Candy Cane Macarons with Buttercream Filling are dainty and festive French pastries made of meringue, almond flour, powdered sugar and filled with candy cane buttercream filling.
This batter macaron recipe is not too sweet and you can also control the amount of sugar in your filling. A great give away for family and friends this holiday season.
It seems every time I have a macaron post, we are celebrating a milestone. Yes, indeed Today’s Delight is celebrating another milestone today! We hope you guys had a Happy Thanksgiving.
We like to thank everyone who has visited our site and continue to support us. Because of you, Today’s Delight had a great productive year and continues to progress. Again, thank you so much.
Since learning how to make French macarons, I have made hundreds of these beautiful cookies in solid or multi color. If this is your first time to make it, don’t be discourage if you don’t get it right the first time. You're not alone.
You will ultimately get it, once you achieve the right meringue consistency and the technique of folding for batter consistency or macronage.
Macronage is the process when the almond mixture is added to the meringue, forming a batter that is smooth, shiny and continuously flowing but not runny.
When I started of making macarons, I didn’t just pick a recipe and made it. I read people’s experiences and took notes of what worked and what didn’t.
But the best advice I can give you is “practice makes perfect”. Not perfect at times, but you are learning from your mishaps. Mine is not always perfect!
I was lucky enough the first time I made it, it turned out great, not perfect with nipples but it looked and tasted like macarons.
After making it a few times, I got so over confident and that’s when I encountered under or over mixed macarons. It was a very good learning experience.
Check out my first post, it is more detailed and I have listed what I have learned in the process of making this dainty cookies.
Honestly, once you get the hang of it, it's easy peasy.
Tips in Making Macarons
Get everything ready. Ingredients, bowls, sieve, measuring cups & spoons, spatula, piping bags, piping tip, mixer, toothpick, food coloring gel, parchment paper, baking sheet etc. I mean everything. Once you start this process, you have to be quick.
If this is your first time, just make a single recipe and once you get the technique then double the recipe.
Strain sugar and almond flour once, but twice doesn’t hurt.
Mixer bowl should be clean and no trace of grease.
Egg white should be room temperature and not have a speck of yolk, or else it won’t form a fluffy meringue. A properly made meringue is the foundation of a successful macarons. Whip until you reach stiff peaks. Stiff peaks is when a ball of egg white mixture sticks to the bottom of whisk attachment and doesn’t fall.
Don’t let egg white mixture stand too long before incorporating the almond flour mixture.
Another key to a successful macaron is when mixing almond flour mixture to meringue. Add ½ of the almond flour mixture to meringue, fold it clockwise using a spatula starting from the top, then scraping the sides to the bottom and upward motion then press batter gently
Once piped, leave macarons on the counter for about 20 to 30 minutes until the top surface is dry to touch. This is a must. Macaron batter should not stick to your finger.
My first attempt when I made macarons, I used a pink gel coloring and it baked perfectly except the top was brownish. I found that some people solved this issue by placing a baking sheet at the very top rack and it worked.
Issues of Macarons When Batter Consistency or Macronage is Not Right
Under mixed macaron - When batter is under mixed, macarons tend to crack.
Over mixed macaron - When batter is over mixed, it becomes runny. Mixture when piped will spread, will not form a feet with hollow shell when baked.
Macarons stick to parchment paper after baking - It will detach easily from parchment paper if fully baked. Make sure oven temperature is right. Best is to use a thermometer. Also, another thing I’ve noticed when I made the Multi-color Macarons, too much gel coloring makes it stick.
Note: I can’t really give you the number of strokes needed to achieve the right macronage. I have noticed when humid, I have to fold less than my normal way of doing it. So I don’t really believe that doing a certain # of strokes you’ll achieve a successful macaron.
How to Make Candy Cane Macaron with Buttercream Filling
Recipe
Candy Cane Macarons with Buttercream Filling
Ingredients
Macaron Cookies
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¾ cup almond flour
- 2 egg whites extra large room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- gel coloring optional
- 2 candy cane crushed
Buttercream Filling
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 candy cane crushed (optional)
Instructions
Step One
- In a big bowl, sift almond flour and powdered sugar at the same time. Combine both ingredients and mix well.
Step 2
- On another bowl, separate egg white from yolk making sure no traces of yolk gets into the egg white. Place egg whites on mixer bowl.
- On low speed, beat egg whites for 3 minutes until frothy. Then add the cream of tartar. Raise the speed to medium, slowly adding a third of the sugar every minute until it forms soft peaks.
- Add the gel coloring and vanilla and increase the speed to high until it forms stiff peak.
- Stop beating when stiff peak is reached. To check if you have reached this stage, the whisk will have a ball of mixture sticking to it. if you remove the whisk and invert up side down, the mixture does not fall.
Step 3
- Pour half of the sifted almond flour and powdered sugar mixture to the meringue. It is easier to incorporate almond flour mixture if you only pour half at a time.
- This step is crucial. When mixing, use a spatula to fold the mixture clockwise starting from the top, scraping the sides, down to the bottom and upwards. Press the batter in the center to remove air bubbles using the spatula. By continuing this motion, batter will turn smooth and shiny. It will be thick but not runny like a pancake batter. When scooping the batter with the spatula, it will fall off slowly forming a ribbon. Macronage has been reached, time to stop folding.
- Note: When you scoop the batter with the spatula and mixture flows freely or continuously like a runny pancake batter that indicates it was over mixed. This is not the right consistency and there is no fix for this.
Step 4
- Pour the macaron batter into a pastry bag with a round tip or #12.
- Use a template and pipe macaron batter. You’ll end up with about 30 cookies.
- Normally, I poke the air bubbles or nipples with a toothpick but because I’m topping it with candy cane bits, no need to do it. Be quick on topping it with candy cane since it will dry quickly.
- Tap the baking sheet against the counter about 4 times to get rid of air bubbles.
- Leave macarons on the counter for about 20 to 30 minutes until the top surface is dry to touch. The macaron batter should not stick to your finger, if batter sticks let it sit for another 15 minutes and check again. When dry, it is ready to go to the oven.
Step 5
- Place an empty baking sheet at the top rack to avoid browning of macarons.
- Pre-heat oven at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and bake macarons between 15 to 18 minutes. Sometimes mine takes about 16 to 17 minutes. Baking time may vary depending on oven model. Use a thermometer to achieve right temperature.
- Leave macarons on the baking sheets for 15 minutes to cool down. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 6
- Sort macarons and pair similar sizes.
- Pipe candy cane buttercream filling on half macaron, then sandwich filling with the other half macaron.
- Refrigerate in an airtight container or freeze for 5 months.
- How to Make the Strawberry Buttercream Filling
- Crush candy cane using a mortar and pestle, knife or a blender.
- In a mixer, cream butter until smooth. Then add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.
- Add vanilla and candy cane bits. Beat until combined.
- Place in the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up filling.
- Use a piping bag or a zip lock to pipe filling.
Video
Notes
- I have attached my original video "How to Make French Macarons". The only difference with this French macaron recipe is you add the candy cane bits as topping and filling.
- If you like to make a multi-color macarons, at the end of this video, watch my other video, "How to Pipe Multi-Color Macarons". I used multi-color for this candy cane macarons.
Nutrition
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