Raspberry Macarons

Earlier this year my friend Tracy asked me to make macarons for her wedding. I was very tempted to say yes right away but also realized this is going to be one of the most important days of her life! I thought about the logistics of making 200 macarons and wondered if that was doable in my kitchen before I agreed to take on this project. Would it stay fresh for the wedding? How far in advance do I have to make them? How long would it take? How would we package and transport them? I had only been baking macarons for a few months now so I was so honored when Tracy asked me. I had to say yes and it was truly and rewarding experience.  Thanks Tracy for trusting me to be part of your big day!

When I agreed to bake macarons for the wedding earlier this year I was unsure as to where I will be later in the year. I had planned to move to the West Coast but did not have a definite timeline when Tracy and I discussed this project. Before I knew it the time came and I was prepping my kitchen for the biggest baking batch I have ever done! The reason I did not blog about this right away was because I was preparing to move across country to San Francisco where I am now. This is also why my blog has been on a bit of a break since my last post. I promise I will get back up and running when I am settled in 🙂

Tracy’s wedding color is pink and grey. She wanted to give macarons to her guests as wedding favors.  We decided on pink as the macaron shell color and settled on raspberry buttercream as the flavor. Tracy helped search for a variety of different packaging that would fit the macaron well and also protect it from cracking. We went back and forth with a few different kinds and settled with these super cute boxes.

One of the biggest challenges was achieving the same size and shade of pink for each of the 200 macarons. Because an electric oven distributes heat unevenly, it can cause each batch to look slightly different. Color discrepancy is also more noticeable on lighter colors because less food coloring is used.  What causes the macaron shell size to differ happens during the piping and banging steps. Using a stencil under the parchment paper will definitely make it easier to pipe close to the same amount of batter for each macaron. The step after piping is banging the baking tray on your kitchen counter. This step helps lessen the air bubbles during the piping process and prevents hollow macarons.  However, it also widens the macaron batter and makes it slightly bigger.  A stiffer batter will make smaller macarons because the batter does not spread as easily when the baking tray hits the kitchen counter.

I had a ton of fun baking so many macarons. It was a true test of how much I loved making macarons because after baking so many I still wanted to make more during my final weeks in Boston 🙂 Hint… more macaron posts to come!

Follow my basic french macaron recipe to make the shell.

Raspberry Buttercream

Enough for 16 macarons

1/4 cup salted butter
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 tsp of raspberry extract

Print or Email