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Raspberry Macaron with a fresh raspberry on top
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Raspberry Macarons

Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 25 1½ inch macarons

Equipment

  • Digital scale (or dry measuring cups and measuring spoons)
  • Silicone spatula
  • Piping bags
  • Round piping tip (e.g., Wilton #12) – optional
  • Airtight storage containers
  • Parchment paper
  • Plastic wrap (optional)

Ingredients

Macaron Shell Ingredients

  • Use my Italian Meringue Macaron recipe (or your favorite macaron shell recipe)
  • Super Red Americolor Gel Food Coloring (optional)

Raspberry Buttercream Filling Ingredients

  • cup (approximately 250g) of my Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe
  • 3 Tbsp-⅓ cup (50-75g) Raspberry Sauce (to taste) or an equal amount of Raspberry Jam
  • cup (80g) Raspberry Jam, in piping bag

Instructions

Making Macaron Shells

  • Follow the instructions in my Italian Meringue Macaron recipe until it calls for adding the food coloring. Add 10-15 drops of the red gel food coloring to achieve a deep red color. You might need more or less to achieve the desired color.

Making Raspberry Buttercream

  • Combine the Italian Meringue Buttercream with the raspberry sauce and mix to combine. The more raspberry sauce you add, the thinner the buttercream will become.
  • If too much sauce is added, the buttercream will start to break and look curdled. If this happens, start by increasing the speed of your mixer for a couple minutes. This can sometimes bring the mixture back together and smooth it out. If that doesn’t help, just add a scoop of fresh buttercream at a time and mix to combine until the buttercream smooths back out.
  • You could also use an equal amount of raspberry jam instead of raspberry sauce. Both taste great, but I preferred the fresher and less sweet flavor of the raspberry sauce version.

Filling the Raspberry Macarons

  • Place the raspberry buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a round piping tip. Alternatively, you could cut the tip off the piping bag without using a tip if you would like. I personally prefer using piping tips because the finish is usually smoother.
  • Place the raspberry jam into a piping bag and cut off the tip of the bag to create a small hole.
  • Pair up the macaron shells so both sides of the sandwich are approximately the same size. Flip half of the macaron shells upside down (i.e., one side from each cookie pair) and pipe a ring of buttercream around the outside edge of the flat side of the macaron shell.
  • Fill the center of the buttercream ring with raspberry jam. Then, place the other half of the cookie on the filling and gently press the shell down to push the filling to the edge of the cookie.

Storing Raspberry Buttercream

  • Store the raspberry buttercream in an airtight container at room temperature up to three days, in the fridge up to a week, or in the freezer for up to a month. Bring the buttercream to room temperature and mix it on medium speed in a stand mixer to return it to spreading and piping consistency.

Serving Macarons

  • Macarons are delicious the day they are made, but they are even better after maturing in the fridge. Place your filled Raspberry Macarons in an airtight container and store in the fridge for 24 hours. If you need to stack the macarons to make them fit in your container, place a sheet of parchment paper between the layers. This will keep the shells from hitting and scraping each other, in addition to avoiding any sticking that might happen from condensation.
  • After 24 hours, the flavor will have matured and the shell will be slightly chewier. Serve them at this point OR place the airtight container in the freezer to keep them for longer.

Storing Raspberry Macarons

  • Raspberry macarons should not be stored at room temperature for extended periods of time. The moisture from the jam will begin to soften and break down the macaron shells. The cookies will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for 1-2 months. To store in the freezer, keep the cookies in an airtight, freezer-safe container. It’s best to individually wrap the cookies in plastic wrap. This provides an extra barrier against the freezer and provides a surface other than the cookie for condensation to cling to.
  • To eat the cookies, only remove the ones you need and bring them to room temperature with the plastic warp still on. This will keep the condensation from making the cookie soft.

Notes

The prep time for this recipe indicates how long it should take to combine the buttercream with raspberry sauce, place the buttercream and jam into piping bags, and fill the macarons.  It takes longer than 15 minutes to create all of the individual components (i.e., the macaron shells, raspberry sauce, and plain Italian meringue buttercream).