Strawberry Macarons

February 27: National Strawberry Day

The pride of Poteet is the annual Strawberry Festival. The tiny town has a Texas-sized celebration of the luscious red fruit. We have a “berry” good time sampling the shortcakes, breads, pies, cheesecakes, ice cream, shaved ice, jams/jellies/preserves and many other strawberry delicacies. But we have not seen strawberry macarons anywhere on the menu yet! In the meantime, we can make them at home with a farm-fresh filling from pureed strawberries organically grown in Texas. And even though the Poteet Strawberry Festival and strawberry season are still a few months away, we can still enjoy strawberry macarons on National Strawberry Day and throughout the year.

Recipe

(Adapted from I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita)

For the stawberry macarons

• 1 cup almond flour/meal
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 egg whites (aged overnight at room temperature)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• ½ teaspoon strawberry flavoring/extract
• pink food coloring (we used Wilton brand)

Directions

Sift the almond flour/meal with the powdered sugar. Make a simple syrup to stabilize the egg whites by boiling the sugar and water together until it reaches a temperature of 245 degrees F on a candy thermometer (or until it reaches a soft ball stage).

Whip the egg whites until peaks form. Pour the simple syrup into the egg whites and whip again until stiff and glossy. Stir in the almond flour/meal-sugar mix until the consistency “flows like magma.” Stir in the strawberry flavoring.

Tint the macaronage with pink food coloring. Make the desired shade slightly darker as the macarons will bake a lighter color. Fill a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe one-inch discs on a parchment paper on top of an insulated baking sheet. Let the discs air dry to develop a thin skin for at least 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Watch the “feet” develop, but be careful not to brown or burn the macarons.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Peel off the macarons from the parchment paper. Sort by size and match pairs. Make the filling.

For the strawberry buttercream filling

(Adapted from Sprinkles)

• ¼ cup whole strawberries
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• pinch of salt
• 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar, sifted
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla

Directions

In a blender, puree the strawberries. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with a pinch of salt. Gradually blend in the powdered sugar until well combined and fluffy. Mix in 1 ½ tablespoons of strawberry puree (reserve the rest for another recipe). Stir in the vanilla. Fill a piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe in the filling and sandwich the macarons together. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the filling set. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Notes

• Click on our Mac Attack page to see more macarons.