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Ugghhh these are so delicious! Inspired by those white strawberries and flavored with real strawberries. Filling is a silky Swiss meringue buttercream—which makes me feel so fancy, but I’m sure is just making me fat.

Strawberry Flavor

To get that authentic berry flavor, pulverize freeze dried strawberries into a powder. Sift it into the buttercream.

Pipe a wall of icing with a hole in the center. Dollop strawberry jam in the middle for a double dose of strawberry.

To get that strawberry shape, you can download this image to line the cookie sheet under the parchment paper.

Use a 1/4″ or smaller piping tip for shape. Try to match the guidelines as best as you can.

Remove guide before baking.

Swiss Meringue Butter Cream

I’ve never made this frosting before and man! I didn’t know what I was missing. I always thought it was only with raw egg whites so I avoided it. Turns out you can cook it over a bain marie till 160 degrees F. Cha-ching! In business.

Using powder flavoring helps it keep a good structure instead of a liquid or jam.

Fondant Leaves

For the little leaves I used my homemade fondant recipe. You only need a small amount so use a quarter of the ingredients.

Print Recipe

Strawberry Macarons

Servings: 20 cookies

Author: Katie

Ingredients

Macarons

3 egg whites
¼ cup sugar
1 ⅔ cup confectioners sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
Red Food coloring

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder
Strawberry jam
Green fondant for leaves

Instructions

MACARONS

Grind up almond flour in a dry food processor and sift through sieve. Do not force it through the sieve.
Sift confectioners sugar into almond flour with a sieve and a whisk.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium / high. Slowly add in granulated sugar.
When soft peak stage is reached add food coloring and vanilla. Mix till stiff peak stage.
Add about ¼ the dry ingredients to the egg whites. Fold with spatula till combined.
Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and gently macaronage (fold) till “lava” texture is reached. The batter should make ribbons that don’t break when you lift the spatula. Try making a figure 8.
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment, using a tiny dab of batter on each corner as glue.
Add batter to piping bag using a plain round tip.
Pipe about 1 ½” circles, holding bag perpendicular to cookie sheet. To break off batter, make a little swirl motion on top.
Bang sheet on counter to get rid of bubbles and to help tops get smooth.
Let sit 45 – 60 minutes on counter uncovered. You should be able to touch the macarons, there will be a skin formed on top.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes. You should be able to see the “feet”.

FILLING

Bring 1-2 inches water to a boil in a medium saucepan for a bain marie. Place a bowl over pan. Water should be just below bottom of bowl.
Add egg whites and sugar to bowl. Heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F.
Pour hot egg whites into a mixer bowl with the whisk equipped, beat until stiff peaks and room temperature.
Cut butter into tbsp size chunks. Mix in one by one. Keep mixing until smooth and glossy, may look worse before it gets better. If your icing is too warm put in fridge for 10-20 minutes.
Beat in vanilla and strawberry powder. (Powder is made by crushing freeze dried strawberries in a baggie. Sifted to remove hard chunks.)
Spoon frosting into a icing bag with desired tip or cut a 1/4″ tip off.
Let shells dry completely before piping in filling. Make little macaron sandwiches by matching up with same sized tops and bottoms.
Pipe a wall of icing leaving a hole in the middle. Spoon a dollop of jam in center. Place top on cookie.
Cut fondant leaves out and stick in frosting on top.
Store in fridge. Cookie tastes best the next day.