These strawberry macarons are infused with strawberry flavor in every layer (no artificial flavoring)! So good, you wouldn’t want to share these adorable little heart-shaped treats!
Why you’ll love this recipe:
These heart-shaped macarons are not only adorable, but they’re also insanely flavorful!!! We’re not just infusing strawberry flavor into the shell through the filling, we’re actually incorporating magic strawberry powder into the macaron batter.
I’m telling you, it’s AMAZING!!!
And not only that… We’ll drop a little bit of strawberry jam in the middle for pop of flavor/surprise!
Have you ever had freeze-fried fruits?
I was first came to know them while traveling through Korea. I got a box of whole freeze-dried strawberries dipped in white chocolate at the Incheon airport. Yes, white chocolate! It was heavenly! I’ve savored each and every one of them until the very last bite.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything similar in the U.S., and living in a small town didn’t help at all.
One day I was shopping at our local health store, and imagine how excited I was to see a shelf full of freeze-dried fruits. Not the chocolate covered ones, but it didn’t matter. There were strawberries, raspberries, banana, kiwi, mango, you name it! I got them all!!! Except kiwi…
After inhaling my first round of purchase, I went back to the store and got more freeze-dried strawberries and made these beautiful macarons!! And guess what? You can find these freeze-dried strawberries on amazon.com! Duh, is there anything that you can’t find on amazon? Probably not!
What is freezed-dried strawberries?
They’re melt-in-your-mouth light and unbelievably intense in flavor! Unlike air-dried fruits, freeze-fried strawberries don’t really shrink in size, and they become ultra-light and crisp.
They’re great in homemade snack mixes, oatmeals, and are becoming increasingly popular in baking nowadays! And for a good reason!!! They’re lend so much flavor without added moisture.
How to make this recipe:
Step 1. First, we’ll crush the freeze-dried strawberries into a fine powder. I used a rolling pin here, and I don’t recommend using food processor for this step, because overworked strawberry powder can get weird texture and ruin your macaron batter.
TIP: Prepare freeze-dried strawberries right before you make macarons, as it tends to draw in moisture quickly which also can affect the batter consistency.
Step 2. Then sift the powdered strawberries (sounds so weird), almond flour and powdered sugar together couple times.
Step 3. Make french meringue.
Don’t rush through this process, as a good stable meringue is the foundation to successful macarons.
Step 4. Macaronage – the second most important thing for macaron success! Look at the photo below for different stages of macaronage:
- The batter will be super thick when you combined dry ingredients with meringue. Fold gently by running the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half.
- As you fold the batter, it’ll get thinner and smoother.
- Once the batter starts to spread in the bowl, start testing the batter to see if it reached the right consistency. To test the batter, drop a small amount of the batter and count to ten.
- If the edges of the batter fallen into a ribbon are dissolved within about ten seconds, then the batter is ready.
If you’re new to baking macarons, I highly recommend starting with plain basic french macarons. Also check out my comprehensive Macaron 101 for additional tips and troubleshooting guide. I won’t go into details again here.
How to make heart shaped macarons
To make the heart shapes, I used smaller round piping tip than my regular A1 tip. It gave me more precision.
I’ve been using this silicone mat with heart shape template. This is the only silicone mat I love to bake macarons, because they’re nice and thin. Otherwise, I just use parchment paper.
TIP: If you don’t want to buy that silicone mat, you can download and print this template to create the uniform size macarons.
To make the heart shape, pipe the batter as if you’re drawing two hooks facing each other, tracing the template. I promise, it’s not as hard as it might seem. Trust me, I was a bit intimidated too. The macarons were little bit closer than I like it, but it worked just fine. Without the template, I wasn’t able to achieve the perfect heart shapes, so it’s definitely helpful. If you’re using this template, please be careful not to overbeat the macaron batter. Otherwise, it will get too runny and all the macarons will run into each other. Not what you’d want!
How to fill strawberry macarons
To assemble the macarons, we’ll pipe some strawberry buttercream with a drop of strawberry jam in the middle. A little sweet surprise, you know!
How to store macarons
These beauties freeze really well. Here’s how to freeze macarons:
- Fill the macarons, as directed.
- Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
- To thaw, transfer to the fridge overnight.
Strawberry Macarons
Ingredients
For macaron shells:
- ½ cup 10gr freeze-dried strawberries (Yields about 3 tablespoons of powdered strawberries)
- 100 g almond flour
- 75 g powdered sugar
- 70 g egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 75 gcup granulated sugar
- Red gel food coloring
For filling:
- 3 tablespoons (40g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup (100g) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon strawberry jam plus additional 2-3 tablespoons for the filling
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Instructions
- To make macaron shells, place the freeze-dried strawberries between two sheets of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, crush the strawberries into a fine powder. (TIP: Do this step right before you begin making macarons, because the strawberry powder draws in moisture and affects the texture of the batter.)
- In a medium bowl, sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and powdered strawberries twice. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat the meringue until hard peaks form. Add couple drops of red food coloring. Beat on medium speed for one more minute. (Watch this meringue video for more information.)
- Sift the almond flour mixture over the whipped egg whites. Gently fold the mixture running the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half. The batter will look very thick at first, but it will get thinner as you fold. Be careful not to over mix it though. Every so often test the batter to see if it reached the right consistency. To test the batter, drop a small amount of the batter and count to ten. If the edges of the ribbon are dissolved within about ten seconds, then the batter is ready. I repeat, do NOT mix again. If you still see edges, fold the batter couple more times and test again. This step is so crucial, so please make sure to test often to ensure not to over mix the batter.
- Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. (I used this Wilton #12 plain round tip.)
- Place the template with hearts under the parchment paper on a baking sheet. Pipe the batter as if you’re drawing two hooks facing each other, tracing the template. You’ll get about 58 single shells on 2 baking sheets.
- Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. If you don’t release the air bubbles, they will expand during baking and crack the beautiful macarons shells. If needed, use a toothpick to pop stubborn air bubbles and smooth out the shells.
- Let the macarons rest and dry for at least 15-30 minutes. On a humid day, it might take an hour or so. To see if it’s ready to be baked, lightly touch it. If the batter doesn’t stick to your finger, then it’s ready.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
- Bake the macarons for 18-20 minutes. To check the doneness, remove one macaron. If the bottom does not stick, they are done.
- Transfer to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, and then carefully remove from the baking sheets.
- To make buttercream filling, while macarons are drying, prepare the strawberry buttercream. In a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream, strawberry jam, vanilla extract and salt and beat until well combined. Transfer the buttercream into a pastry bag.
- To assemble the macarons, pair the shells by size and arrange them on a wire rack, or a baking sheet. Turn half of the shells upside and pipe the buttercream filling around the edges, leaving a small hole in the middle. Using a small spoon, drop a small amount of strawberry jam in the hole, or place strawberry jam in a piping bag and pipe the jam in the middle of the filling. Cover with the other shell and done!
- To mature the macarons, place the filled macarons in the fridge for up to 24 hours before serving. It’s ok to indulge right away, if you’re impatient like me!
- Store the filled macarons in airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze the filled macarons in airtight container for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts:
This recipe was originally published on February 9th, 2016 and updated on February 12, 2020.
Zina says
I just tried this recipe and per other reviews, the batter was way too thick and never became thin and runny…since I had the batter made, I decided to bake it anyways and the batter was so thick I couldn’t even pipe it onto the mat…they taste great, but they don’t look nothing like a macaron. I’m going to try using 100g AF, 100g PS, 10g freeze dried strawberries, 100g sugar and 100g egg whites (that’s what I use for my chocolate macarons with cocoa powder)
Bubby says
Hi Zina, I suppose it has something to do with the sweetness and acidity of strawberries. Ripeness, sweetness and acidity/tartness are not all the same. Acid+ dairy/oil (fat) creates emulsion that’s why the batter was thick. Shinee’s freeze dried strawberry looks deep red and was at the right ripeness and might be sweeter than everyone else who had the same issue. Yes its tricky when using fresh or freeze dried tart fruits that is why it’s recommended to use cooked or sweetened or slightly sweetened ones like jam when mixing with dairies to avoid splitting or unnecessary emulsion. Hopefully this enlightens everyone .
Odette says
This recipe is way off, way too dry and never softened. I should have read the comments first but I didn’t because I’ve made your original recipe with the video many times all with success. This recipe either needs more egg or less flour. Since the original recipe calls for 100 gr flour and 70 gr egg whites, maybe this recipe should have 90 gr flour with the 10 gr strawberry flour to total 100 gr. It is a shame since the ingredients aren’t cheap to end up in the trash.
Michelle says
They taste great but something’s off. I followed the recipe exactly, don’t live in a humid area. These look nothing like Macaron. I’m pretty disappointed. Maybe with all these complaints in the comments – which I didn’t notice until it was too late to find another recipe – it’s time to offer some tweaks or warnings?
Kristin says
My first two batches of making this was not so good. Like others who commented the batter was very thick and would not thin no matter how many times I macranoged. I even made sure to crush the strawberries with a rolling pin and the second time I made sure to not crush the strawberries until I was ready to mix it in with the meringue. I ended up reading some of your comments under your raspberry macarons and followed one of the other commenters suggestions. I increased the egg whites to 72 g and decreased the freeze dried strawberries to 5 g and added 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. They turned out perfectly and tasted amazing!
Shinee says
Hi, Kristin! You’ve no idea how grateful I’m for this comment!! Thank you for sharing so many details. I literally can’t replicate this issue and just made it 2 weeks ago again. At this point, I’m thinking to just update the recipe based on the reader’s feedback. 🙂 Thank you, and I’m so happy you loved the flavor!
Emily says
Like other reviewers have stated, I attempted these twice yesterday and failed both times. The batter just wouldn’t seem to mix. I am going to try the previous commenter’s suggestion of changing the recipe proportions and see how that goes. I really want these to work!
Shinee says
Ah so sorry you had trouble as well. Please let me know how the adjustments works for you. I bet you loved the flavor of them though, right?
Emily says
Yes, the flavor was amazing! I just couldn’t get the batter to mix well. The macarons ended up tasting great, but didn’t look very nice. Ha!
I will keep trying though. 🙂
Adam C Pierce says
so…this is not a good recipe, the proportions need changes….do your research …ghis is not it..unhave to increases ur meringue
adam says
same here,, proportions are off…had tomar more meringue…..finhers crossed…this recipe is a bust!!!! @APierceofCake
Janeen Mitchell says
Hi, Thank you, this recipe was explained well and they tasted great but I had the same problem with the batter not thinning out enough. They didn’t spread at all while baking hence came out really small. I think with adding the freeze dried strawberry powder there needs to be a tad bit more moisture added somewhere.
Shinee says
Hi, Janeen. Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately, adding more egg whites will make your macarons soft and wrinkly. Instead try subtracting a tablespoon or so almond flour.
Adam C Pierce says
hi..baker here… you recipe is too dry. I even tried it…no figure 8S TO be made, I Had e to add extra meringue… update ur recipe. let me know if u need help
jessie says
I have been using Shinee’s base recipe for a while since I find the “regular” macarons too sweet and overpowering. They come out perfectly each time and taste delicious. I have yet to make these strawberry ones so my guess is the issue comes from the strawberry powder – they sound even more trickier than the regular ones 😅
Cheryl Lohman says
Do you have a link for the heart shaped silicone mat?
Shinee says
Hi, Cheryl. Sure, here you go.
kym says
Thank you for taking the time to explain these complicated cookies.
Shinee says
You’re welcome!
Virginia says
How many macarons will I get?
Shinee says
Hi, Kym. This recipe makes about 25 filled macarons. They’re about 1.5-inch.
Maria says
Hi in your ingredients it said powdered sugar. Is it ths confectioner sugar or the regular white sugar?
Shinee says
Hi, Maria. Powdered sugar is confectioners sugar.
Deb says
Hi Shinee. I had the same problem with the strawberry macarons as several others. The batter would not thin out enough. I baked them anyway. They taste delicious but weren’t very attractive. The tops were rounded and not quite as smooth. I also weighted ingredients and followed your instructions. I have had great success making the lemon and the chocolate macarons. Wasn’t humidity problem. I made a batch of chocolate immediately after the strawberry ones and they were fine. Thinking about trying another batch of strawberry and increasing egg whites to 75g. The lemon uses only 70g, but the chocolate calls for 75 g. Hoping this will help the batter to thin out properly.
Shinee says
Hi, Deb. Thanks for your feedback. Bummer this didn’t turn out for you. Question: Did you crush freeze-dried strawberries yourself? Or did you use already crushed freeze-dried strawberry powder? But yeah, this one is tricky one. Freeze-dried fruits complicate things big time!!
Deb says
I crushed the freeze dried strawberries. By adding 10g of the crushed strawberries, would this not be the same as adding 10g of cocoa to the chocolate macarons, therefore needing to increase egg whites? I tasted the strawberry macaron cookies today. They do have a nice flavor but they’re really chewy. I know macarons are finicky. Love your recipes for the chocolate and the lemon.
Shinee says
So, I find freeze dried fruits act very different than any other additions. They absorb moisture quickly from the air, I feel like. Is it humid where you’re by chance? I’m curious to figure out how to make it more foolproof, because I really love the flavor of freeze-dried fruits in my macaron shells.
Lori says
Very disappointed that this recipe didn’t turn out well for me. I followed the recipe, weighed everything, crushed the freeze dried strawberries at the last minute, sifted with the powdered sugar and almond flour three times and the macaronage was extremely thick. Could not get it to create ribbons at all. I decided to bake them anyway. No feet. I think I will opt to use the freeze dried fruit to flavor my buttercream.
Shinee says
Aww, Lori. Sorry you had a problem with the recipe. I appreciate your feedback and details you’ve provided. I wonder how was the weather? Is it humid where you’re?
P.S. Hope you at least enjoyed the flavor. These are my favorite flavored macarons.
Alliah Babida says
How many filled macarons will this recipe make?
Shinee says
Hi, Alliah. This recipe makes about 23-25 filled macarons, about 1.5-inch rounds.
Debby Mclean says
My batter did not thin out and I measured everything in grams and used a scale. Should I weigh the freeze dried strawberries after I crush or before?
Shinee says
Hi, Debby. You need to measure before you crush them. Freeze-dried fruit is tricky as it seems to tend to cause thick batter issue. To avoid that, I highly recommend making it on a dry day and crush it right before you make the batter. I noticed that when freeze-dried fruits absorb moisture from air and become pasty pretty quickly.
Abby Norris says
The macaroons ended up being bubbly on the outside. However, very tasty!
Shinee says
Hi, Abby. Thank you for choosing my recipe to try! And I appreciate your feedback. I’m curious what do you mean by bubbly? Like they’re rough on the outside from chunky almond flour? Or actually bubbles formed on the skin? I’ve never heard of bubbly shell, so that’s why I’m curious. And if you have a photo, you can also e-mail it to me.
Aly says
I cant get the buttercream to be smooth! I tried beating it, whisking it.. nothings working 😭
Shinee says
Oh no, Aly. Is it lumpy, or curdled? Did you use softened butter?
Aly says
I used soft butter and it was kinda grainy from the sugar, like I put too much but I used the same amount from the recipe
Stacy says
You say grainy. Did you use granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar?
Nellie says
I followed the recipe exactly (except I just tried to make circular ones instead of hearts) and mine didn’t turn out very well. The batter seemed too thick for some reason. They looked more like meringues than macarons, and they got overcooked being baked 18 minutes (they were done at 12). They taste ok but I’m not sure about the strawberry flavor from the freeze-dried berries.
Shinee says
Thanks for your feedback, Nellie. It sounds like your oven runs a bit hotter. Do you have an oven thermometer to double check? Each oven heats differently and the temperature could vary up to 50°F either way. Since your macarons overcooked in just 12 minutes, I highly recommend to double check the oven temp. Also you may try reducing the oven temp by 25°F and see how it works for you.
Susan Jumonville says
Your recipe’s are so delicious!!! We’ve made your macaron’s with yummy success! We struggled on this one however. The batter stayed thick. It wasn’t the best batch but they were still yummy and we had a total of 25 cookies. I’m going to try this again and hope to get it right, they are SOOOO good! I weighed out every ingredient so not sure where I went wrong. Thank you so much for sharing your talents. We love making your macarons!
Shinee says
Hi, Susan. Thank you so much for your comment. Bummer that this one didn’t quite turn out. How did you prepare your strawberry powder? I have another reader commented that when she processed the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor, it was a bit sticky and batter was thick. But when she tried again but crushed the strawberries with a rolling pin, the macarons turned out good.
Susan says
I crushed them up in a new Ziploc bag and crushed them with a rolling pin. They didn’t seem sticky at all. I sifted out any of the chunks that stayed behind. They are so yummy and we want to perfect it! Thank you for your response and your amazing recipes and tutorials! My daughter did a project on French Macaron’s for her French class and she used your red velvet macarons, they were the class favorite! Thank you!
Brian says
No amount of folding caused the batter to thin but remained remained thick. It felt like the ratios were wrong somewhere in the recipe. I have made macarons before and this came out the worst.
Shinee says
Hi, Brian. Sorry to hear your macarons didn’t turn out.