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Soft and chewy on the inside, crisp on the outside, you won’t believe how easy it is to make these delicious Strawberry Macarons! A beautiful pink twist on the classic French macaron, you’ll have so much fun making this strawberry macaron recipe!
Are you thinking of getting some cute pink macarons for Valentine’s Day? Why not try to make your own? Macarons may look complicated to make as the French macaron can be a bit tricky. However, if you follow this simple strawberry macarons recipe, you can totally make these from scratch, no problemo!
Want more delicious desserts? Try my Molten Chocolate Lava Cake or my Easy Chocolate Covered Strawberry.
Why You’ll Love These Strawberry Macarons
- It’s cheaper than store-bought. Perfect for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, and birthdays, you can save some money by making these at home.
- They’re so good. You’ll love this strawberry cream filling for macarons. Not only is this pink macarons recipe pretty, they’re delicious as well.
- They’re freezer friendly. You can freeze the shells for later! Make a batch ahead of time to save time.
What You’ll Need to Make the Homemade Macarons
For the French macaron shells
- Powdered sugar
- Almond flour
- Egg whites
- Sugar
- Red or pink food coloring
Strawberry Cream Filling for Macarons
- Unsalted butter — softened
- Powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Vanilla extract
- Freeze-dried strawberries
- Milk
How to Make Strawberry Macarons at Home
How to Make Shells
- Prepare the baking sheet: Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Combine the dry ingredients: Use a food processor to pulse the powdered sugar, almond flour until fully combined and rid of lumps. Sift the combined ingredients into a large bowl.
- Make the meringue: Beat the egg whites on low speed until they start to get foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar and increase the speed. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. Add in the food coloring and whisk to combine.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients: Add the meringue into the dry ingredients and use a silicone spatula to gently fold the two together.
- Pipe the shells: Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Pipe about 1-inch disks onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Remove any air bubbles: Firmly tap the baking sheet 5 or 6 times on the counter to bring any air bubbles to the surface and then use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
- Let the shells rest before baking: Let the macarons rest for at least 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 325°. Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes, rotate the pan every 5 minutes to ensure even baking and coloring.
- Let cool: Remove the macarons from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. Gently peel each cooled macaron off of the mat and match up with a similarly sized cookie.
How to Make Strawberry Filling for Macarons
- Beat the butter: In a medium bowl with a hand mixer beat the butter until smooth and creamy add half of the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
- Add the rest of the ingredients: Add the other half, salt, vanilla, and strawberries. Mix until fully combined. Add the milk and beat for 5 minutes or until smooth and fluffy. If the buttercream is too thick you can slowly add more milk until the desired consistency is reached.
- Pipe the macarons: Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Pipe your desired amount onto the inside of one shell and sandwich together with the matching cookie.
Why Don’t My Macarons Have Feet?
If you over-mix your batter, your strawberry macarons may not rise properly and have feet (don’t worry, it doesn’t affect the taste of the macarons!). When you overmix, the macarons shell will spread too much while it bakes and not form any feet.
It’s also important not skip the part where we let the shells sit before baking. You should be able to gently run your finger over the surface of the macarons without any getting on your finger by the time they’re ready to be baked. This helps force the air in the batter to escape from the bottom edge of the shells and form feet. While I suggest resting for an hour, the time will vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
FAQs
You can get mats with circles printed on them to pipe the shells evenly. You can also place a template under your parchment paper to follow, just be sure to remove the template before baking. Also, be sure to pipe the shells straight down and not angled.
Your strawberry macarons might crack if you under-mix your batter as there is too much air in your batter that ends up bursting during the baking process.
I use freeze-dried strawberries to flavor the buttercream, giving it a delicious strawberry taste to the macarons.
You can! You can put sprinkles on top of them before resting the shells before baking if you’d like. Nonpareils sprinkles are best for macarons. You can also drizzle some melted chocolate over top of the macarons after you’ve assembled them.
Place leftover strawberry macarons in an airtight container before storing in the fridge. Enjoy within the week. They’ll soften over time so enjoy them as soon as possible!
If freezing macarons, let them “mature” in the fridge for 24-48 hours and then transfer them to a freezer airtight container and freeze for up to a month. When ready to use the shells, thaw macarons a few hours in advance before piping with the filling.
No, you need almond flour to make French macarons. Regular flour will not work for this recipe.
Freeze drying is when you dehydrate and remove all liquid from an item. So these strawberries have no moisture to them but retain all their nutrients!
More Desserts To Try
- Lemon French Madeleines Cakes
- Strawberry Jam Linzer Cookies
- Cheesecake Brownie Fudge Bars
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
- Coconut Cheesecake Bars
I hope you enjoy all the recipes I share with you, including this delicious Strawberry Macarons recipe. I hope you try it, enjoy it, rate it and share it with your friends and family!
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Strawberry Macarons
Ingredients
For Shells:
- 1⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3 whole large egg whites
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1-2 drops red or pink food coloring
For Buttercream:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup freeze-dried strawberries, finely crushed
- 3 tbsps. milk, more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
For Shells:
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Use a food processor to pulse the powdered sugar, almond flour until fully combined and rid of lumps. Sift the combined ingredients into a large bowl. If you do not have a food processor you can just sift the ingredients together. Set aside
- In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until they start to get foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar and increase the speed. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.
- Add the meringue into the dry ingredients and use a silicone spatula to gently fold the two together. Add in the food coloring and whisk to combine. The batter should be fully combined and not streaky. The batter is ready when it falls off of the spatula in a thick ribbon. It should not be too runny.
- Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Pipe about 1-inch disks onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Firmly tap the baking sheet 5 or 6 times on the counter to bring any air bubbles to the surface. Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles.
- Let the macarons rest for at least 1 hour. You should be able to gently run your finger over the surface of the macarons without any getting on your finger.
- Preheat your oven to 325°. Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes, rotate the pan every 5 minutes to ensure even baking and coloring.
- Remove the macarons from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet.
- Gently peel each cooled macaron off of the mat and match up with a similarly sized cookie.
For Buttercream:
- In a medium bowl with a hand mixer beat the butter until smooth and creamy add half of the powdered sugar and mix until combined.
- Add the other half, salt, vanilla, and strawberries. Mix until fully combined.
- Add the milk and beat for 5 minutes or until smooth and fluffy. If the buttercream is too thick you can slowly add more milk until the desired consistency is reached.
- Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. Pipe your desired amount onto the inside of one shell and sandwich together with the matching cookie.
Notes
- You can get mats with circles printed on them to pipe the shells evenly. You can also place a template under your parchment paper to follow, just be sure to remove the template before baking.
- Be sure to pipe the shells straight down and not angled.
- Be sure not to over mix the batter for the shells.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
This looks so good! Can I make other flavors with this base recipe?
this was my first time making macarons and i followed this recipe and they came out perfect, i got so many compliments ! amazing recipe.
Hi Cam,
So happy to hear that! Glad you all enjoyed it!
what other fillings can I use in place of strawberry?
Yummy but some family members have strawberry allergies.What other fillings could be used?
You can use the filling recipe from my red velvet macarons https://www.cookinwithmima.com/red-velvet-macarons/
Excellent! The strawberry macaroons came out delicious! Highly recommend this recipe!
Thanks so much for the review Marilyn. Glad you enjoyed it.
I made theses and they were really good and easy tysm for sharing the resipe!!
Hi Sofia!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for leaving a review.