Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare one large piping bag, fitted with a round tip, I used a 1/4” diameter tip. Also leave two piping bags set aside, without the end cut. Set aside.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
Measure out all of the ingredients.
Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set it aside.
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.
Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
With the whisk attachment, start whisking the syrup 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 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.
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.
Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
If making two different colors from the same batch, like I am for the Strawberry Macarons, fold the dry ingredients with the meringue just until you see no more dry ingredients in the meringue. If making just one color, ignore this and continue to fold the batter until the proper consistency is achieved. Which I will explain below how to identify. If making just one color batter, add the food coloring in the beginning along with the dry ingredients.
Anyway, back to the two colors batch. As soon as you see no more dry ingredients in the meringue, stop stirring. Divide the batter between two different bowls.
Work with one bowl at a time, leaving the other one covered meanwhile.
To the first batter I added a little bit of fuchsia food coloring. Stir the batter until the perfect consistency is achieved.
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.
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.
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, fold 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, it’s ready.
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.
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.
Once that happens, transfer this first batter to one of the piping bags that doesn’t have the end cut. Secure the top with a tie, so the batter doesn’t scape while piping. Set the piping bag aside.
Now, it’s time to work with the second batter. I left the batter white, so I didn’t add any food coloring.
Stir until the perfect consistency is achieved.
Transfer the white batter to another piping bag, also without the end cut. And secure the top with a tie.
Using a pair of scissors, snip the ends of each piping bag.
Place the large piping bag fitted with the round tip (I used a 1/4” piping tip) in a cup, so this way the bag will be held open.
Place the bags with the two different color batters inside the piping bag.
Now position the piping bag over the center of the circle template, and apply gentle pressure to release the batter for about 3 to 5 seconds. Then pull the bag up and quickly twist at the top.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles on the surface of the shells.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, and doesn’t stick to your finger.
Pre-heat the oven to 300ºF.
Bake one tray at a time.
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
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.
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Strawberry Cream cheese Frosting
Pulse freeze dried strawberries in processor until they are a fine powder. If you are using the freeze dried strawberry that already comes in powder form, skip this step.
Sift freeze dried strawberries and powdered sugar together. Set aside.
Beat the cream cheese and butter for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
Add the sifted powdered sugar and strawberry, mix on low until mixed in. Turn speed to medium and beat for a couple minutes. Add the vanilla.
Cream until well combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl.
Place the frosting in a bag lined with your favorite tip.
To decorate
Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, stir until smooth and completely melted. Place it in a piping bag and then pipe a drizzle of white chocolate on the top shells of the macarons, then sprinkle some graham cracker crumbs on top.
To assemble
Pipe some of the Strawberry Cheesecake on top of a macaron shell and top it with a decorated shell.
Storage
Store macarons in the fridge for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for up to 2 months, in an airtight container.
Notes
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.Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring, not liquid. For the fuchsia here I used AmeriColor. 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.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.Troubleshooting: For macaron troubleshooting, visit this page.