White Chocolate Raspberry Macarons

These white chocolate raspberry macarons are bursting with fresh juicy raspberry flavor through and through. Macaron shells are flavored with freeze-dried raspberries, and white chocolate raspberry buttercream filling turns this sweet dessert into a heavenly one.

Out of all the macaron flavors I’ve made over the years, I think these raspberry macarons are THE BEST! I mean, they burst with juicy raspberry flavor through and through!

Instead of messing the batter with fresh juicy raspberries, which will clearly add too much moisture into the delicate batter, I opted for freeze-dried raspberries instead.

And note, we’re not talking about regular dehydrated raspberries here. Freeze-dried raspberries are different!

What’s freeze-dried raspberries? And how they are different from regular dehydrated raspberries?

Freeze-dried raspberries are raspberries that were quickly frozen and then slowly heated in a vacuum chamber, drying the fruits by evaporating ice before it turns into water. The end result is beautiful dried berries in its original shape and color, that’s feather-light. Dehydrated raspberries are berries that were dried by evaporating moisture through heating process, which yields withered and harder berries.

Now to use these beautiful freeze-dried raspberries, we’ll need to crush them into fine powder by processing them in a food processor, or with a rolling pin. I included the directions in the recipe below. I find that this raspberry powder has lots of seeds, so I go extra mile and sift them through a sieve to remove those seeds.

A few tips on how to make sturdy French meringue:

• Make sure all the utensils for beating egg whites are completely grease-free. Just a touch of oil has power of ruining your meringue. Some advise to wipe the bowl and whisk with vinegar, but I don’t really bother with that. Just washing and drying with a clean towel does the trick for me.
• Be careful not to include even the smallest drop of egg yolk in the egg whites. Egg yolk=oil. See the above note.
• Don’t beat the egg whites on high speed right away. Instead start on medium low speed then slowly increase the speed for sturdy meringue.
• It’s best to add food coloring when the meringue reaches soft peaks. I highly recommend avoiding liquid food coloring, because it adds more liquid. Gel and powder food colorings are your best bet!
• And it’s crucial to stop beating the meringue as soon as it reaches stiff (hard) peaks. Because over-mixed meringue is #1 reason for hollow macaron shells. You know your meringue reached hard peaks when you lift the beaters, the meringue holds its shape pointing up without drooping.

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White Chocolate Raspberry Macarons

Yield: 23-25 filled macarons

Ingredients:

For raspberry macaron shells:

• ½ cup (10gr) freeze-dried raspberries (Yields about 3 tablespoons of powdered raspberries)
• 1 cup (100gr) almond flour
• 3/4 cup (100gr) powdered sugar
• 70gr egg whites
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, optional
• ¼ cup (50gr) sugar
• Red gel food coloring

For white chocolate raspberry buttercream:

• 1/3 cup (80gr) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup (50gr) powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup (60gr) white chocolate
• 1 tablespoon (5gr) freeze dried raspberry powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

For dipping:

• ½ cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. To make macaron shells, place the freeze-dried raspberries for both shells and filling in a small food processor and process until fine powder. (Alternatively, you can place freeze-dried raspberries between two sheets of parchment paper and crush them with a rolling pin.)
2. Sift the crushed raspberries through fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of powdered raspberries. (Reserve 1 tablespoon of raspberry powder for the filling.) Sift everything one more time and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy.
5. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat. (Cream of tartar is optional, and is added to stabilize the egg whites.)
6. Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until hard peaks form.
7. Add food coloring and beat on medium speed for one more minute.
8. 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. Again do NOT mix again at this point. But 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.
9. Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. (I used this Wilton 1A plain round tip.)
10. Pipe out 1-inch rounds about an inch apart on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You'll get about 46-50 shells.
11. 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.
12. Let the macarons rest and dry for 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.
13. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
14. Bake the macarons for 18-20 minutes. To check the doneness, remove one macaron. If the bottom does not stick, they are done.
15. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, and then carefully remove from the baking sheets.
16. To make the filling, in a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
17. Melt the white chocolate chips in microwave according to package directions. (I microwaved mine for 1.5 minutes at 50% power. Stirred and microwaved for another 30 seconds at 50% power. Stirred again and microwaved for 15 seconds at 50% power.)
18. Add the melted white chocolate, raspberry powder, lemon juice and pinch of salt to the whipped butter mixture. Beat until the filling is smooth and well combined.
19. Transfer the buttercream into a pastry bag and fill the macarons.
20. To make white chocolate coating, melt white chocolate in microwave as described above. Dip macarons half way and place on a wire rack. If desired, sprinkle more raspberry powder.
21. Macarons are best when served the next day. 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 5 months.

For additional tips and notes, read the post above.For more tips and visual troubleshooting guide, check out this post.You can now watch a full macaron tutorial video here. 

All images and text ©Shinee D. for Sweet & Savory by Shinee

All photographs and content on Sweet & Savory by Shinee is copyright protected, unless otherwise noted. Please do not use any of my photos without my authorization. If you would like to share my recipe, you may re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the full directions. Thank you for your cooperation!