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Oyster shaped macaron shells filled with real strawberry lemon flavored filling—and of course, a candy pearl!
I really wanted to do something for MerMay this year, maybe even two things. Haha, we shall see. This month I’ve been cooking with a busted oven, so if I can do it with pretty good results with a broken oven… you can too. I have faith! I even went ahead and made a template for the shells to help the process be less painful.
Candy Pearls
I have small candy pearls at home, but I wanted a bigger pearl that would get lost in the filling. So I endeavored to make them myself—which was easier than I expected. Nuke some white chocolate and mix with some warm corn syrup. Voilà! Homemade modeling chocolate.
Optional: Add some edible luster dust to get a sparkly shine. No big deal if you don’t have any, it will still look good.
The Filling
I went with a strawberry lemonade filling for a summertime feeling, because I wish it was summer already! I didn’t want to use any artificial flavors so I used lemon juice, zest, and freeze dried strawberries.
To make the strawberry powder, pulverize the dried strawberries in a baggie and shake through a strainer. You don’t want those seeds or chunks in there.
The Shells
To get the oyster shells, I created a template in Illustrator and placed it under the parchment paper. This helps you get more uniformed cookies. I highly recommend using my template or at least a template.
Of course you can make the shells any color you want, I chose aqua, but blue, green, pink, or even multicolor would be awesome.
Here’s to MerMay! I wish it was every month…
PRINTABLE TEMPLE: Download pdf
Strawberry Lemonade Mermaid Macarons
Ingredients
MACARON SHELLS
- 3 egg whites
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 ⅔ cup confectioners sugar
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Food coloring blue or aqua
STRAWBERRY LEMONADE FILLING
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 – 3 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder
CANDY PEARLS
- ¼ cup white chocolate or candy melts
- 1 tbsp corn syrup
- Luster dust silver
Instructions
MACARON SHELLS
- Grind up almond flour in a dry food processor and sift through a 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 the 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 a piping bag using a plain round tip.
- Pipe about 1 ½” circles, holding the bag perpendicular to the 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 for 45 – 60 minutes on the counter uncovered. You should be able to touch the macarons, there will be a skin formed on top.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Bake for 10 – 15 minutes. You should be able to see the “feet”.
- Let shells cool completely before piping in filling. Make little macarons sandwiches by matching up with the same sized tops and bottoms.
CANDY PEARLS
- Melt chocolate in a microwave, 30 seconds at a time until just starting to melt. Be careful not to burn! Chocolate should finish melting out of microwave. If still not totally melted, try 15 – 20 more seconds.
- Warm syrup in microwave for 10 seconds. Mix into chocolate.
- When cool enough to handle, knead into a ball or disc. Set aside for 10 minutes wrapped in plastic.
- Shape into balls and paint dust on pearls.
STRAWBERRY LEMONADE FILLING
- Add egg yolks, sugar, milk to a small saucepan. Turn heat on medium and whisk mixture often. Bring to a gentle bubble and stir while cooking for a minute.
- Remove from heat and strain into a mixer bowl to remove any chunky egg pieces.
- Add strawberry powder (crushed freeze dried strawberries strained), vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Mix on medium and gradually add butter.
- Store in the fridge. Cookie tastes best the next day.
