French Macarons

I always hated French macarons. Or, well, I thought I did. You see, I really detest almond extract. It doesn’t matter what it’s hidden in, if it’s there, I will taste it. It’s kind of on par with cilantro or arugula for me (best left on store shelves). I guess the macarons I had had in the past always contained almond extract, making me associate the flavor with the taste of these “treats.”

In 2019, a very sweet friend of mine signed me and my husband up for a macaron making class at Sur La Table. I love to bake, and a date night, er, date morning, sounded fun! But macarons? Those tiny, almond-extract-tasting frustrations disguised as delicate, fancy baked goods? Ugh.

We went to the class and had a blast! We made lemon macarons with lemon buttercream and lemon curd and pistachio macarons with chocolate ganache. I feel like I’ve learned a skill that not many people I know have mastered yet. Honestly, I haven’t mastered it yet either (see picture of pink macarons – this is why you don’t make them when it’s particularly humid outside!), but I’m so happy we had the opportunity to try something new together.

Endless Macaron Flavor Possibilities

I love baking new flavors of macarons now. I’ve made standard lemon with lemon buttercream (including some with lemon curd and some with freeze-dried raspberry dust), berry blue macarons (special ingredient: Kool-Aid powder!), strawberry/pink lemonade (also with Kool-Aid), Oreo macarons with Oreo buttercream, Oreo mint, strawberry with strawberry buttercream, and raspberry with raspberry buttercream.

Oreo Macarons

Homemade Oreo buttercream is amazing. I used this recipe from LivforCake.com and I highly recommend it. I didn’t use their meringue recipe, though. My favorite base macaron shell recipes come from FamilyTableTreasures.com and https://www.cookinwithmima.com/strawberry-macarons/ which I adapt based on what the filling will be.

My Oreo macaron shells didn’t come out perfect (there was some cracking, probably from too many crushed cookies), but they dried incredibly quickly, developed feet (yay!), and what they lacked in beauty they made up for in flavor. I could have eaten the entire batch!

Strawberry Macarons

My current favorite macarons to make are strawberry. The key is adding freeze-dried strawberries to the buttercream - it tastes like fresh, homemade strawberry ice cream! Here’s the recipe, adapted from Cookin’ with Mima:

Shell Ingredients:

1⅔ cup powdered sugar

1 cup almond flour

3 whole large egg whites

¼ cup granulated sugar

3-4 drops red and/or pink gel food coloring

Buttercream Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter softened (I prefer Imperial margarine sticks)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

⅓ cup freeze-dried strawberries finely crushed (I use the whole bag and crush with the food processor)

3 tbsps. milk or milk substitute (almond and soy both work well)

Instructions to Make Strawberry Macarons

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. I prefer parchment paper, but it's up to you.

Make the Shells

Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together into a bowl. Ensure there are no lumps. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low speed (level 1 or 2) until they start to get foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar and increase the speed. I take my stand mixer up to level 6. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. You should be able to lift the whisk attachment up and see a “mountain top” or point on what’s below. This creates the meringue.

This is how you know your meringue is ready: stiff peaks on both the whisk attachment and in the bowl.

Once the desired texture is reached, add the food coloring. Mix to fully incorporate.

Pour the dry ingredients into the meringue and use a silicone spatula to gently fold the two together. The batter should be fully combined and not streaky. The batter is ready when it falls off of the spatula in a thick ribbon (you should be able to "paint" a figure 8 easily). It should not be too runny.

Pouring the dry ingredients into the meringue.

Smooth macaron batter ready to pipe!

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag. Snip off the end and pipe about 0.5"-1" disks onto the prepared baking sheet.

Firmly tap the baking sheet 5 or 6 times on the counter to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.

Let the macarons rest until you can gently run your finger over the surface of the macarons without any getting on your finger. This could take up to an hour depending on the humidity in your home.

Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the pre-heated oven and bake for 13-15 minutes. (I have a new oven and my shells got crispy at 15 minutes, but in my old oven, 15 would have been fine.)

Macarons on a cookie sheet baking in the oven

Remove the macarons from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet.

Gently peel each cooled macaron off of the parchment paper and let cool on a wire cooling rack.

Match up each shell with a similarly sized cookie shell.

Make the Buttercream

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the coated flat beater attachment, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.

While the butter is beating, empty the contents of your freeze dried strawberries into a food processor. Use a sieve or small strainer to filter out the seeds.

Add the powdered sugar and mix. Note, it may be crumbly - that’s okay! As you add the rest of the ingredients, it’ll come together.

Add the vanilla and strawberry dust. Mix. It may still not combine yet - that’s okay! Add the milk and beat for 3-5 minutes or until smooth and fluffy and all ingredients are fully incorporated.

If your buttercream is too thick, you can slowly add more milk until the desired consistency is reached. If it's too runny, add more powdered sugar (a little at a time) until the desired consistency is reached.

Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag. Snip off the end, about a 1/4-1/2" from the bottom.

Pipe your desired amount onto the inside of one shell and sandwich together with the matching cookie.

*These can easily be adapted for other flavors depending on the freeze-dried fruit you have. Raspberry worked really well for me, but peach was not a winner. Mango would be interesting to try, but I don’t think apple would be flavorful enough. You can also play with different extracts, just don’t add too much. A little goes a long way!

Give Macarons a Chance

If you’re like I used to be (anti-macaron), I would encourage you to give these naturally gluten-free desserts another chance. The right flavor combination (sans almond extract) can be life changing and delicious. I think these are my favorite treats to make for friends and coworkers now (even though they don’t always look as pretty as I hope they will).