How to Guides

Blue macarons are brilliant and picturesque.

You can make alluring blue macaron flavors like cotton candy, birthday cake, or cookie monster macarons!

Cotton Candy Macarons

Cotton candy macarons are made by adding cotton candy food flavoring and blue gel food coloring to macaron batter.

The center filling is a cotton candy white chocolate ganache. Cotton candy food flavoring is added to hot cream and white chocolate to create this deliciously sweet and fun flavor of macarons.

Birthday Cake Macarons

Birthday cake macarons are made by adding a small amount of blue gel food coloring to macarons batter.

Sprinkle a few rainbow sprinkles on top of the macarons after piping so they have the beautiful rainbow color against the vibrant blue macarons.

Birthday cake macaron filling is made by adding vanilla cake mix to a vanilla buttercream icing. You can add food coloring to the filling of the macarons if desired.

Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

Blueberry cheesecake macarons are made by adding blue gel food coloring and blueberry powder to macaron batter.

Blueberry cheesecake macarons are filled with 2 different fillings. The first is a white chocolate cream cheese buttercream icing. Melted white chocolate is added at the end of making cream cheese buttercream icing to make the icing extra sweet and tangy.

The second filling is a blueberry compote. Blueberry compote is made by making a sugar syrup with blueberries, and thickening it with corn flour or cornstarch.

The macarons are assembled by piping a ring of white chocolate buttercream around the edge of the macaron shell. The center filling is a spoonful of blueberry compote.

All sandwiched together these blue macarons have a burst of blueberry and cream cheese flavors.

Earl Grey Macarons

Earl grey macarons are made by adding blue gel food coloring and ground up earl grey tea leaves to macaron batter.

Early grey macarons are filled with earl grey buttercream icing.

Early grey tea leaves are added to a buttercream icing base to create this mesmerizing tea macaron flavor.

Taste test, and add more tea if necessary to have a punch of earl grey flavor.

Cookie Monster Macarons

Cookie monster macarons are made by creating a batch of white macaron batter, and a batch of blue macaron batter.

The blue macarons are piped out, and have blue sprinkles dusted on them.

The white macaron batter is made only for the “eyes” of the monster.

Pipe 2 small circles on top of the blue macarons after they have dried for about 15 minutes.

Let the macarons dry for another 30 minutes prior to baking.

When they come out of the oven, you can draw on the eyes with an edible marker. Learn how to make character macarons.

The cookie monster macarons are filled with chocolate ganache, and a small chocolate chip cookie in between the macaron shells.

Blue Raspberry and Cream Macarons

Blue raspberry and cream macarons are made by adding a small amount of blue gel food coloring to macaron batter.

The cream filling of the macarons is made by adding heavy cream to cream cheese and sugar icing. The cream filling is rich and flavorful for your macarons.

Fresh raspberries are added in the middle of the cream coated macaron shells, making them look striking against the blue macarons.

White Chocolate Ganache Macarons

White chocolate ganache macarons are made by adding a hint of blue gel food coloring to macaron batter.

White chocolate ganache macaron filling is made adding hot heavy cream to white chocolate wafers. The hot cream melts the white chocolate and it becomes a rich, chocolatey filling for your blue macarons.

You can create your own striking blue macarons by adding a little blue gel food coloring in your macaron batter.

When you’re coloring your macarons, make sure you put enough gel food coloring in.

The color of your macaron batter should be darker than you want, prior to adding your meringue.

When you add your meringue, this stretches the color and makes it a lot less intense in color.

Learn how to color macarons if you haven’t colored macarons in the past.

Green macarons are beautiful, vibrant, and full of tasty, sweet flavor.

You can color your macarons green by using a small amount of gel good coloring with your macaron batter.

When you’re coloring your macarons, make sure you put enough gel food coloring in.

The color of your macaron batter should be darker than you want, prior to adding your meringue.

When you add your meringue, this stretches the color and makes it a lot less intense in color. Learn how to color macarons if you haven’t colored macarons in the past.

Matcha Macarons

Matcha macarons are made by adding a spoonful of matcha powder to the macaron batter.

The matcha powder is vibrant green in color, so there’s no need to add any food coloring to get these beautiful green macarons.

Matcha macarons can be filled with a variety of fillings including white chocolate ganache, dark chocolate ganache, or mango buttercream.

Mojito Macarons

Mojito macarons are made using your favorite macaron recipe, and then adding a hint of green food coloring to the macaron batter.

Mojito macarons are filled with 2 different fillings.

The first is a mojito ganache, made by adding rum bakery emulsion flavoring, lime oil, fresh lime juice, chopped up fresh mint leaves to a white chocolate ganache base.

The second filling is a lime center made of sweetened condensed milk, fresh lime juice, and lime zest.

The ganache is piped in a ring around the edge of the macaron shell, while the sweet lime center is piped in the middle of the macaron shell.

Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

Mint chocolate chip macrons are made by adding your favorite green food coloring to your macaron batter. You can also add some peppermint extract to the batter if desired (1/4 tsp of peppermint extract).

After you’ve piped your macarons, add tiny chopped up pieces of chocolate chips to the tops of the macaron shells prior to them drying.

Once the macaron shells have baked, you can fill them with mint chocolate chip buttercream icing. To make your mint chocolate buttercream, add dark chocolate chips and peppermint extract to your buttercream icing.

Pistachio Macarons

Pistachio macarons are made by adding pistachio paste and green food coloring to macaron batter.

Pistachio macarons are filled with a sweet pistachio white chocolate ganache filling.

To make the pistachio white chocolate ganache, pistachio paste and green food coloring are added to a white chocolate ganache base.

Caramel Apple Macarons

Caramel apple macarons are made by adding mint green food coloring to macaron batter.

After you’ve piped your macarons, freeze dried granny smith apples are added to the tops of macaron shells prior to baking.

Fill your caramel apple macarons with caramel sauce or salted caramel sauce for a sweet and tasty green macaron.

Lemon Basil Macarons

Lemon basil macarons are made by adding your green food coloring to macaron batter.

Lemon basil macarons are filled with lemon basil curd, making it taste tart, sweet and savory.

Lemon curd takes a bit of practice and patience to make it’s sharp tasting and creamy delicious curd.

Coconut Key Lime Macarons

Coconut key lime macarons are made by adding shredded coconut, coconut extract, toasted coconut, and green food coloring to macaron batter.

Coconut key lime macarons are filled with key lime buttercream frosting. Key lime buttercream frosting can be made by adding fresh lime juice, and lime zest to the base of buttercream icing.

Kiwi Macarons

Kiwi macarons are made by adding green food coloring to macaron batter.

Kiwi macarons are filled by making your own kiwi jam using fresh kiwi, lime juice, a sugar syrup, and gelatin to thicken it up.

Macaron shells can be flavored with many different foods including extracts, dried foods, herbs, and spices. We’ll show you how much to add of each food to flavor your macaron shells.

Extract

Extract can be added to your initial egg whites, before adding your almond flour and icing sugar.

The extract is a liquid ingredient, therefore it will emulsify better with the egg whites.

You can add 1/4 tsp to flavor your macaron shells with extract.

Coffee

Coffee is a dry ingredient, therefore you can add it with your almond flour and mix well prior to adding it to your egg whites.

You can add up to 1 tbsp of coffee grounds to your macaron batter to flavor your macaron shells.

Tea

Tea needs to be emptied out of the tea bag and placed into a mortar and pestle.

Grind up the tea. You don’t need to grind it until it forms a powder.

You still want to be able to see the tea leaves.

By grinding up the tea, this will release the aromatic flavors of the tea into the macaron shells.

You can place the tea into your batter with the almond flour and icing sugar.

This way, it will be evenly distributed in your macaron shells.

You can add 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of ground up tea to your macaron shells.

Cookie Crumbs

Cookie crumbs are a dry ingredient, therefore you can add it with your almond flour and mix well prior to adding it to your egg whites.

You can add up to 1 tbsp of cookie crumbs to your macaron batter to flavor your macaron shells.

Cocoa Powder

Cocoa powder is a dry ingredient, so you can add it in with your almond flour.

Depending on how chocolatey you want your macaron shells, you can add 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of cocoa powder. A little goes a long way.

Nuts

Nuts can be roasted to make the flavor more intense for your macaron shells.

Nuts need to be pulsed in a food processor and dried out a day in advance prior to adding them to your macaron shells.

You can add ~1-2 tbsp of dried nuts to your macaron shells if desired.

Nuts can release their oils and ruin your macarons very easily.

If you wanted to be safe, you could sprinkle a few nuts on the tops of your macaron shells instead of putting them directly into your macarons.

Freeze Dried Fruit

Freeze dried fruit can be put into a mortar and pestle.

Grind it until it forms a powder. By grinding up the freeze dried fruit, this will release the fruit flavors into the macaron shells.

You can place the freeze dried fruit into your batter with the almond flour and icing sugar.

You can add 1 tbsp of freeze dried fruit to your macaron shells.

Dried Spices

Dried spices are a dry ingredient, therefore you can add them in with your almond flour.

You can add 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of dried spices to your macaron batter to flavor your macaron shells.

Fresh Herbs

Fresh herbs need to be cut up into fine pieces.

This will release the fresh herb flavors into your macaron shells.

Fresh herbs can contain a bit of water, you can blot it with a bit of paper towel.

Add 1-2 tsp of fresh herbs to your macaron shells to flavor them.

Zest

Lime, lemon, or orange zest can be added to macaron shells for a burst of citrus flavor.

Zest contains quite a bit of liquid, so it should be dried out for a day before using it.

If you don’t have enough time, you can blot it with a paper towel to remove the moisture from the zest.

You can add 1 tsp – 1 tbsp of zest into your macaron shells.

Flavoring Macaron Shells after Piping

You can add a sprinkle of food to the tops of your macaron shells right after piping them.

Any of the above ingredients can be added to the macaron shells to give them more flavor, and an eye catching look to them.

Don’t add too much though, only a little bit in the center.

The food will dry into the macaron shell over the next 30 minutes and will adhere to it.

Once the macarons are baked, the tops of the macaron will look beautiful and be full of flavor.

Flavoring Macaron Shells after Baking

You can add a few extra foods to your macarons after they have baked to give them even more flavor.

Caramel

Caramel sauce or salted caramel sauce can be drizzle on the tops of the macarons for a sweet finish to your macarons.

Melted Chocolate

Melted chocolate can be drizzled on the top of the macaron to give it a chocolatey creamy taste to your macarons.

Icing

Icing can be piped onto the top of the macarons to give your macarons a beautiful look to them.

You can decorate designs like snowflakes, faces, writing, flowers, etc.

The icing will make the macaron have a sweet taste to them.

You can also add a sprinkle of nuts or zest on top of the icing to add more flavor to your macarons if you like.

Macarons can be easily baked in your own home oven, as long as you have the correct temperature needed for your recipe.

To make sure your oven is at the correct temperature, use an oven thermometer to measure the temperature.

If your oven isn’t quite at the right temperature, make the adjustment and wait until it has reached the desired temperature. If the oven is too hot, the macarons will “burn” and have a brown top to them. If the oven is too low in temperature, the macarons will be sticky, and will not come off of the pan.

What temperature to bake Italian method macarons at

Italian method macarons should be baked at 300 degrees F for about 12 minutes.

This ensures the “feet” of the macaron will pop out, and give you a beautiful even round macaron when it comes out of the oven.

How long do you bake Italian method macarons at

Italian method macarons need to be baked for about 12 minutes at 300 degrees F. Depending on how big your macarons are, you may need to adjust the time accordingly. Check them after 12 minutes, if they remain sticking to the pan, bake for 1 more minute and check again.

What pan do you use for baking macarons in a conventional oven

The best pan for macarons is using an aluminum baking sheet in a conventional oven.

• Aluminum is the best metal at conducting heat over other baking sheets like stainless steel
• heats up to temperature faster than stainless steel
• resists warping, and are extremely sturdy and durable
• conducts heat evenly throughout the pan

Macarons require the pans be perfectly clean without any oily residue. Using an old stainless steel pan with oily residue can ruin your macarons, even if you made the batter perfectly.

Do you need parchment paper or a silicone mat to bake macarons in a conventional oven

You do need to have a surface that the macarons will be piped onto separating it from the pan.

Silpat pastry mats fit perfectly in a baking sheet. You don’t have to cut it to fit like you do with parchment paper. Silpat silicone pastry mats produce the ideal macaron that is more round and flat; this gives macarons a more professional look to them.

Parchment paper works well to pipe macarons onto. Parchment paper needs to be trimmed in order to fit on the baking pan you’re using.

When removing the air bubbles of your macarons, parchment paper tends to shift around, unlike using a silicone baking mat. Silicone mats will stay in place.

Hold onto your parchment paper while you bang your pan so your macarons do not move around.

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