Raspberry Macarons Recipe with Chocolate Raspberry Ganache
A reliable Raspberry Macarons Recipe, with Chocolate Raspberry Filling, is a delightful dessert for special occasions. In addition to this recipe, which has proven to be very successful for me, I am sharing my 14 tips for successful macarons and showing the steps in a video.
So, out of curiosity, I just googled the origins of Valentine’s Day and this just may surprise you.
It seems that there was a Roman priest in the 3rd century AD by the name of Valentine. In a nutshell, he was imprisoned for illegally conducting marriage ceremonies for soldiers…it seems that Emperor Claudius II felt that married soldiers weren’t quite as effective as single soldiers and so had outlawed married soldiers.
But there’s more…while imprisoned he fell in love with his jailer’s daughter. On the day he was executed, February 14, he sent a note to her signed ‘Valentine’. And bam…St. Valentine’s Day, celebrated on February 14, was born.
So…puts a little different twist on this day to celebrate love and lovers, doesn’t it?
In any event, given the somewhat morbid origins of Valentine’s Day, the origins of Galentine’s Day celebrated on February 13, is significantly more light-hearted. The brainstorm of fictional Parks and Rec character, Lesley Knope, Galentine’s Day is the day to celebrate the love and appreciation you have for your dearest of girlfriends.
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And what better way to celebrate your girlfriends than with little tokens of affection? This Raspberry Macarons recipe surely fit the ‘little tokens of affections’ bill, if you are looking for ideas.
Macarons have earned the reputation of being difficult and persnickety. While true, there are certain ‘Macaron Rules’ that you must follow in a successful macarons recipe, those rules are really not difficult.
What are some tips for successful French Macarons?
14 Rules for Successful French Macarons:
- Have all ingredients at room temperature
- For meringue, instead of caster or extra fine sugar, you can process granulated sugar through a food processor.
- Use a kitchen scale and measure all ingredients precisely. And for your powdered sugar and granulated sugar, measure AFTER you’ve sifted or processed.
- You can check to see if your finished batter is appropriately mixed by seeing if it ‘ribbons’ when held up by the spoonful and is allowed to run off of the spoon. Alternately, you could put a small dollop on a tray and if the peak ‘dissolves’ so that the top is slightly convex without any peaks.
- Make sure all your equipment is clean and dry. Water and grease are not your friends.
- Hold the piping bag perpendicular to the mat
- Let macarons rest for 30-45 minutes before baking…this creates a hardened ‘shell’ on the top of the macaron, forcing the air out of the bottom of the shell and creating the much desired ‘feet’.
- Use an oven thermometer
- Use a convection oven if possible
- Put one tray in at a time…if you are not sure of your oven temperature reliability, you might consider only piping a couple for the first baking to make sure that they don’t turn brown while baking. This will slow down the process but will increase the likelihood of success.
- Don’t open the oven until you are ready to remove your macarons.
- If they stick to your mat, they are probably a wee bit undercooked…make a note to add a few more minutes the next time.
- The tops and bottoms can be baked in advance as they freeze beautifully!
- Jot down notes on your macarons recipe when you nail down your perfect oven temperature and baking time.
So, what equipment do you need to make French Macarons?
No beating around the bush here, any French Macarons recipe is a little equipment intensive. I would consider all of these, with the exception of the mats and the food processor, necessary for successful macarons.
Equipment I Use for Successful French Macarons :
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- Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. This is the one I have and at this writing, it is actually a really good price on Amazon…cheaper than I bought it on sale at Costco!
- Kitchen Scale …I recently purchased this one after my previous one died. It had served us well…weighing out compost for science experiments in addition to it’s more typical kitchen tasks.
- Sifter or Fine Mesh Colander
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tips (1A for macaron shells. The tip size is not as important for the ganache, but you don’t want a wee one)
- Macaron Baking Mat(optional)
- Food Processor (for processing granulated sugar to finer crystal, instead of needing to purchase caster sugar)
Raspberry Macarons with Chocolate Raspberry Ganache
Equipment
Ingredients
Raspberry Macarons
- 300 grams finely ground almond flour about 3 1/2 cups
- 300 grams powdered sugar already sifted, about 2 2/3 cups
- 110 grams egg whites at room temperature, 3 extra-large, 4 large
- 110 grams egg whites at room temperature (yes...a second set of egg whites), 3 extra-large, 4 large
- pinch cream of tartar
- 200 grams white caster sugar or granulated sugar run through a food processor about 1 cup
- 10 grams raspberry powder or freeze-dried raspberries run through a blender and then sifted to remove seeds
- food color I used Wilton Rose
Chocolate Raspberry Ganache
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 TB seedless raspberry preserves I used Polaner
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate broken into pieces
Instructions
Macarons
- Weigh out almond flour
- Sift and weigh out powdered sugar
- If making powder from freeze-dried raspberries, put them in your blender and process until a fine powder. Sift the powder through a fine sieve, removing the seeds. Measure out 10 grams, reserving the remainder for the ganache and decorating the finished macarons.
- Add almond flour, powdered sugar and raspberry powder to the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to combine. Do not overmix or almond flour will get sticky.
- Weigh out first 110 grams of egg whites and whisk lightly, just until bubbly
- Fold egg whites nto almond flour/powdered sugar/raspberry power blend and fold together with a spatula until paste forms. Do not overmix. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar on high in a stand mixer just until whites are bubbly, then add caster/fine granulated sugar.
- Continue to beat egg whites until hard peaks form when you hold the whisk up...approximately 15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes ( if adding food coloring, add now) and then every couple of minutes thereafter until hard peaks form.
- Gently fold half of the meringue mixture into the batter and then the second half. Continue to fold until mixture resembles a molten lava consistency or it ribbons when you hold the spatula above the bowl. Alternately, add a dollop to a plate, if the peak falls and the macaron is slightly convex, you are ready to go.
- Fill a piping bag, fitted with a 1A tip, with the macaron batter
- Carefully pipe similarly sized circle onto a silicone mat or parchment paper. If you do use a silicone mat, to ensure that the mats are clean, dry and not greasy.
- Hold the piping bag perpendicular to the mat, gently but firmly apply equal pressure and pushing the tip up and down.
- When finished, slam the baking sheets onto the counter a few times to get all of the air bubbles out.
- If using sprinkles, do it now while the macarons are damp
- Let macarons rest for at least 30-456 minutes before baking. Touch the tops of the macarons to ensure that they are dry before putting them in the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 300°F...if you have the convection feature on your oven, definitely use it.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes...1 tray at a time
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes and peel them off of the mat by bending the mat away from the macarons.
- Fill the macarons with the ganache or store in freezer or refrigerator until needed
Chocolate Raspberry Ganache
- Combine cream and raspberry preserves over medium heat and stir until well combined
- Remove from heat and add chocolate bits to cream mixture.
- Stir until chocolate is incorporated
- Let the ganache cool to room temperature before piping between macarons.
Video
Nutrition
If you’d like to refer back to this Reliable Raspberry Macarons Recipe in the future, bookmark this page or pin the following image. And, if you are interested in more fruit and chocolate desserts, I have collected a bunch for you.
Thanks again for spending a few minutes of your busy day with me today.
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Until next time…
Hugs,
Oh my goodness! These are beautiful Lynn! The video is a great resource too!
Thanks friend…coming from you that is a huge compliment!
I’ve now tried this recipe twice with no luck! I have never made macarons before, so I’m sure my failed attempts were user error, rather than a problem with the recipe, but I have no idea how to make this recipe successfully. My first attempt was unsuccessful because I did not sift the almond flour at all before incorporating the sifted powdered sugar and raspberry dust, and my macaron shells came out very very bumpy from my allegedly “super fine almond flour”, purchased from Walmart. My second try resulted in a similar problem, even though I sifted the almond flour four times (before weighing) and then sifting it one more with the other dry ingredients– it was less bumpy, but still had a gritty/gravely texture. When I got to the folding or “macaronage” step, I folded and folded and folded and for the life of me could not get it to reach a glossy/lava like consistency! The best I got was a gritty-looking semi-fluid batter, but it still glopped off my spatula and failed the figure 8 test, grr. At this point, I knew they wouldn’t turn out, so I thought “who the f cares” and did an impromptu experiment by adding more unwhisked egg white to the batter to try and loosen it up. I ended up getting a texture closer to honey/lava, but this was only due to the fact that I added extra moisture, rather than flattening the bubbles in the meringue. They spent 12 minutes in the convection oven and sure enough, no feet and plenty of cracks on the tops– which is most likely from the extra moisture. Not sure if it’s just this recipe I can’t get the hang of, or macarons as a whole, but it really bummed me out! These suckers are not easy!
Oh Anna,
I hate to hear that! Believe me; I’ve had my share of macaron failures as well…they are tricky little beasts!
With ‘grainy’ being the primary problem, I know that your flour says ‘superfine,’ but you may want to try to pulse the almond flour and sugar together in your food processor just for added measure. Don’t overprocess as the almonds will release their oils, creating a whole new problem! Also, are you using superfine sugar? It could be the sugar. If you don’t have superfine sugar, run it through your food processor before you weigh it out.
After the macronage stage, your batter will not be smooth like cake batter; you will still see wee bits of the almond flour. So don’t try to get a perfectly smooth macronage.
I get the frustration. Even after making MANY batches, when I needed to bake a whole bunch for my daughter’s graduation recently, I had tray after tray not perform. Sometimes you need to walk away for a bit and then come back and revisit.
Thank you for the amazing recipes! I tried a different raspberry macaron recipe last weekend and it was a total fail. This one worked for me, and the ganache is sooooo good!! I made some with ganache in the entire middle, and some where I just made a circle around the outside and filled with raspberry preserves. My hubby thought they were heavenly!
YIPPEE Erin!
I am beyond thrilled that you were so successful in your macaron making! Without exaggeration, that is a huge feather in your cap! And I’m all giddy that this recipe worked so well for you! I know that it has been very successful for me, but knowing that others are having equal success just makes me thrilled! Love the idea of the raspberry preserves filling…can’t go wrong there!
Thank you so much for sharing your macaron triumph!
Many hugs, Lynn
This is a very easy to follow recipe and I had success my first time with it. Tried a different raspberry macaron recipe last weekend but they didn’t work. The ganache is to die for, nothing but rave reviews from anyone I have given them to! Follow to the letter and they work fabulously!!
Is there a specific reason, for the almond flour? I’ve used this type of flour, in other recipes and have always found it to be, somewhat peculiar. I don’t use it often enough, to add to my grocery list. Plus, with COVID, the stores have pulled much of their bulk products and almond meal, was one of the items, pulled. Have you ever substituted another flour, with any success?
Thank you,
Cassandra Kettenhofen
Hi Cassandra,
Almond Flour is the traditional flour used in macarons and I have never tried anything else. I have read about substituting pumpkin seed flour, but I have never tried it. Do let me know what you decide to do.
Hugs,
Lynn
This looks so good! What a great treat to make for the weekend!
I agree! In my book, anytime is a good time for macarons!
Hugs, Lynn
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hi Vanessa,
Thankfully, macarons do pretty darned well frozen! Of course, everything is better fresh, but I made a bunch for our daughter’s graduation party and froze them and they were really fine.
Happy Baking!
Hugs, Lynn