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These raspberry macarons are tangy, sweet, and melt-in-your-mouth amazing! Since my trip to Portland when I tried raspberry Macarons at one of their famous bakeries, I became obsessed with recreating the ones I tried. They were in-sanely good. So I’ve made hundreds of macarons over the past month.
I also knew that we needed to make a video to share the recipe with you because it’s crazy important for you to see what “flowing like lava” really means. I adopted the macaron base and stirring method from Martha Stewart’s March 2014 Living Magazine because it seems to be the most fail proof.
I admit there were several moments of near pulling my hair out over the past few weeks as I tested and retested batch after batch after batch, but I was stubborn as tree sap on my favorite blouse, and let me tell you, it was worth it! Mastering these cookies made me feel like a baking ninja. I’m sharing ALL my secrets to success so hopefully you’ll get it right off the bat! Before you get excited and start, READ THIS:
Watch How to Make Macarons:
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How to Make Great Macarons (Tips for Success):
- Read through the recipe first, watch the video, and measure out all of your ingredients before starting.
- Weigh your almond meal and confectioners sugar. When I use store-bought large AA eggs, I don’t weigh the whites or the granulated sugar since it’s an exact 1/4 cup granulated sugar.
- Do not use wax paper. Use parchment or silpat (but let the cookies cool before removing them or they will stick).
- If you store almond meal in the fridge, bring it to room temp. Egg whites must be room temp also.
- Do not overbeat egg whites – they should not be dry and breaking.
- Sift your dry ingredients; very important or your macarons might be hollow.
- When mixing your flour and meringue batter, Do not overmix or undermix: When you pipe the cookies, the peaks should settle down into themselves within 10 seconds.
- Let your cookies rest before baking – this is important to form the feet. Rest anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour
- When I bake in 2 batches, my first set always bakes in 15 min and the second one takes 13 min (maybe my oven gets hotter the second go-around?). Keep an eye on it. Cookies should not turn golden in the oven, except ever so slightly underneath.
- Cookies taste best the next day – refrigerate overnight and bring to room temp to serve.
- If you can’t find freeze dried raspberries, they are pretty inexpensive online.
- Deep Breath. YOU CAN DO IT! 🙂
- Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
What You’ll Need to Make Raspberry Macarons:
- A digital kitchen scale
- A good food processor
- A spatula
- Parchment paper or silpat to line baking sheets
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer (I prefer the hand mixer for more control)
- A sieve to sift flour and strain raspberries
- A pastry piping bag with a large round tip (a disposable bag will do and if you’re brave, you can make due with cutting the tip off to make a round 3/8″ tip – I’ve seen it done)
- This little dusting wand from OXO is really fun to use
Here is the Print friendly recipe for how to make macarons:
Raspberry Macarons Recipe (Video Tutorial)
Ingredients
Ingredients for Macarons:
- 70 grams about 2/3 cup almond meal/flour
- 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
- 1/4 cup freeze dried raspberries
Ingredients for Raspberry Buttercream:
- 3/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
Instructions
How to Make Raspberry Macarons: Prep: Line 1 XL or 2 regular baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
- In the bowl of a good food processor, combine almond meal and powdered sugar and pulse twice to combine then process for 1 1/2 min. Sift through a sieve into a large bowl, pressing down on clumps with the back of a spoon. You should have about 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of solids left over in the sieve - discard those (If you have alot more, pulse them a few more times in the food processor).
- Place 2 egg whites in a large bowl and beat until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar then increase to high speed and beat 2 1/2 min or until stiff glossy peaks form.
- Add sifted almond mixture and fold with spatula from the bottom of the bowl upward then press the flat side of your spatula firmly through the middle. Repeat until batter flows like lava and thick ribbons form as it flows off the spatula. (35-40 complete strokes).
- Fit a pastry bag with a large (3/8" wide) round tip and transfer batter inside. Pipe 3/4" round cookies onto the lined baking sheet, keeping them 1" apart. Drop the sheets 6" over the counter to release air bubbles about 15-20 times.
- Place freeze dried raspberries in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin until they are a powder. Use a small sifter or tea ball to dust the tops of the cookies with raspberry powder. Let cookies sit at room temp at least 30 min or until they form a thin film over the top and don't stick to your finger when poked. Meanwhile, complete steps 1 & 2 of the frosting (see below).
- While cookies are resting, Preheat Oven to 300˚F with rack in the center. Bake 15 min. If they didn't all fit on one sheet, bake in two separate batches. Slide parchment paper and cookies onto the counter right away and cool to room temp (15 min). Now you can finish off step 3 of the frosting and pipe frosting generously onto half of your macaroons and sandwich gently with the second cookie shell.
How to Make the Raspberry Buttercream Frosting:
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine 3/4 cup raspberries, 3 Tbsp granulated sugar and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Heat until bubbling.
- Mash up the raspberries with a spoon then push the mixture through a sieve, pressing on the raspberry seeds to get the most juice out. I got 1/3 cup syrup. Keep the syrup/juice and discard seeds. Let cool to room temp.
- In a medium bowl, beat 6 Tbsp butter until whipped and white (2 min on high), Add in room temp raspberry syrup and beat until whipped and fluffy (2 1/2 to 3 min on high). You can add powdered sugar to taste if a sweeter cream is preferred.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
I love that these raspberry macarons are sweet and sour – I find them irresistible. Do you have a favorite macaron flavor?
Hi, thank you for you recipe. I have a question, just tried to make it and as for me batter was just perfect, but feet did not form and they did not rise. Do you have an idea what can be done wrong. I will be highly appreciated your help. Thank you
Hi Victoria, I would highly recommend reading through the tips for success in this post. Sometimes omitting a step can affect the outcome. I had a similar experience to yours for a long time and almost quit on macarons before I realized how important it was to sift. I hope that list helps with troubleshooting.
Thank you for such a quick answer.
I have another question, if I do not have food processor, can I use hand mixer or any other alternative?
Thanks again.
Hi Victoria, a few of my readers have reported good results using a high powered blender such as blendtec or vitamix.
Is there really no confectioners sugar in the frosting? Is it really just butter and raspberry purée. I am making these with my granddaughter and want to make sure we get it right. Thanks for sharing your beautiful cookies!
Hi Paula, yes, besides the raspberries, sugar, lemon and butter there is nothing else in the buttercream! Please let us know how you like the recipe!
Hi Natashia, How come my batter too runny, after I put the dry ingredients (almond meal + icing sugar). I noticed your batter a bit dry at first but after you mixed it, it became ok, what did I do wrong here ? please help. This is my first attempt after I saw your video, so exciting to try…hehe.
Thanks in advance
Hi Nancy, Runny batter is usually due to over mixing.
Hi Natasha. I tried this recipe but my raspberry powder on top of the macarons turned black after baking. What am I doing wrong? Thanks
Hi Sharon, that can happen if your oven runs too hot, or if you are using a convection oven. If you see it discoloring, reduce the heat by 15 degrees. Also, make sure to bake in the center of the oven and not too close to the heating elements in the oven.
Please could you let me know how long these can be kept for? Hoping to make some for my daughter’s wedding. Thank you
Hi Sharon, These can be frozen in an airtight container up to 3 months or refrigerated for about a week, just bring them to room temperature to serve. What an exciting time it must be for you all, congratulations to your daughter!
Hi Natasha!
I noticed in your video that you’re taking your macaroons out of the oven from the lower rack ( not middle rack). Perhaps, this is it why many people get brown raspberry top instead of red. Majority of people would bake on the middle rack if nothing is specified in the recipe. Can it be a problem? The position of the rack?
Hi Yelena, I think it just looks that way in the video. You can see I have a second rack underneath that one. I bake in the center of the oven so the cookies are sitting in the center of the oven. I think it has to do mostly with variances in oven temperatures. Browned tops indicates too high of heat. I would suggest decreasing the temperature by about 10-15 degrees and testing it that way. I hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you, Natasha, for your kind and prompt reply! 🙂
You’re welcome Yelena! 🙂
Thank you, Natasha, so much for your kind reply!
You’re welcome Yelena!
Hi Natasha!
I made these macaroons. First batch raspberry powder turned brown, and even with lower temperature and less time of baking the raspberry powder wasn’that pretty like on your photo. I wonder if it’s better to powder macaroons AFTER the baking not BEFORE. What do you think? Will it work?
Thank you!
Hi Yelena, are you possibly using a convection oven setting where the air circulates and bakes the macarons faster? If so, you would need to reduce the temperature even further since browned tops usually indicate an overly hot oven. I have tried doing it after and it doesn’t stick well to the macarons.
Thank you, Natasha!
My second batch turned out quite nicely. I did lower the temperature to 275 F. Macarons were a total delight!
Thanks again for all your hard work! Your recipes make my family very happy! 🙂
You’re welcome Yelena! I’m glad to hear that. Thanks for following and sharing your great review!
Was wondering if you could put the freeze dried raspberries in the batter instead of on top?
Hi Janis, I think that could work but I haven’t tested it to provide specific instructions. If you experiment, let me know how it goes! 🙂
I sure will. Wish me luck
Perfect, I look forward to seeing how it goes!
I made these today and they look great except all the freeze dried raspberries turned brown on the top! I made some plain so those look delicious but the others ………well why did my raspberries burn? 300 oven bottom shelf and 16 min! Anne
Hi Anne, not all ovens are created equal and it sounds like yours might run a little hot. Also, be sure you are using the conventional oven setting, not convection. I would suggest turning the heat down slightly and seeing if that helps. Maybe at 275˚F
Hi Natasha! I am trying not to use sugar in my diet. But would like to try this recipe. Is there substitute for powdered sugar? I know you can use powdered stevia, but you use small amount to replace powdered sugar. Any ideas? Thanks.
Anna, I’ve never tried that substitution so can’t make a recommendation. Macarons and picky on the ingredients so you might need to google for alternatives.
Love love love your blog and your always positive happy attitude. And keep shining the Light!
So I made the macarons and we enjoyed them even though they didn’t completely turn out. I am so bummed they weren’t perfect though 🙁 I had them bake at 300 for 12 minutes and took them out because they had browned. But they grew so so beautifully. I bit into one and was surprised to find out it was hollow and chewy.
I noticed in your video you only piped 35 “halves” (for lack of better word) while the recipe says it yields 21 cookies meaning you’d need 42 halves. I piped and ended up with 48 halves.
So could it be that my oven was too hot AND I piped them too small? They really were pretty browned..
Also, how can I get the filling to be less buttery? It’s delicious, but perhaps there’s a way to make it less buttery-like more tart??
Hi Lily, It does sound like the combination of the oven being too hot (some ovens really do run hotter than others) and the cookies being too small. I had 7 rows of 6 cookies = 42 halves. They are easiest to count at the 4:34 mark in the video. You can add more sugar to the cream by adding it to the strawberries and it will seem less buttery if it is sweeter. If adding more syrup to the butter, add it in just a little at a time or it will be difficult to blend together.
Oh, I guess I didn’t see the row of the 6th cookie. My bad! Thank you for replying so quickly! I’ll be trying them again today so we’ll see how goes 🙂
Thank you!
My pleasure Lily, glad to help!
So I’ve made these quite a few times. Amazing! But I can never get my butter fluffy like yours. It almost looks curdled 🤔 and it’s really hard to get it out of the pastry bag. I’m wondering if my house is too cold for “room temp”.. is that a possibility?
Hi Anna, I could be wrong, but I don’t think house temperature would cause that unless you lived in a refrigerator :). If they look curdled, it might be due to using a raw sugar (larger granules), or not processing the almond flour in a food processor, or lack of sifting. I sure hope that helps!! 🙂
The cookies themself turn out fabulous. It’s when I go to mix the butter & the raspberry syrup, it just don’t fluff up.. I use the super fine white sugar, let my butter sit out for many hours, but it just won’t fluff. I wish I could show you a picture so it would make sense..
Hi Anna, could it be that there is too much syrup added? Try adding a little bit at a time and letting it incorporate into the butter before adding more. I hope that helps! 🙂
hello
I tried ur recipe and it was a big success I was so happy
can u plz give me the mesures for 60 pc
Hi Kiki, this recipe makes 21 macarons (2 sided cookies). If making 60 macarons, I would suggest making the batch 3 times or you may have to make some modifications in the method.
Hi Natasha! I love watching your videos on Facebook, you are to precious! I had a question about this recipe. Do you have to use the almond meal or can that be substituted with something else?
Hi LaTricia and thank you for the compliment 😀. This recipe does required the use of almond meal.
You are very welcome 🙂 Thank you so much! I need to get some of it then, I really want to try these!
Of course! Please let me know what you think of the recipe when you decide to make it!
Hi Natasha, can I use strawberries instead of raspberries for the cream? Or will the consistency not be the same?
Hi Tammy, Strawberries don’t provide quite as much flavor for the same amount of syrup as raspberries. Start with cooking 1 cup of strawberries and add the same amount of syrup (1/3 cup) to the buttercream and then add more to taste, keeping an eye on the consistency of the buttercream – it is difficult to blend if you add too much sauce. You could also try cooking down the strawberry juice to a more syrupy consistency before adding it to concentrate it before adding.
Hi, dear Natasha)
I have tried making macaroons following your recipe and piped them bigger than yours. Not toog big, but bigger. So, i baked them for 15 min and they came out having perfect shape but were a bit soft and chewier than have to be.
Should i keep them a few min longer? I am afraind not to overbake😮😉
Hi Viktoriya, I always stick to this size for macarons because it is easier not to make the adjustments, but I am assuming they would need a little longer in the oven if they are larger.
Can you please tell me what you added to your Macaron Recipe to get them to come out so white? I have made this recipe several times and my macrons never come out white like the ones in the photos in your post. By the way, thank you for the great recipe. I have tried numerous recipes over the past two years and your recipe results in consistently great macarons every time.
Hi Donna, I didn’t add anything different or do anything special. I wonder if maybe it could be due to using a raw (golden colored) sugar? Or possible an almond flour that is darker (some have brown flecks which is not recommended here). Finally, could it be that your oven is running too hot and discoloring the macarons?
Very pretty macarons! Have you had any problems with the filling? I couldn’t get the butter to mix properly with the raspberry syrup. It was a soupy mess.
Hi Mary, I am always happy to help troubleshoot. Did you possibly add more of the raspberry syrup than what the recipe calls for? That can make it difficult to mix it in, or if the sauce is chilled when added to the softened butter – it would harden the butter and make it difficult to work with. Make sure to use an electric hand mixer to beat those together – it takes a couple minutes and doesn’t seem like it would come together but eventually it will. I hope that helps!
Thanks so much for the reply! Yes, it’s possible I added too much syrup. I’ll try it again because the taste was fabulous, even with the powdered sugar I added to get it to mix together.
hi natasha, i was wondering if you have a step by step pictures for this recipe. i print your recipes & have a whole binder full of them because your directions are so clear & its easier for me to make. & besides my moms birthday is coming up & i want to make these but it is harder to follow through the video with always pausing & running around. please let me know. thank you so much.
Hi Emily, usually (not always), when I have a video on recipes, I do not add step-by-step photos due to time constraints for doing both. Sometimes I bend my own rules when I have time, but with this one, we only have the video tutorial.
Hi Natasha,
I was making macarons but when I took them out of the oven they all cracked…I did all steps you provided on the recipe , but this is my second time with no luck…what am I doing wrong?
Hi Tamara, be sure to read through the Tips for success section and watch the video to see where things might have gone wrong. When I first began making macarons, I made so many batches that cracked simply because I thought I could get away with not sifting and when I added back in the sifting step, it made all the difference for me. I hope that list helps – it covers most troubleshooting issues with macarons.
Thank you Natasha! I actually was sifting the ingredients , but I use organic sugar and grinding it myself…maybe that’s the problem?
Hi Tamara, macarons are so fickle with changes in ingredients, I suspect that could be it if the sugar is not milled to a consistent texture.
Mine also crack (volcano) in the same batch 1/2 turn out good the other 1/2 no. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Lana, It may help to tap the baking sheet firmly against the counter 3-5 extra times to get out any air bubbles. That might be the culprit if half turn out and the other half don’t. I also wonder if your oven possibly does not heat evenly? This might be the case if it seems like they crack on one side of the pan.