons will round up a little bit and if you don’t form a defined point at the bottom, your heart will have a rounded bottom.
  4. Tap the trays against the counter or against the palm of your hand to release any air bubbles.
  5. And pop any remaining air bubbles on the surface of the shells using a toothpick.
  6. 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.
  7. Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
  8. Bake one tray at a time.
  9. Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
  10. Continue to bake each tray for about 10 to 15 minutes, for a total of 15 to 20 minutes.
  11. 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.
  12. Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
  13. Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer, for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the vanilla extract. Mix to combine.
  3. With the mixer off, add the powdered sugar to the bowl.
  4. Turn mixer on low to incorporate the powdered sugar with the cream cheese and butter.
  5. Once you see no streaks of dry powdered sugar, beat mixture on medium high for one minute.
  6. If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar as needed. And if the frosting is too stiff, add a teaspoon of water or milk to thin it out.
  7. This frosting will store well in the fridge for up to 5 days, covered.
  8. Make sure to always leave your frosting covered. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap, because otherwise, the surface will dry out and get hard.

To decorate

  1. Cut strips of parchment paper about 4x2 inches and set them aside.

  2. Prepare the macarons and lay them on a tray, so you can paint on the shells.

  3. You will have to do one color at a time. Start with the red color. Prepare the air brush pen and place red food coloring in it. Place the strip of paper on the macaron, leaving a bit of the top exposed. Then spray with the air brush pen loaded with the red color.
  4. After doing that on all shells, clean the air brush pen and place a few drops of orange food coloring in it. Place the strip of paper on the bottom of the macaron, leaving open a strip between the red stripe and the bottom of the shell.
  5. Spray this area with the orange food coloring. Do the same with all macarons.
  6. Clean the air brush pen and load it with yellow. Repeat the process until you get to purple.
  7. Then let the shells dry for an hour or so.

To fill

  1. Place the Cream Cheese Frosting in a piping bag fitted with the tip of choice. Pipe a dollop of frosting on each macaron shell.
  2. Place another shell on top.
  3. Let the macarons mature overnight before serving.

Storage

  1. Store the macarons in the fridge for up to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 1 to 2 months.

Recipe Notes

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.

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.

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.

Macaron Tools: Please visit this post to check out all the tools I use to make macarons.

Nutrition Facts
Pride Macarons
Amount Per Serving (1 macaron)
Calories 110
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.