Strawberry Macarons

red and yellow strawberry lemon macarons in a bowl.

A classic recipe to make the best strawberry macarons! Chewy and light, filled with a tart and sweet lemon frosting and strawberry jam filling.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword strawberry macarons

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Resting Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings macarons

Calories 65kcal

Author Alysen

Equipment

Baking sheet
Silpat baking mat
Flexible Spatula
Piping Bags
Round Piping Tip Wilton #10 or similar
Saucepan
Mixing Bowls
Electric stand mixer with whisk attachment
Kitchen Scale
Sieve or mesh strainer

Ingredients

For the Shell

90 grams egg whites
90 grams granulated sugar
95 grams powdered sugar
95 grams fine almond flour
gel food coloring optional, to make the shells dark pink

For the Filling

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter softened
2 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
½ teaspoon lemon zest
¼ cup strawberry jam/preserves
gel food coloring optional, yellow

Instructions

For the Shells

Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
Place a heatproof bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Add the egg whites and granulated sugar to the bowl and whisk until the sugar fully dissolves— about 3 minutes. The goal is to gently warm the egg whites, not to cook them! Then transfer the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they form stiff peaks— about 2 minutes.
Add gel food coloring, if using. Then, sift the powdered sugar and almond flour into the egg whites using a fine mesh sieve.
Fold in the dry ingredients gently by making a J shape with your spatula.
Once all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated, smush the batter against the sides of the bowl and fold it back together. Repeat a few times before testing the meringue. If you can draw a figure 8 without the stream breaking, the meringue is ready. If the stream breaks, smush and fold a few more times before retesting.
When the mixture flows smoothly, transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I like a Wilton #10).
Pipe 1.5” circles about 2” apart onto the baking sheets. Hold the tray off the counter and drop it straight down, repeat 4-5 times until it looks like any large air bubbles have popped.
Set the macarons aside to dry and rest for 30 minutes or until you can touch them lightly and they don’t stick to your finger.
Bake the macarons one tray at a time for 14 minutes, turning the pan half-way through to allow for even baking.
Allow the macarons to cool fully on the tray.

For the Filling

In a medium mixing bowl, add the butter and beat on medium speed using a hand or stand mixer until it is light-- about 2-3 minutes.
Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar while the mixer is on low speed.
Next, add in the lemon juice and lemon zest (and food coloring, if using). Turn the mixer to high speed and beat until the icing is light and fluffy-- about 3-4 minutes.
Transfer the lemon buttercream to a piping bag fitted with your choice of tip.

Assemble and Age

Place the macarons into similar sized pairs and pipe a ring of the lemon buttercream around the edge of one shell of each pair. Fill the center with strawberry jam and place the second macaron shell on top, pressing them together gently. Repeat with the remaining macarons.
Transfer the filled macarons to an airtight container and place them in the fridge to age overnight.
Before serving, bring them to room temperature.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Notes

Read through the entire recipe card and blog post before making this recipe, especially if it's your first time making macarons.
Measure your ingredients by weight with a kitchen scale when making macarons. This recipe can be a bit fussy, so being accurate is important. 90 grams of egg whites is approximately 3 large eggs worth.
Properly whipped egg whites are key to making perfect macarons.

Egg whites will not whip into stiff peaks if there is any oil or fat mixed in with them! This means that your tools and bowls must be super clean and that no specks of yellow yolk can be in with them.

Some people will "age" the egg whites for macarons, but I don't think it's totally necessary. This just means that you place egg whites in a bowl in the fridge, partially covered, and let them sit for a day or two. This reduces the moisture content of the eggs, and ideally helps them to whip up more easily. Again, not necessary, but you can try it if you like!

Be sure to use extra fine almond flour, and sift it well. If you store your almond flour in the fridge or freezer, let it come to room temperature before making this recipe.

If it's raining out or very humid outside, you may have trouble with this recipe, since much of the science of macarons relies on a certain moisture content. Save this project for a dryer day if you can.

For color, use gel food coloring rather than liquid. Again, you don't want to add any extra water to the batter! You can also leave out the coloring if you prefer, or try all-natural food colorings to avoid dyes. I added ¼ teaspoon of rose pink and ¼ teaspoon of intense red gel food coloring to the macaron shell and ¼ teaspoon lemon yellow gel food coloring to the filling.

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