Strawberry French Macarons Without Food Coloring
This recipe for Strawberry French Macarons Without Food Coloring makes the cutest pastel pink cookies to serve for Valentine's Day or Easter!
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Half Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper Sheets
- Piping Bag
- Ateco Tip #804
Ingredients
Macs
- 102 grams egg whites
- 71 grams cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 198 grams powdered sugar
- 113 grams almond flour
- ½ teaspoon freeze dried strawberry powder
Filling
- 85 grams salted butter (softened)
- 170 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons water
- ½ to 1 teaspoon freeze dried strawberry powder
Instructions
- Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk, starting on low speed to avoid splattering, and slowly in creasing the speed to medium-high speed and then high speed, until stiff peaks form.
- Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together into the bowl of meringue and add the strawberry powder. Turn the mixer on low for 10 to 15 rotations until the dry ingredients start to blend into the meringue. Pulse the mixer on medium/high 4 to 5 times to incorporate the batter.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer, and gently stir the batter with a spatula just until there are no pockets of egg whites or dry bits of almond flour. Don’t overstir. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with Ateco tip #804.
- Pipe the macaron batter onto the prepared cookie sheets (30 should fit on each cookie sheet).
- Holding a cookie sheet firmly in both hands, and making sure the parchment paper doesn’t slide around, bang the cookie sheet on the counter a few times. Rotate the cookie sheet and bang it a few more times. Repeat with the other cookie sheet. This will smooth out the batter and will help form the macarons’ famous “feet.”
- Let rest for 45 minutes, or until the rounds of batter have formed shells.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the macs look dry and the shells look shiny. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, water, strawberry powder, and water. Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high for 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Transfer to a piping bag with no tip.
- Turn over every other macaron and pair them together. Pipe a dollop of filling onto each turned over macaron and sandwich together.
- Serve or eat immediately!
Notes
Tips
- Use a scale! French Macarons are temperamental (to say the least) you don't want to make a mistake measuring.
- When separating your egg whites, do not get any part of the yolk in the egg whites. If you do, set them aside and start over. Yolks are fat, and we don't want any fat in our egg whites so it will whip up into perfect meringue.
- Make sure to whisk your egg whites until stiff peaks form. The egg whites should not droop, should not fall off the whisk, or should not really even move. It will be thick, shiny, and bright white.
- Do not overstir the batter. It should be thick and barely fall off your spatula. If your batter is too runny, your macarons will spread out too much and you will probably not have the iconic feet form correctly, they will most likely be flat and on the sides of the macarons as opposed to underneath, how they should be.
- Pipe your macarons evenly, I know this can be challenging. But, they all need to be the same size so they bake properly and you don't have ones that are burned or not done. I like to count to 2 while piping, that's all it should take to pipe the size of macaron you need.
- Make sure you bang your cookie sheets. This is super important to remove air bubbles and smooth out the tops. It also helps create the iconic feet.
- Resting time is super important - as important as weighing ingredients. Because if you don't let the macarons rest for the right amount of time (even if you made them perfectly) they will not come out. So it's important to find the resting time that is right for you and your climate. This can vary. I say to start with 45 minutes because it should take at least that long. It can definitely take longer, so do not be afraid to let them sit longer if need be.
- When filling them, be sure to pick up each macaron and sandwich them together very carefully. Don't smash them on top of one another like you might a typical sandwich cookies. These are so fragile and can break so easily.
- If you want to fill them with a strawberry jam, you can use a smaller piping tip and pipe a small circle of strawberry buttercream around the edge of the macaron and fill the center with a dollop of jam. Either strawberry fillings work, just up to you which want to do.
- Eat them all the same day you bake them! I have no storage tips for you as they should not be stored.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 8 minutes or until the macs look dry and the shells look shiny.
Nutrition
Calories: 101kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 24mgPotassium: 7mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 71IUCalcium: 9mgIron: 0.2mg
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