Macarons are so expensive to buy so why not make your own Raspberry Macarons at home for a lot less “dough”!
I finally did it! I made Raspberry Macarons – the mysterious French cookie. My daughter has been asking me to make them for at least a year and I was actually afraid to try them. They seemed so hard to make. But they’re also $2.00 per cookie which is a bit pricey if you ask me. They’re so small! But so delicious. And since I can’t afford to buy them very often and only in very small quantities, I decided to be brave and try to make them at home. It worked! And they’re just as scrumptious as the bakery version.
I also had a special occasion to give me some incentive. I made these Raspberry Macarons for my son’s teacher. It was teacher appreciation week and I thought they would make a nice little gift for Mrs. Roberts. She’s an extra special lady who deserves some extra fancy French cookies. And guess what, they’re not that hard to make after all. They came out perfectly on my first try!
You can do it too and you don’t even have to spend $2 per cookie. This recipe makes 20 cookies, so I’m actually saving you about $40 bucks! You’re welcome.
Start by tracing circles on to 1 sheet of parchment paper. I used a 1 1/2″ round cookie cutter and traced 20 circles.
Place your almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor. Process for about a minute.
Beat egg whites on medium-low until frothy. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. It should look like this. Gradually add the granulated sugar.
Increase speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form like this.
Stir in pink food coloring until completely combined.
Using a fine mesh strainer, sift the flour/sugar mixture into the pink egg whites.
Stir to combine. It will be thick at first. Keep stirring until batter is smooth and forms a ribbon. Do not over mix!
Pour into a large pastry bag fitted with a plastic coupler (no tip).
Place a clean piece of parchment paper over the one with the circles and put them both on a large cookie sheet. Pipe batter to near the edge of the drawn circles. Let them dry for 15-30 minutes.
Bake at 350°F. for about 12 minutes. Let cool. Meanwhile, carefully remove the bottom piece of parchment from the cookie sheet. Place on another cookie sheet with a clean piece of parchment on top. Pipe the remaining 20 cookies. Let them dry 15-30 minutes, then bake for 12 minutes. Let cool.
Fill the cookies with seedless raspberry jam. You could also fill them with nutella or vanilla frosting.
Raspberry Macarons make a beautiful gift or rainy day treat. Enjoy!
Raspberry Macarons
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup ground almond flour (also called almond meal) (or 85g)
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar (or 42g)
- 2 large egg whites (at room temperature)
- 3 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar (or 50g)
- 1 drop pink food coloring (I used Wilton brand)
- 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
Instructions
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet. Using a 1 1/2" round cookie cutter, trace 20 circles on to parchment paper (I used a colored pencil). Place another clean sheet of parchment paper on top. Set aside.
- Place the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor. Process for a 1 minute. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-low until frothy. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. There should be soft peaks at this point. With the mixer on low, gradually add the granulated sugar.
- Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form. Add food coloring and stir until completely combined.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over bow and sift the flour/sugar mixture into the egg whites mixture. Gently stir the flour into the egg whites until completely incorporated but be careful not to overmix. It will seem sort of thick at first but keep stirring until it's smooth and forms a ribbon. It should take about 50 strokes.
- Pour the batter into a large pastry bag fitted with a plastic coupler and no pastry tip. The coupler is the perfect width, about 1/2". Pipe the batter on to the parchment with the circles. Let the cookie batter go to just inside the edge of the circle line. Preheat the oven to 350°F. and let the piped batter dry for about 30 minutes.
- Bake cookies for 12 minutes. Let them cool completely. Meanwhile, carefully remove the bottom parchment with the circles and reuse it on another large cookie sheet covered with a clean piece of parchment paper. Repeat the above piping and baking process.
- Let all the cookies cool completely before filling. Place about 1/2 teaspoon of jam in between 2 cookies. You should have about 20 sandwich cookies when you're done. Voila! You just made French macarons. You're awesome!
- Store covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
[email protected] says
These are sooo pretty! And I love all the step-by-step photos. You’ve inspired me to try my hand at macarons 🙂
April @ Girl Gone Gourmet says
On the first try?? Wow, awesome job — I’ve never made macarons, but have heard they can be tough to master. Although, everything you make looks so good I’m not surprised you pulled these off so easily — love the pink 🙂
Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife says
These look so good! I love macarons, they are so pretty! I’ll be trying these raspberry ones!
meagan says
Ugh! I knew the ingredients seemed scarce for this amount of cookies! I was only able to make 20 cookies following you measurements to the T, not 40… 🙁
Mom Loves Baking says
I’m sorry. The cookies I made were small. Macarons are just very tricky.
Charlie says
I just used this recipe. They did not come out right at all. Maybe next time I shouldn’t double the recipe the first time I’m making them. But I’m trying to figure out what went wrong
Mom Loves Baking says
I’m so sorry! Macarons in general are extremely tricky. I never tried doubling this recipe. That could be the problem.
Laura says
Do you have other macaron recipes?
The raspberry recipe turned out PERFECT
The first time I made it 🙂
Mom Loves Baking says
Hi Laura, Yay! I’m so happy to hear that! Just curious, which brand of almond flour did you use? I’m sorry that I don’t have any more macaron recipes at this time but hope to have more in the near future.
Becky says
Can you freeze these?
Mom Loves Baking says
No, I don’t think so.
Rachel says
Just made these and had an Elle Woods moment of “what, like it’s hard?” So easy and so delicious! I ended up only able to make 10 cookies instead of 20 and I don’t think mine were much bigger than 1 1/2″ but they came out perfect
Mom Loves Baking says
Haha! Yay! Tag your photo #momlovesbaking on Instagram for a chance to be featured on my feed with 193K followers! :-))
Lidia says
Hi! The first time I tried this, I think I over mixed the batter, and that resulted in no feet. I became so discouraged, but my love of cooking made me try again. Right now I am waiting for the Macarons to dry out. And I will update on how it goes! Also Mom Loves Baking, I thank you so much for the pictures!
Lise Ode says
Hello Lidia, I’m so glad you’re trying them again. Keep us posted!
Lidia says
Hi again! They came out wayyyy better than I was expecting! Some of them cracked, and that might be because of I just dropped the tray from one way. But at least they had feet this time!! I’m so glad they turned out. I wish I could send a picture. Also I am not the best at piping so I had large, medium, and small macarons. But my family loved the size difference! I will definitely be making these over and over again!❤
Lise Ode says
Hi Lidia! Hooray! That’s great news. I’d love to see a photo. If you’re on Instagram, tag your pic with #momlovesbaking and I’ll see it, then share. :-))
Lidia says
Hi, Lise! Sadly I’m too young to make a Instagram account even though I am turning 13 in a couple months. I would really like to, but I can’t 🙁 I do have a photo so I could email it to you!
Lise Ode says
Hi Lidia, No worries. I love that you are starting so young with your baking adventure. Yes, email it to me at [email protected]. :-))