Two-toned Raspberry Macarons With a Twist

This is not your regular macaron. When you bite into this one, you will be met with not only the silky texture of the buttercream, but also a splash of perfectly balanced tanginess and sweetness of wild raspberries.

Step 1: Tools and Ingredients

Time: approximately 1 hr 30 mins

20-30 mins making and piping out the shells

30 mins letting it set, preheating oven, making buttercream and jam

15 min cooling the shells

12 mins baking the shells

10 mins piping the buttercream and jam

Kitchen tools:

Small saucepan

Wooden spoon

Piping bags + round tip

Kitchen weigh

A spatula

A sieve/sifter

Hand mixer

Parchment paper and flat baking pan/macaron template pan

Ingredients:

For the shells:

80 grams almond flour

110 grams confectioners sugar

2 large egg white at room temperature

40 grams granulated sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

purple food colouring

For the filling:

1 cup raspberries

2tbsp granulated sugar

1tbsp lemon juice

1tbsp water

6tbsp (1 stick) softened unsalted butter

Tips and tricks

Take your butter and egg out of the fridge 2 hours beforehand.

If you don't have a macaron baking pan, print off some macaron template and put them under your parchment paper to ensure all of your macaron will have the same shape.

You can use the leftover egg yolks to make some delicious crème brûlée.

You can also mash up other fruits like strawberries and blueberries when making the jam.

To store your macarons, put them in a sealed container in the fridge. They can last in there for up to 3 days before the shells start to get hard.

You can decorate the top with dark chocolate like I did! It balances out the sweetness of the macaron with a nice, bitter taste.

Step 2: Mixing Your Ingredients

Mix together your confectioners sugar and almond flour in a small bowl.

Grab your eggs, separate the egg whites into a large bowl.

Have your sugar by your side and start beating the egg whites with your mixer.

Keep beating until you have soft peaks, meaning it is white in colour but still has a bit of a liquid texture.

Gradually add in 1/3 of the granulated sugar at a time as you continue beating your egg whites.

Keep beating the egg whites until you have stiff and glossy peaks. This mean it should be completely white in colour and nothing will fall out if you lift the bowl and put it upside down over your head.

Do not overmix! Stop mixing when you have stiff peaks!

Step 3: Mixing

Sift in the almond flour/confectioners sugar mixture.

Using your spatula, scoop up the mixture from the bottom of the bowl then move on to scraping the sides of the bowl until you reach the top, then fold the mixture over the middle. All of this should be done in one swift motion. Repeat this motion around 20 times.

Do not overmix! Your macarons will not have any "feet", which is the part at the bottom of the shells that

Step 4: Adding Some Colour

Your mixture should look like the one in the image.

Now get another bowl, and dump around half of your mixture into their.

Get purple food colouring and add around 5 drops.

Using the folding technique, fold the two mixtures 10-15 more times. Remember to mix the white mixture before the purple one!

Don't worry if the food colouring isn't perfectly mixed in.

Step 5: Filling Up Your Piping Bag

Fill up two separate piping bags with the mixtures. You can use either disposable ones or reusable ones.

Get another piping bag and put the round tip in. Then cut off the tips of the two bags (if you're using disposable ones) and put the two bags of mixtures into the bag with the piping tip.

Step 6: Piping Your Macarons

You are all ready to pipe your macarons now! Pipe it out like you regularly would, but remember to pipe at a 90 degree angle above the pan.

Pick up the pans and drop them on the table a couple of times to let the air bubbles out, this will be loud.

Leave them rest for around 30 mins. In the meantime, we will preheat our ovens to 300 degrees fahrenheit and make our filling.

Step 7: Raspberry Jam

Grab your lemon juice, water, sugar, and raspberries and throw them in a small saucepan.

Heat at medium heat and crush your raspberries again the side of the pot with your wooden spoon until it looks like something out of a horror film. Heat until the mixture bubbles.

Now we need to separate the seeds from the jam. Put a sieve over a bowl and dump in the jam. Using the back of your spoon, push the jam out into the bowl below.

Step 8: Making the Buttercream

Dump your softened butter into a bowl and mix at high speed until fluffy. Grab your raspberry jam and put 3/4 into it. We are saving the 1/4 for the special filling.

Mix together the jam and butter using a mixer.

After the jam and butter are thoroughly incorporated, fill it up in a piping bag with a small rounded or flowery tip.

Step 9: Baking the Shells

Now, your macarons should be ready to be baked. Throw them in the oven for 12 mins.

While they are baking, let the buttercream chill aside.

After they are done, let them cool for around 20 mins. Do not touch them because they are extremely fragile fresh out of the oven.

If you have the little "feet" like the macaron in the picture, then it means you were successful in making the ideal macaron and you did not overmix.

Step 10: Fill Em Up!

I used a flowery piping tip because I felt fancy, but any small rounded piping tip would work.

First, you want piping a round circle around the middle of the macaron. This way, the buttercream will act as a barrier for the jam. Next, using a spoon, scoop the jam into the middle of the buttercream. Finally, get another shell that's around the same size then sandwich it on top.