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You can totally make these Heart Shaped Macarons! It’s easier than you think, especially when you use this print-friendly heart template that I created just for you.
These darling heart-shaped macarons are perfect for baby showers, bridal showers, birthday’s, princess parties, and especially as Valentines Macarons! And, macarons are naturally GLUTEN FREE!
They taste irresistibly good with the tangy-sweet lemon buttercream sandwiched between the sweet almond cookies. These look just like French bakery macarons and you’ll definitely impress your family and friends. Watch the video to learn exactly how to make homemade macarons!!
Watch How to Make Heart Macarons:
If you’ve never made macarons before, be sure to read through our tips for making perfect macarons and why it’s important not to skip steps like sifting!!
Here are all of the tools that I used in the video:
Heart Macaron Template (free printable)
Boos Cutting Board
Glass Mixing Bowls
KitchenAid Hand Mixer
Cuisinart Food Processor
Silicone Baking Liner
Citrus Juicer
Mesh Strainer/Sieve
OXO Food Scale
Silicone Spatula
Wilton #2A Round Decorating Tip
Silpat Macaron Kit (with piping bag, round tip & food coloring)
⬇️ Print Friendly for Heart Macarons:
Heart Macarons with Lemon Buttercream (VIDEO Recipe)
Ingredients
For the Heart Macarons:
- 70 grams about 2/3 cup almond meal/flour, room temp
- 120 grams about 1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
- 2 large egg whites, about 65 grams, room temp
- 50 grams exactly 1/4 cup leveled granulated sugar
- 1 " strip Red or Pink GEL food coloring
- Sprinkles, optional
For the Lemon Buttercream:
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners, powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, from 1 small or 1/2 large lemon
Instructions
How to Make Heart Macarons:
- In the bowl of a food processor, add 70 gm almond flour and 120 gm powdered sugar. Pulse twice then process 1 1/2 min. Sift and discard any solids (should be less than 1 Tbsp solids in sieve).
- Put 2 egg whites in large clean/dry mixing bowl and beat until foamy, then gradually add 1/4 cup granulated sugar and beat on high speed about 2 1/2 minutes or until stiff glossy peaks form. Add 1" strip red gel food coloring and fold with spatula just until incorporated.
- Add all sifted almond flour/sugar mixture and fold with spatula using this method: scrape batter around the bowl, then press the flat side of the spatula firmly through the center. Repeat until batter flows like lava and thick ribbon forms as it flows off spatula (35-40 complete strokes).
- Print 4 copies of heart template and place on 2 baking sheets under silicone liners or parchment paper (AVOID WAX PAPER) - you'll be able to see the hearts through your liner to guide you as you pipe hearts. Transfer batter to large piping bag fitted with 3/8" round tip. For each heart, pipe at the top left and pull down towards the bottom center then pipe at the top right and pull down towards the bottom center and flick the end up if it gets long.
- Add sprinkles to as desired. Firmly tap baking sheets over counter 15-20 times to release air bubbles. Poke any remaining obvious bubbles with toothpick. Let cookies sit at room temp 30 min or until no longer sticky to the touch - they should form a thin film on top. Meanwhile preheat oven to 300˚F.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 12-15 min at 300˚F. I usually do 15 minutes for the first batch and 12 minutes for the second batch - somehow my oven gets hotter the second batch. Let cookies cool to room temp before removing them from baking sheet. Once cool, they should slide off easily. Meanwhile make buttercream (see instructions below).
- To assemble, flip over half your cookies and pipe generous amounts of frosting onto the flat sides, piping in a heart shape. Find a well-matched unfrosted second half and sandwich cookies together.
How to Make Lemon Buttercream:
- In a medium mixing bowl, cream 6 Tbsp softened butter on high speed for 2 mins.
- Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (1/2 cup at a time and beating to incorporate between additions), along with 1/8 tsp of salt and once sugar is incorporated, increase to high speed and beat 2 mins.
- Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice and beat another 1 minute or until whipped and fluffy. Transfer to the same clean piping bag fitted with the round 3/8" tip.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Love macarons? Make sure you try our well-loved raspberry macarons!
Q: Do you have any fun plans for Valentines Day? Whether you’re spending it with your best girl fran or your special someone, I want to know how you celebrate. I love hearing from you! I’m pretty certain we’ll be dining in with either filet mignon or lobstaaaa!! 🙂
Hi Natasha! I tried these cookies out and they were wonderful! I also loved how detailed and easy to follow this recipe is. How could I make these chocolate flavored?Thanks in advance! 😃
Hi Anna, I’m glad you loved them! I honestly haven’t tried making a chocolate version of this recipe yet. If you do an experiment, please share with us here how it goes.
Hello Natasha. I made these cookies and they were wonderful! The recipe was super detailed and easy to follow. How could I make these chocolate flavored? If I were to add a tablespoon of cocoa powder, would the dough turn out too thick? Thanks in advance! 😃
Hello Anna! Nice, thank you for your good comments and feedback! I haven’t personally tried that yet but I saw someone else shared and commented this “To make chocolate macs, I add 1 tbsp of cocoa powder after combining the almond flour and confectioners sugar.” I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha! I love your recipes 🙂 Can I use flour or cake flour vs. almond flour/meal? My children are allergic to nuts.
Thank you!
Hi Melissa, I haven’t really tried using an all-purpose flour or another flour to advise. If you decide to do an experiment please let us know how it goes.
Hello I need heart temper paper can send me pls pls thanks
I love watch your cooking
Hi, I have a link to it in the post above.
Do I leave the paper template underneath my parchment paper?will it not burn in the oven?
Hi Marie, I haven’t had any issues with turning the paper upside down (so the marking isn’t touching your food).
Do you leave the paper template underneath?won’t it burn in the oven?
Hi Marie, the parchment paper should not burn. Make sure it is parchment paper and note regular paper.
Hi Natasha, I love watching your videos! To me you are an inspiration and are so optimistic! I adore that. My macarons did not turn out like they thought they would. When I took them out of the oven, they were still sticky and stuck to the pan. So, I stuck them in the oven for 5 more minutes and they still were sticky. I tried to get them off of the parchment paper. I don’t know if I did something wrong or if I over or under mixed something, but I tried my best to follow the recipe exactly and made sure that my mixtures and other things look very close to the ones in the video. Again, I love watching your videos and I hope you can help me with my problem.
Hi Molly, check out the troubleshooting section that we shared in our raspberry macarons post which may help.
Thank you so much!
Hi Natasha! We’ve had a couple of failures with our macarons, so I went to look for your troubleshooting section in the raspberry macarons post but didn’t see it?
Love your recipes!!
Hi Terry, here is our Raspberry Macaron Recipe and scroll down to the section titled: “How to Make Great Macarons (Tips for Success)” – also watching that video on raspberry macarons will help.
Hi Natasha!
This is my first time making macaroons. I do not want to use food coloring, but at the same time, I do not want them completely white. That is why I ask if I could use cocoa instead. Would that work or will it have a big impact on the macaroons?
Than you so much!
Hi Ann, I bet this could work with cocoa. I haven’t tested this myself to advise on incorporating that. If you experiment – I would love to know how you like that.
Hi! I use natashas recipe. To make chocolate macs, I add 1 tbsp of cocoa powder after combining the almond flour and confectioners sugar.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Is there an alternative I could use instead of Almond flour?
Hi Tharushi, I haven’t really tried using an all-purpose flour or another flour to advise. If you decide to do an experiment please let us know how it goes.
Hey Natasha,
So I decided to give you good news. I finally succeeded!! They look inviting and taste heavenly. I am speechless and I can’t thank you enough for this amazing recipe.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing that with me!
Hey Natasha, today was my third attempt for macarons. They didn’t have feet and were runny. The first two times I did them I faced the same problems, in addition to them being burned from the bottom. How can I fix the problems? The recipe was great though, so thanks.
Hi Sofia, we are more than happy to troubleshoot, it is hard to say without being there. It sounds like they are being over-mixed or ingredients not measured properly. Was anything altered in the recipe? Please see our tips section in the recipe. This post on measuring is highly recommended as well.
I read the tips and saw the measuring video more than once. Nothing was altered in the recipe. When I mix the ingredients then don’t come out as thick ribbons of lava it’s just runny..and I have no idea how to fix that. And the egg whites aren’t quite stiff… the peaks just fall over.
Hi Sofia, it sounds like the egg whites are under beaten and that is likely the culprit if you have a runny batter. Make sure to use egg whites from eggs (some egg white cartons have additives) and beat until you have stiff whites. Also it could have to do with a high humidity area or if your bowl had any oil in it, the whites will have a harder time beating to the right consistency. Lastly, make sure to use a high powered mixer (a handheld whisk would be difficult to achieve the right consistency).
Okay, I will give it another try and take these tips into consideration. Hopefully, I get it right this time. Thank you for the amazing recipe and for your help.
Hi Sofia, that could be the culprit! I would recommend beating the eggs slightly longer to get the correct consistency.
Hi Natasha,
I have never made macaroons before. Yours look so yummy! Is it possible to substitute almond flour with all purpose flour. My kid is allergic to nut and I’m looking for an alternative way to make these yummy macaroons. Thanks so much!
Hi Tracy, I haven’t really tried using an all-purpose floor to advise. If you decide to do an experiment please let us know how it goes.
Hi I attempted to make these but failed in the process and I’m really sad about that it’s my first time making Macarons and sadly I failed I really wanted to make these for my classroom but again they didn’t turn out as good as I saw your video sad……
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that! Was anything altered in the recipe? I recommend reading through all of the tips. Have you looked at our post on measuring?
Hello,
Do you leave the heart shape template in while baking? Is it safe, not going to cause a fire? Thank you!
I have the same question. Hope somebody answers.
She’s wrong 70 grams = 1/2 cup
oh yeah. good eye
Hi Taylor, make sure it isn’t compacted. We weighed with a digital scale to confirm our measurements.
I’d love to make these but my mom isn’t fond of buttercream. I’d like to make a cream cheese frosting. Do you think I could replace the butter with cream cheese or should I do equal parts of both?
Hi Luba, you could do a different frosting. Equal parts of butter and cream cheese would work but I would suggest extra powdered sugar in the frosting. It would be similar to this lemon cream frosting.
I’m considering trying this. I noticed that I don’t have a pastry bag/piping bag. Would a plastic bag work do you think? Thanks, I’m really into cooking and love your website by the way. 👍
Hi, a plastic piping bag would still work but try to avoid handling it in warm hands too long since heat will transfer a little faster in a clear plastic piping bag.
This lemon buttercream is AMAZING! It’s my go to lemon buttercream recipe. You definitely need to follow the directions and whip for the time specified. It’s so fluffy and flavorful! Thank you so much for the recipe Natasha!
You’re so welcome Holly! Macarons can be tricky I’m so happy you enjoyed our recipe!
They came out so flat. What I have possibly done wrong?;(
Hi Ryna, read our “Tips for Success” Section on our original macarons which covers most macaron troubleshooting issues. I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha, I have two questions. Do we grease the parchment paper?
And I got 2 baking sheets and don’t know should I bake them at the same time in upper and lower level or bake them separately letting the second sheet more dry? Thank you!
Hi Svetlana! Thank you for that great review! No, do not grease the parchment paper! If you can fit both pans side by side great, otherwise I do recommend one at a time since the bottom tray can block the heat from getting to the top tray properly.
They came out perfect! Just for some reason started cracking which made me panic. I covered them with parchment paper and put towel on top. Cracking stopped. I thought I should share it. Thank you again Natasha! Your recipes the most trustworthy. And yummy!
I made 2 batches and I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong the bottoms keep coming out flat but the heart keeps shape on top. Please help
Hi Melissa, I hope I am understanding your question correctly, but a macaron is supposed to be flat on the underside (the part that touches the baking sheet as it bakes) so when you sandwich the two sides together, the flat portions are facing each other. I hope that answers your question!