Measure out all of the ingredients.
Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set aside.
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.
Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula. Add the food coloring at this point, if using just one.
So in this case, once you see there are no more dry ingredients in the macaron batter, split it between two bowls.
Work quickly, with each color, one at a time, folding the batter until ready, then transferring it to a piping bag. Move on to the next color and do this until the entire batter is ready. Then you can start piping.
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.
Then, grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicone mat.
If the batter stays stiff and doesn’t spread out a bit, start folding a little bit more, about 3 folds.
Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy on the parchment paper, transfer the mixture to the piping bag.
Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each.
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.
Bake for 5 minutes and rotate the tray.
Bake for 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.
Cream the butter at medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer. Slowly add sugar and lime zest to butter and keep creaming at medium speed for a few minutes, until mixture is light in color and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until egg has been completely incorporated before adding the next one.
Add the salt. And finally, add the lime juice, and stir on low speed.
Pour the mixture in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil over medium heat, while stirring nonstop.
Sift the powdered sugar and raspberry powder together. Set aside
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, and powdered raspberry in.
STORAGE: This Key Lime Raspberry Macaron’s shelf life is 4-5 days in the fridge. I don’t recommend freezing it because the curd might make the shells soggy.
*You can process 1 cup of freeze dried whole raspberries in the food processor to make about 1/4 cup of freeze dried raspberry powder.
Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring. 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, especially 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.