Macarons

Gold dusted macarons are striking and glittery macarons. You can add gold dust to macarons to make unicorn macarons or engagement ring macarons for a specialty cookie to serve at a birthday party, wedding, or bridal shower.

Gold dust decorated macarons are more of a upscale macaron. You can fill them with enticing flavors like bubbly champagne buttercream.

How to put gold dust on macarons

Tools and Ingredients

• gold powdered food coloring
• almond extract
• food safe paint brush
• macarons

If you are wanting to paint the entire macaron gold, use the widest food safe paintbrush you have to save yourself time.

1. Place a pinch of gold powdered food coloring in a small jar to “make” your paint in.
2. Add a couple of drops of almond extract to your jar.
3. Mix the jar of almond extract and gold powdered food coloring together. Now you’ve made your paint for your gold macarons. If your gold paint dries out while you’re working with it, add a few more drops of almond extract.
4. Using a food safe paint brush, dip your paint brush into your newly made gold paint.
5. Hold your macaron on a steady surface, and brush your gold paint on top of your macaron where desired. You can even paint the entire macaron in gold paint if you want to. Avoid the icing portion of the macaron, and only paint the shell to make the icing stand out on the macaron. Don’t push too hard on the surface of the macaron shell as it is quite delicate to work with.
6. Let the macarons dries fully for about 20 minutes.

Gold dusted decorated macarons will store well in the freezer for up to 1 month, or up to 3 days in the fridge.

For unicorn macarons, you only need to paint the horn of the unicorn gold. The ears of the unicorn macaron can be painted in a light pink powdered food coloring.

For birthday macarons, you can color a number on the macarons, or birthday candles using gold dust.

Bridal shower macarons can have a ring painted in gold dust on the outer edge of the macarons.

You can also shape the macarons into a ring when you pipe them.

Pipe 1 circle macaron as normal, and then add a diamond shape on top.

Use a toothpick to make the edges of the diamond into a triangle that sits above the circle.

You can color the diamond blue, or white, and the ring of the macaron will be painted with gold dust.

Easter egg macarons are bright and colorful macarons you can add to your dessert table at Easter.

Easter egg macarons use plain macaron batter, and then are decorated using an edible marker or royal icing, powdered food coloring, almond extract, and a food safe paint brush.

Recipe for Easter Egg Macarons

You can use your favorite Italian method macaron recipe to make Easter egg macarons.

You can bake them for the same amount of time in the recipe you use for macarons.

Just make sure the total size of the macarons are about 1.5-2″.

Easter egg macarons can be shaped piped into an oval to look like an egg. You can also just make them into a regular circle if desired.

How to Pipe and Decorate Easter Egg Macarons

1. Make your macaron batter. You don’t need any food coloring added to the macaron batter if you’re making a white Easter egg macarons.
2. To pipe your Easter egg macarons, begin by piping a small oval shape approximately 1.5-2″.
3. Pipe all of your oval shaped macarons the same size.
4. Remove the air bubbles from the macarons by banging the bottom of the baking pan.
5. Let the macarons dry for 30 minutes.
6. Bake your Easter egg macarons for the exact same time it says in the recipe you’re using, and let them cool. Fill your macarons.
7. To decorate Easter egg macarons, you can make royal icing for some fine detail work. Royal icing will dry hard, and you can use piping tips to create small lines on your Easter egg macarons.
8. Another option is to decorate your Easter egg macarons with an edible marker, and draw lines on the cookies.
9. To make your Easter egg macarons full of color, you can make your own paint using powdered food coloring and almond extract.
10. Paint your Easter egg macarons using a food safe paint brush. Criss-crosses, circular lines, triangles, circles, all look beautiful to make your Easter egg cookies.
11. nose using a food safe paint brush.
12. Let dry for 20 minutes. 
13. Store your Easter egg macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Valentine’s day is a day to celebrate the people we love in our life.

Valentine’s day macarons are the perfect gift for your mom, sister, brother, or your significant other.

You can decorate macarons using food coloring, edible markers, royal icing, chocolate or caramel.

You can pipe your macarons into teddy bears, or hearts for a specialty cookie for valentine’s day.

See full video below.

Royal Icing

To decorate Easter egg macarons, you can make royal icing for some fine detail work. Royal icing will dry hard, and you can use piping tips to create small lines on your Easter egg macarons.

Royal icing can be hard to work with. If your icing is too runny, add a little bit more icing sugar to stiffen it up. Then you can write words with it, or make wavy lines for a beautiful look to your valentine’s day macarons.

Caramel or Chocolate Drizzle

To add caramel or chocolate drizzle, place your macarons on a large plate.

Put caramel or melted chocolate into a piping bag, fitted with #2 piping tip.

The flow will come fast, you won’t even need to squish the bag for the flow to come out.

Make one line on 1 half of the macaron. Continue making 2 more lines that criss cross a little to have an elastic band look to it.

You can add nuts or sprinkles to the drizzle to add a pop of color.

Paint

You can paint on macarons using either powdered food coloring or gel food coloring with a couple of drops of almond extract.

Using a food safe paint brush gently paint on your macaron. You don’t want to use too much almond extract. If you pour too much, the color will be more like watercolor paint.

If you just use a little almond extract, the color will be strong and easily painted on the macaron. The color will not run on the cookie.

For valentine’s day macarons, you can paint hearts, or write words on your macaron shells.

Edible Marker

You can draw on your macarons using an edible marker.

You can write words or draw pictures on your macarons for valentine’s day.

Edible marker’s come in all sorts of colors, it’s almost like using a felt pen to draw on cookies.

You don’t want to push too hard into the cookie, since they are quite delicate.

Piping Shapes

Macaron batter can be piped into shapes instead of just a circle for a beautiful gift for that special someone!

You can use a template to create heart macarons, or you can just free hand them.

Heart macarons can be colored pink, or you can have them as plain white batter as well.

If you’re wanting to color your macaron batter, use a little bit of pink gel food coloring to color your heart macarons.

Fill your piping bag with your macaron batter fitted with a 1/2” tip.

Begin by piping one of the round tops of the heart, drag the tip downwards in a diagonal. Continue piping upwards to end at the other round top of the heart.

Take a toothpick and gently guide the point of the bottom of the heart downwards to create a sharp point of your macarons.

Let them dry for 30 minutes, and then bake in the oven for the same time your recipe says.

Valentine’s day heart macarons should be 1.5″-2″ once you’ve piped them.

Teddy bear macarons are adorable to make for valentine’s day. You can color your macaron batter brown, or leave it as plain white.

Fill your piping bag with macaron batter fitted with a 1/2” tip.

Begin by piping a round circle for the head.

Add ears to the teddy bear macaron by piping the ear and dragging the macaron batter downward into the round circle. 

Add arms and legs to the teddy bear macaron by piping the batter in a “star” shape. Start piping the one arm, then drag the tip in an arc to one of the feet, then to the other foot, then to the other arm. 

Fill in the body of the teddy bear.

After you have piped all of your teddy bears, remove the air bubbles from the macarons by banging the bottom of the baking pan.

Add a small circle for the mouth of the bear on top of the round circle in the bottom half of the face. 

Bake the macarons, cool, and fill them.

Add the teddy bear macarons eyes, nose, and mouth using an edible marker.

Easter macarons are vibrant and beautifully colored. You can make shapes with your Easter macarons including bunnies, Easter eggs, and carrots.

You can also decorate your macarons to look like a bird’s nest, or robin’s egg using some food coloring, icing, and a couple of chocolate eggs.

Use your favorite macaron recipe and bake for the exact time in your recipe to make these enticing Easter macarons.

See full video on how to pipe and decorate Easter macarons below.

Bunny Macarons

Bunny macarons are made with plain macaron batter. You don’t need any food coloring added to the macaron batter if you’re making a white colored bunny.

To pipe your bunny macarons, begin by piping a small circle ~ 1″ in diameter.

Pipe one ear off to the side of the circle on the top. You’ll want to drag the macaron batter upward, and then let the batter drip back on to itself to create one ear. Repeat on the other ear.

Use a toothpick to guide both of the ears of the bunny into a point.

Let the macarons dry for 30 minutes.

Bake your bunny macarons for the exact same time it says in the recipe you’re using, and let them cool. Fill your macarons.

Add eyes and eyelashes with an edible marker. Draw 2 wavy lines to create the eyes, then add small lines outwards to create the eye lashes.

Add 2 “U” shaped lines to create the mouth.

Add 2 whiskers on each side of the bunny face.

Use pink powdered food coloring and a little almond extract together to make a paint. Paint the pink color on the inside of the ears of the bunny, and a triangle or round nose using a food safe paint brush.

Carrot Macarons

Carrot macarons are made by coloring your macaron batter with 1/4 tsp of orange powdered food coloring, or a little bit of orange gel food coloring on a toothpick.

To pipe your carrot macarons, begin by piping in a line, and then drag the batter back on to itself.

Guide the end of the carrot into a point by using a toothpick. Push the batter into a point to give it a sharp end.

Next you’ll want to have a very small end on your piping bag.

You might need to move the batter into a new piping bag with a small tip on the end. Your initial carrot macrons you’ve piped should sit for about 15 minutes, then you can start the detail work on them.

Go back to your carrot macarons and pipe a curved line starting at the thick end of the carrot. Pipe curved lines all the way down the carrot.

Let your macarons dry for 15 minutes.

Bake your macarons, and fill them.

Use green powdered food coloring and a little almond extract together to make a paint. Paint the green color on the top of the carrot using a food safe paint brush. You can make a triangle shape a couple of times to create the green part of the carrot.

Easter Egg Macarons

Easter egg macarons can be shaped piped into an oval to look like an egg. You can also just make them into a regular circle if desired.

To decorate Easter egg macarons, you can make royal icing for some fine detail work. Royal icing will dry hard, and you can use piping tips to create small lines on your Easter egg macarons.

Another option is to decorate your Easter egg macarons with an edible marker, and draw lines on the cookies.

To make your Easter egg macarons full of color, you can make your own paint using powdered food coloring and almond extract.

Paint your Easter egg macarons using a food safe paint brush.

Criss-crosses, circular lines, triangles, circles, all look beautiful to make your Easter egg cookies.

Nest Macarons

Nest macarons are made by making royal icing, and coloring the icing brown.

Using a large star tip, pipe the icing in a round circle to make the nest on top of the macaron.

Place 3 colored chocolate eggs into the nest, and they will dry into the nest so they will stay put.

Let the nest dry for at least an hour before storing your nest macarons.

Robin Egg Macarons

Robin egg macarons are made using a sky blue color to make your macaron shells the perfect robin egg color. You don’t want it to be too colored, just a hint of blue is ideal.

After the shells have come out of the oven and cooled, mix together brown food coloring and vanilla extract.

Create the “speckled” robin egg by using dipping a food safe paint brush into the vanilla extract/food coloring mixture and flicking it onto the cooled macaron shells.

Carrot macarons are adorable cookies you can make using orange macaron batter.

Carrot macarons go well alongside bunny macarons, and can be made for a child’s birthday party, or brought to Easter as a specialty dessert cookie.

Carrot macarons are decorated using green powdered food coloring, almond extract, and a food safe paint brush.

You’ll need to pipe the carrot macarons using 2 piping bags.

One piping bag should have a larger end on it (half inch piping tip), and the other should have a narrow tip on it (quarter inch piping tip).

The top of the carrot is the detail work, which is piped after the base of the carrot macaron has dried for about 15 minutes.

Recipe for Carrot Macarons

You can use your favorite macaron recipe and bake for the exact time in your recipe to make these carrot shaped macarons.

You can color your macaron batter by adding 1/4 tsp of orange powdered food coloring, or a little bit of orange gel food coloring on a toothpick.

How to Make Carrot Macarons

1. Make your macaron batter. You’ll need to add orange food coloring to the macaron batter to make the carrot color. You can add 1/4 tsp of orange powdered food coloring, or a little bit of orange gel food coloring on a toothpick and add it to your egg whites when making your almond paste.
2. To pipe your carrot macarons, begin by piping in a line, and then drag the batter back on to itself.
3. Check to see how the carrot macaron looks. If it has a nice point to it, you can make your next carrot. If you need to make the batter into a point for the end of the carrot, guide it by using a toothpick. Push the batter into a point to give it a sharp end.
4. Pipe all of your carrot macarons in the same way.
5. Remove the air bubbles from the macarons by banging the bottom of the baking pan.
6. Next you’ll want to have a very small end on your piping bag. You might need to move the batter into a new piping bag with a small tip on the end. Your initial carrot macrons you’ve piped should sit for about 15 minutes, then you can start the detail work on them.
7. Go back to your carrot macarons and pipe a curved line starting at the thick end of the carrot. Pipe curved lines all the way down the carrot.
8. Pipe all of the lines on the carrot macarons.
9. Let your macarons dry for 15 minutes.
10. Bake your carrot macarons for the exact same time it says in the recipe you’re using, and let them cool. Fill your macarons.
11. Use green powdered food coloring and a little almond extract together to make a paint. Paint the green color on the top of the carrot using a food safe paint brush. You can make a triangle shape a couple of times to create the green part of the carrot (see video below).
12. Let dry for 20 minutes. 
13. Store your carrot macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Bunny macarons are adorable cookies you can make with plain macaron batter.

You can make colored bunny macarons by adding brown, grey, or black food coloring to the macaron batter if desired.

Bunny macarons can be made for a child’s birthday party, or brought to Easter as a specialty dessert cookie.

Bunny macarons are decorated using an edible marker, pink powdered food coloring, almond extract, and a food safe paint brush.

Recipe for bunny macarons

You can use your favorite Italian method macaron recipe to make bunny macarons.

You can bake them for the same amount of time in the recipe you use for macarons. Just make sure the total size of the macarons are about 1.5-2″.

How to Make Bunny Macarons

1. Make your macaron batter. You don’t need any food coloring added to the macaron batter if you’re making a white colored bunny.
2. To pipe your bunny macarons, begin by piping a small circle ~ 1″ in diameter.
3. Pipe one ear off to the side of the circle on the top. You’ll want to drag the macaron batter upward, and then let the batter drip back on to itself to create one ear. Repeat on the other ear.
4. Use a toothpick to guide both of the ears of the bunny into a point.
5. Pipe all of your bunny macarons in the same way.
6. Remove the air bubbles from the macarons by banging the bottom of the baking pan.
7. Let the macarons dry for 30 minutes.
8. Bake your bunny macarons for the exact same time it says in the recipe you’re using, and let them cool. Fill your macarons.
9. Add eyes and eyelashes with an edible marker. Draw 2 wavy lines to create the eyes, then add small lines outwards to create the eye lashes.
10. Add 2 “U” shaped lines to create the mouth.
11. Add 2 whiskers on each side of the bunny face.
12. Use pink powdered food coloring and a little almond extract together to make a paint. Paint the pink color on the inside of the ears of the bunny, and a triangle or round nose using a food safe paint brush.
13. Let dry for 20 minutes. 
14. Store your bunny macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Turkey macarons are one of the most adorable cookies you can serve on Thanksgiving as a specialty dessert.

You can also serve them at a dessert table with an animal themed birthday party, or farm style party.

You can make turkey macarons by piping orange macaron batter (learn how to color macaron batter).

Turkey macarons are made using a 1.5″ or 2″ round macaron.

You can use your favorite macaron recipe and bake for the exact time in your recipe to make these specialty turkey macarons.

Once your macarons have been baked and filled, you can begin decorating your turkey macarons.

Turkey macarons are made by drawing a face, and then adding the colored feathers afterwards.

Begin by drawing the outline of the head using an edible marker. It should be almost a teardrop shape, except it will be missing the pointed part.

Draw the 2 eyes in the upper part of the head. Alternatively, you add 3D eyes by melting white chocolate.

Poke the chocolate with a toothpick, and gently touch the chocolate to the macaron for the eye.

Do a circular motion as you remove the the toothpick from the macaron, it will pick up the chocolate and leave a nice round shaped eye.

Once it’s dried, you can add a touch of food safe black edible marker for the pupils of the eyes.

Draw a pointed nose below the eyes.

Add the feet on either side of the head. Make a “V” shape, and then add a line in the middle for the 3 pronged feet.

Now you can add the feathers. You can make semi circles around the macaron for the feathers for the outer layer.

The inner layer should be in the middle of the outer layer, to look like the feathers have multiple layers.

Once the macaron has dried, you can start coloring in the feathers. You’ll want to wait until the marker dries fully, otherwise the black color will bleed into the feather colors.

Using multiple colors – red, brown, yellow, orange, etc. Color the feathers by varying the colors alternately.

You can make the colors by mixing together food coloring (powder or gel) and almond extract.

Make at least 3 different colors for the feathers.

Using a fine tipped food safe paint brush, gently brush inside the lines of the feathers you’ve drawn on to the macaron.

Once the macarons are decorated, let them dry for 20-30 minutes before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge. You can store them for up to 3 days in the fridge. Or, store them in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Thanksgiving macarons will melt in your mouth when you eat them after your Thanksgiving dinner.

You can make macarons for Thanksgiving by decorating the tops of them into fall leaves, or drawing a turkey with colorful feathers.

You can even shape your macarons into pumpkins with a green leafy vine on the top of it.

Thanksgiving macarons are the perfect addition to a family dessert table.

You can use your favorite macaron recipe and bake for the exact time in your recipe to make these specialty Thanksgiving macarons.

Pumpkin Macarons

Pumpkin macarons are shaped into pumpkins and look more 3 dimensional with the ridges of the pumpkin popping out.

You can make pumpkin macarons by piping orange macaron batter (learn how to color macaron batter) into small circles.

Wait 15 minutes for the small circles to dry, then begin piping the rest of the pumpkin macarons.

Go over the circles with a thinner tipped piping bag to make the ridges.

Start at the side of the pumpkin and make a “C” shape on the edge of the macaron circle. Make another “C” a little further in on the macaron circle. Repeat on the other side of the pumpkin.

Pipe an upside down “J” onto the top of the pumpkin.

You’ll want to pipe the “J” going both ways on different macarons, because it will need to be sandwiched after, so it will line up perfectly.

Therefore you’ll want to pipe half with the “J” going on way, and half going the other way.

Let the macarons dry for 15 minutes.

After the macarons have been baked and filled, you can add a little paint to them to jazz them up.

Make a mix of brown food coloring (powder or gel) and almond extract. Make another mix of green powder or gel food coloring and almond extract.

Using a fine tipped food safe paint brush, you can add brown to the top of the pumpkins for the handle. Add a little green for the vine and leaves if desired.

Leaf Macarons

Leaf macarons are made by outlining a leaf shape using an edible marker.

Add the center part of the leaf by making the line a bit wavy.

Add crosses on the center line.

Make a mix of red, yellow or brown food coloring (powder or gel) and almond extract. You need a pinch of color, and only 1/4 tsp or less of almond extract. The less almond extract, the more potent the color will be.

Using a fine tipped food safe paint brush, color inside the drawing of the leaf you made on the macaron.

Turkey Macarons

Turkey macarons are made by drawing a face, and then adding the colored feathers afterwards.

Begin by drawing the outline of the head, it should be almost a teardrop shape, except it will be missing the pointed part.

Draw the 2 eyes in the upper part of the head. Alternatively, you add 3D eyes by melting white chocolate.

Poke the chocolate with a toothpick, and gently touch the chocolate to the macaron for the eye.

Do a circular motion as you remove the the toothpick from the macaron, it will pick up the chocolate and leave a nice round shaped eye.

Once it’s dried, you can add a touch of food safe black marker for the pupils of the eyes.

Draw a pointed nose below the eyes.

Now you can add the feathers. You can make semi circles around the macaron for the feathers for the outer layer.

The inner layer should be in the middle of the outer layer, to look like the feathers have multiple layers.

Once the macaron has dried, you can start coloring in the feathers.

Using multiple colors – red, brown, yellow, orange, etc. Color the feathers by varying the colors alternately.

You can make the colors by mixing together food coloring (powder or gel) and almond extract.

Make at least 3 different colors for the feathers.

Using a fine tipped food safe paint brush, gently brush inside the lines of the feathers you’ve drawn on to the macaron.

Once the macarons are decorated, let them dry for 20-30 minutes before storing them in an airtight container in the fridge. You can store them for up to 3 days in the fridge. Or, store them in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Snowflake macarons are glittery cookies you can enjoy during the holidays. They make for a gourmet addition to a tin full of Christmas cookies as a gift for family and friends.

If you need some ideas on what to fill your snowflake macarons with, check out these Christmas macaron flavor ideas.

See full video on how to decorate snowflake macarons at the bottom of the page.

You can use your favorite macaron recipe and bake for the exact time in your recipe to make these sparkling snowflake macarons.

You can color your macarons blue, or leave them as plain white.

Place Silpat mat or parchment paper onto an aluminum baking pan.

Pipe macarons as normal using a 1/2″ tip, in a circle ~ 1.5-2″ wide.

Let macarons dry for 30 minutes.

Bake your macarons for the same amount of time in your recipe.

Let the shells cool to room temperature – about 20 min.

Fill Santa body macarons with filling, and sandwich them together.

Dust a small bit of gold powdered food coloring onto a plate. Add a couple of drops of almond extract on top of the powdered food coloring. Use a food safe paint brush to mix them together to create your paint.

Using a pointed tipped food safe paint brush, draw a line across the macaron. Then draw a line perpendicular to the line you just drew so it should look like a cross.

Add a small “v” at the edge of one of the lines. Continue making V shapes along all of the lines until you’ll filled your macaron to the edges with your glittering gold snowflake.

Let the snowflake macarons dry for 30 minutes prior to storing in the fridge or freezer.

Santa macarons are a tasty treat to enjoy during the holidays. They make for a gourmet addition to a tin full of Christmas cookies as a gift for family and friends.

If you need some ideas on what to fill your Santa macarons with, check out these Christmas macaron flavor ideas.

See full video on decorating Santa body macarons at the bottom of the page.

You can use your favorite macaron recipe and bake for the exact time in your recipe to make these Santa macarons.

Color your macaron batter using red powdered food coloring or red gel food coloring.

Red macarons need a little more color than you think, it’s best to use at least 1/2 tsp of powdered food coloring, or more red gel food coloring than you normally would.

Red can turn into pink if you don’t have enough coloring, therefore it’s best to use more than you think you need to.

Place Silpat mat or parchment paper onto an aluminum baking pan.

Pipe macarons as normal using a 1/2″ tip, in a circle.

Let macarons dry for 30 minutes.

Bake your macarons for the same amount of time in your recipe.

Let the shells cool to room temperature – about 20 min.

Fill Santa body macarons with filling, and sandwich them together.

Using an edible marker, draw a thick line to create the belt on the macaron in the lower half of the circle.

Melt a small amount of white chocolate.

Use a toothpick to add 2 dots of chocolate to create the buttons on the Santa body macaron. You could draw on the buttons as well if you prefer.

Dust a small bit of gold powdered food coloring onto a plate. Add a couple of drops of almond extract on top of the powdered food coloring. Use a food safe paint brush to mix them together to create your paint.

Using a thin tipped food safe paint brush, paint a square in the middle of the black belt you drew on the macaron earlier. Add a straight line on the side of the square to create the “belt hook”. See photos below.

Let the Santa body macarons dry for 30 minutes prior to storing in the fridge or freezer.