Blackberry Macarons with an almond buttercream, and blackberry jam filling. This gluten-free cookie is sure to please anyone!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword blackberry, macarons
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour40 minutesminutes
Servings 26macarons
Calories 90kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
100gramsegg whites
100gramsgranulated sugar
105gramsalmond flour
105gramspowdered sugar
A few drops of purple food coloring
Blackberry Jam
1cupblackberries fresh or frozen283 grams, 10 oz
3tbspmaple syrupyou can use granulated sugar, or other sweetener instead
1tbsplemon juice
1tbspcornstarch
1tbspcold water
Almond Buttercream
1 1/2cupconfectioners’ sugar sifted
1/2cupalmond flour*
6tbspunsalted butter softened
1tbspmilk
1/2tspalmond extract
Instructions
Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip.
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 aside.
Place the egg whites and granulated sugar in a heat proof bowl or in a double boiler. Over a pan of barely simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar 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.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
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 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 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.
Add the food coloring at this point, if using.
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 silicone 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 overmix. It’s always best to undermix 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.
Transfer the batter to a piping bag.
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.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. 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 in 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.
Pre-heat the oven to 300°F.
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.
Blackberry Jam
Mix blackberries, maple syrup (or sweetener) and lemon juice in a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Use the spoon to break up the blackberries as you stir.
Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl.
Once blackberries have boiled and reduced a bit, add cornstarch and water to the pan.
Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened.
Pour through a strainer, and keep on stirring the mixture to strain the jam. Make sure to press it through really well so you can get the most out of it, and just leave the seeds behind. If you like the seeds, just skip the straining. I never skip it.
Let jam cool. Cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge.
Almond Buttercream
Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
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, almond flour, and milk in.
On low speed, beat the sugar and butter together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy. Add almond extract beat for another 30-45 seconds.
How to assemble
Pipe a circle of buttercream around the edges of the macaron, in a way that you have a little hole in the middle. Fill the little hole with a bit of blackberry jam. Don’t overfill it. Place another shell on top.
Storage
These Blackberry Macarons will be at their best up to 4-7 days in the fridge.
Notes
If you don't want to make your own jam, that's ok. You can use store-bought. You will need about 1/4 cup of jam.If you have leftover jam, keep it in the refrigerator and use it within 1-2 weeks. Spread it on some toast, or my favorite way is to add to a plain greek yogurt bowl, with some fresh fruit (and granola sometimes).You don’t have to use the almond flour in the Buttercream. You can just use 1/2 cup of powdered sugar instead of the almond flour.Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring. I use Wilton Color Right Performance Food Coloring Set. 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.Storage:This is the container I use to store the macarons in the fridge or freezer.