Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 100 grams egg whites
- 100 grams white granulated sugar
- 105 grams almond flour
- 105 grams powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cocoa powder to make shells a bit tan
Raspberry Jam
- 1 cup raspberries fresh or frozen 283 grams, 10 oz
- 1/4 cup maple syrup you can use granulated sugar or other sweetener instead
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp cold water
Peanut Butter Buttercream
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp milk if necessary
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 simmering water, whisk the whites and sugar until frothy and sugar completely melted. It will take a couple minutes.
-
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, whisk the mixture on low, and gradually increase the speed over the next 2 minutes, until you achieve high speed. Then continue to whip 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 peaks should be shooting straight up. The peak should be stiff, forming a slightly curved shape at the top, but not bending down to the side.
-
Pour the powdered sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder into stiff whites.
-
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula. Add the food coloring at this point, if using.
-
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 form a figure 8 a few times. If you can draw a figure 8 with the batter falling off the spatula a few times, without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
-
Then, you can perform what I call the Teaspoon Test. Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat, then tap the tray gently against the counter and wait one minute.
-
If the batter stays stiff and doesn’t spread out a bit, fold the batter a bit more, then test again.
-
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy on the parchment paper, I transfer my mixture to the piping bag.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 325F.
-
Bake one tray at a time.
-
Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
-
Bake for 5 more minutes, check if it needs to be rotated again. You will know if it needs to be rotated again depending on how the macarons are baking. Take a look at them, if one side seems taller than the other, maybe you have to rotate the tray again.
-
Bake for around 4 more minutes or so. I would say I bake for a total of 15 to 20 minutes. Until you try to move a macaron and it doesn't feel jiggly.
-
When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. And they will peel off the tray easily.
-
Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
-
Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Raspberry Jam
-
Mix raspberries, maple syrup (or sweeteneand 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 raspberries as you stir.
-
Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl.
-
Once raspberries 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.
Peanut Butter Buttercream
-
Cream butter and peanut butter in the bowl of a mixer. Sift powdered sugar. Add it to the bowl. Mix on low until powdered sugar is incorporated. Raise speed to high, cream for 1 minute. Add vanilla and milk if necessary.
-
If frosting has a thick consistency, add a few drops of milk. If the frosting seems too runny, add more powdered sugar.
-
Place frosting in a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
To assemble
-
Pipe some of the Peanut Butter Buttercream around the edges of the bottom shells.
-
Fill them with 1/4 teaspoon of raspberry jam. Top with the other shell.
-
I decorated the tops of my macarons with melted chocolate, melted peanut butter chips, raspberry powder, and chopped peanuts.
-
Let macarons mature in the fridge overnight for best taste and texture!
Storage
-
Macarons will store for up to 7 days in the fridge.
-
I don’t usually recommend freezing macarons with a jam filling unless the jam is very thick, otherwise the macaron might become soggy. Regardless, macarons usually freeze decently for up to 1 or 2 months.
Recipe Notes
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.