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!
Table of Contents
Freeze-dried vs 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.
How to make these macarons:
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.
French meringue tips:
- 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.
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.
Prep: 1 hour
Cook: 18 minutes
Total : 1 hour 18 minutes
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
- 70 gr 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
Note: I test all my recipes with both measurements for the most precise and accurate result!
Instructions
- To make macaron shells, place the freeze-dried raspberries for both shells and filling in a ziplock bag and roll with a rolling pin until fine powder. (Alternatively, you can place freeze-dried raspberries between two sheets of parchment paper and crush them with a rolling pin.)
- Sift the crushed raspberries through fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
- 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.
- 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. (Cream of tartar is optional, and is added to stabilize the egg whites.)
- Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat until hard peaks form. (Watch this meringue video for more information.)
- Add food coloring and beat on medium speed for one more minute.
- 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.
- Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. (I used this Wilton 1A plain round tip.)
- Pipe out 1-inch rounds about an inch apart on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You’ll get about 46-50 shells.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 the filling, in a mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- 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.)
- 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.
- Transfer the buttercream into a pastry bag and fill the macarons.
- 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.
- 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.
Nutrition Facts:
Calories: 116kcal (6%) Carbohydrates: 13g (4%) Protein: 2g (4%) Fat: 7g (11%) Saturated Fat: 3g (19%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g Monounsaturated Fat: 1g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 8mg (3%) Sodium: 11mg Potassium: 33mg (1%) Fiber: 1g (4%) Sugar: 11g (12%) Vitamin A: 85IU (2%) Vitamin C: 1mg (1%) Calcium: 24mg (2%) Iron: 1mg (6%)
* Disclaimer: All nutrition information are estimates only. Read full disclosure here.
Did you make this?Show me your creation! Tag me @shineshka and hashtag it #sweetandsavorybyshinee!
Vicky says
I wish I had read the comments before making these. The ratios just aren’t right. I so wanted these for my book club meeting, but oh well…we will just have to eat them ourselves 😜.
Shinee says
Hi, Vicky. I hope they were still delicious! If you’d want to try again, some readers reported they had success when reduced the almond flour 1-2 tablespoons.
Nicole says
I had the same issue with this recipe as some of the other comments mentioned. My batter was way too dry so no matter how much I mixed it it wasn’t going to get to the right stage of macaronage and it made only about half the number of shells it should have. It resulted in cracked macrons with not feet sadly.
It was so delicious though with that strong raspberry flavour that I’ll definitely be attempting it again with different ratios. They still tasted delicious even though something went wrong.
Shinee says
Hi, Nicole. Thank you for trying my recipe and sharing your feedback!! Glad you liked the flavor, it’s truly one of my favorite macarons. I keep it up on my website only because I know it’s worth the tweak. Next time when you try this recipe, I recommend reducing the raspberry powder, or removing 1-2 tablespoons of almond flour, or both. I don’t recommend increasing the egg whites, because it makes soft and wrinkly shells.
Melissa says
Okay, I gave this another try and they turned out great! I reduced the raspberry to 4g in the macaron shells, but also switched up the other ingredient ratios slightly. The ratio of your recipe (egg whites:almond flour:granulated sugar:powdered sugar) is 1:1.4:0.7:1.4. I changed it up and used a ratio of 1:1.3:0.7:1.5 based on another baker’s macaron ratio. I started with my two egg whites which were only 62g so the rest of the ingredients were as follows: 82g almond flour, 90g powdered sugar, and 44g granulated sugar. Thanks again for a great tasting macaron recipe!!!
Shinee says
Yay, so happy you were able to adjust the recipe to work for you!! Thank you for sharing your tweaks, Melissa!
Fran says
I had the the same problem, the batter was way too dry. After listening to several of your you tube videos I was confident the your recipes would be great, not the case with this one. I just threw the batter away, so disappointed. I will remember to read the comments before trying a new recipe.
Shinee says
What a shame! I wish you still had baked the macarons and find out how tasty they are. This recipe is up for a reason, when it works, it’s amazing!!
Lindsey says
I was so excited to try these, especially after my batch of mint macaron shells was a no-go. Grainy texture and then really hard to stir. I ended up with almost the exact same issue with this recipe. I was so upset at two failed batches I didn’t even try to bake these. Here’s what i know:
Both recipes used a 100g, 100g, 50g ratio for the flour, powdered sugar and granulated sugar. Both recipes called for 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar which I had not used previously. While this recipe called for raspberry powder the other took 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. I live in Ohio which is fairly humid and it is cold outside.
I didn’t read the comments ahead of time so it didn’t occur to me to make any adjustments (this is only my second time and the first time was so successful I thought I was a natural). That recipe called for powdered food coloring 1 tsp) but I used freeze dried blueberries. It could have used more flavor, but that’s where I think the issue might be for me. Maybe 1 tablespoon raspberry powder instead of 3 and a little more egg.
I may go back to the kitchen and try baking these after all because of the reviews.
Thanks for all the recipes!
Shinee says
Hi, Lindsey. Thank you so much for your detailed feedback. If you make it again, I’d suggest removing some almond flour, instead of adding egg whites. More egg whites will cause your macarons come out soft and wrinkly due to excess moisture. I had someone reduced the almond flour by the same amount as for the fruit powder. Let me know if you try with different adjustments.
Melissa says
I wanted to come to share my experience but also hopefully get some feedback for how to fix the issues I had. First off, these shells are DELICIOUS. They are so flavorful and had a nice crisp outside and perfectly chewy inside. That being said, I experienced the same problem as a lot of past commenters. I could tell even before piping that the batter was extremely grainy. It’s my first time using a freeze-dried fruit powder so I figured that was the issue, but I’m fairly comfortable with knowing how much a macaron batter needs to be worked to be ready to pipe. I had worked the batter quite a bit, so I decided to stop so I didn’t over mix. After resting, the shells still had their peaks from piping, and then cracked badly while baking in the oven and didn’t develop any feet. I used Trader Joe’s freeze dried raspberries and crushed them with a rolling pin right before making the batter. I weighed all ingredients on my scale and sifted the dry ingredients before doing the macaronage. Have you been able to troubleshoot these issues? What should I try differently next time? I desperately want these to look good because they’re probably the best tasting macarons I’ve made, which is why I still gave 4 stars!
Shinee says
Hi, Melissa. Thank you SOOO much for your comment. I’m so happy that you agree that these are the best tasting macaron shells!!! Sometimes, I get so close to deleting the recipe, because so many people have trouble with it, but I know they can work and they taste amazing!
Ok, now to your question… Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to troubleshoot the issue, because most people, who had trouble with it, don’t get back to me with the information I need to troubleshoot.
But one person did leave a comment where she adjusted the recipe and got a great result. (She also had thick batter issue.) She reduced the raspberry powder to 5g and increased egg whites to 72g. You may want to try that? Let me know if you do!
Violet says
hello Shinee, so u am reading some comments below. Since I am planning on baking these beauties I wanted to ask if I can use -and how much- freeze dried raspberries powder? do use the same amount in grams?
Shinee says
Hi, Violet. You’ll need about 3 tablespoons of powder. However, I want to warn you that in my testing freeze-dried raspberry powder didn’t work for me. They absorb moisture SO quickly and they just never worked out. So I highly recommend crushing sliced freeze-dried fruits right before using them.