These are super fun Macarons. The shells are pink, and chocolate, and the filling is a simple white vanilla frosting, forming the Neapolitan colors. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword macarons, neapolitan
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour40 minutesminutes
Servings 26macarons
Calories 130kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Neapolitan Macarons Shells
Macaron Shells
100gramsegg whites
100gramsgranulated sugar
105gramsalmond flour
105gramspowdered sugar
1/2tbspcocoa powder
Food coloringpink, brown
Cream Cheese Frosting*
1/4cupcream cheese softened56 grams, 2 oz
1/4cupbutter softened56 grams, 2 oz
1cuppowdered sugar 127 grams4.5 oz
1tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Macaron Shells
Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare two large piping bags, 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 powdered sugar and almond flour into stiff whites.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula until the batter is just incorporated, but not ready yet.
Split the batter into two bowls as soon as the batter comes together, you don't want to have folded too much at this point, because once you add the cocoa powder or the pink coloring, you will have to fold more in order to get those ingredients incorporated.
To one bowl, add sifted cocoa powder, and to the other bowl add some of the pink coloring.
Work with one batter at a time, and keep the other batter covered while you do the macaronage in first one.
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/silicone mat, it means 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 the 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 1 1/2” 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 the macaron shells from cracking.
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.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 1 minute. With the mixer off, add all of the powdered sugar in.
On low speed, beat the sugar, butter and cream cheese together. Once they are incorporated, turn speed to medium and cream for 1-2 minutes until very fluffy. Add vanilla in, beat for a another 30-45 seconds.
If the frosting seems too thick, add a teaspoon of milk to thin it out. If it seems too thin, add a bit more sifted powdered sugar to make it stiffer.
To assemble
Pipe some of the buttercream on top of a macaron shell and top it with another 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
*You can make the filling a simple buttercream by substituting the amount of cream cheese for more butter instead.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 my macarons in the fridge or in the freezer.