These raspberry macarons are unbelievably flavorful! Not only the flavor comes from the filling, but the shells are also infused with raspberries!!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe:
I originally shared this recipe back in 2017, and I’ve tested it many times before publishing the recipe.
Although a lot of my readers raved how flavorful the macaron shells were, many were having trouble with thick batter issue.
So, I finally re-worked the recipe with the feedback I’ve gotten from my readers, and I hope this v2.0 is more foolproof.
You’ll love these raspberry macarons for many reasons:
- Incredibly flavorful shells thanks to freeze-dried raspberries – I totally eat the shells on their own a lot of the times!
- White chocolate buttercream filling complements the shells perfectly!
- Specks of crushes raspberries in the shells add slightly rustic and natural look. Super lovely!
Key Ingredients:
- Freeze-dried raspberries – Use high quality freeze-dried raspberries and open a new package when you’re ready to make macarons, because freeze dried fruits absorb humidity from the air and loose its crispness quickly. I don’t recommend already crushed raspberry powder.
- Almond flour – It’s best to use super fine almond flour to ensure smooth tops. Weigh the ingredients before sifting.
- Powdered sugar – I don’t recommend making your own powder sugar, because commercial powdered sugar has cornstarch in it. And it helps with texture of the cookies.
- Egg whites – I’ve had success with carton egg whites (Bob Evans brand, #notsponsored). You’ll need 1/3 cup of egg whites.
- Cream of tartar is optional and can be omitted. However, it helps to stabilize egg whites and create sturdier meringue. It’s just an extra insurance!
- Sugar – It’s important to use fine granulated sugar for meringue, as it dissolves quicker. You can also use caster sugar, aka baker’s sugar.
Freeze-dried vs dehydrated raspberries:
Yes, there is a difference between freeze-fried and 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 raspberry macaron shells:
1. Prepare the dry ingredients
- Place the freeze-dried raspberries between two sheets of parchment paper and crush them with a rolling pin until fine powder.
- Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and crushed raspberries twice. Note: If you have up to 2 tablespoons of chunky dry ingredients left in the sifter, you don’t have to replace it. Simply discard those chunky bits.
Tip
To prevent soft, wrinkly shells and/or thick batter: It’s important to crush the raspberries right before making the recipe, so that they don’t absorb too much humidity.
2. Make the meringue
- Whisk the egg whites until foamy and add cream of tartar and salt. Then slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time, while mixer is still running.
- When the meringue reaches soft peaks stage, add couple drops of pink gel food coloring.
- Continue beating the egg whites on the same medium low speed until hard peaks form, about 20 minutes.
Tip
Be sure your whisk and bowl are squeaky clean and free of any oil residue. (Stainless steel and glass bowls are ideal!)
3. Macaronage
4. Pipe and bake the shells
- Hold the pastry bag at straight 90° angle and pipe about 1.5-inch rounds about an inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter (or using your hand) a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. You can also use a toothpick to burst some large air bubbles. This step ensures smooth tops.
- Let the macarons sit out on the counter for at least 15-30 minutes, maybe up to couple hours, depending on humidity. When you lightly touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your finger, then it’s ready to go into the oven.
- Bake the macarons for about 15-18 minutes, one tray at a time.
To test for doneness, touch a macaron lightly and try to move it. If it slides and wobbles, bake a minute or so longer. The cooked macarons should be firm to touch and the base shouldn’t move.
Macaron Filling Ideas:
You can fill these raspberry macarons with any kind of filling you desire!
In the recipe card, I’ve provided white chocolate raspberry buttercream filling, which is simple yet tasty filling!
You can also fill your macarons with:
- White chocolate ganache with raspberry jam
- Easy French buttercream mixed with raspberry jam, or crushed freeze-dried raspberries
- Raspberry ganache with raspberry confi in the center. The recipe you can find in my Macaron Fillings eBook.
Macaron Tips for Success:
- Stable meringue is key for macaron success. Watch my Meringue 101 video for all the tips to make a stable meringue.
- Don’t over-mix your macaron batter. In this real-time macaronage video, I show you how to test the batter when to stop folding it.
- Pipe the macaron shells properly for nice and full shells. Here’s the proper piping technique.
- Get an oven thermometer, because every oven is different. Watch this video for more tips on baking macarons.
Video Tutorial:
Raspberry Macarons v2.0 (New & Improved)
These raspberry macarons are unbelievably flavorful! Not only the flavor comes from the filling, but the shells are also infused with raspberries!!
Ingredients
For raspberry macaron shells:
- 10 g freeze-dried raspberries Note 1
- 90 g super fine almond flour Note 2
- 60 g powdered sugar Note 3
- 70 g egg whites at room temperature Note 4
- 75 g fine granulated sugar Note 5
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar optional Note 6
- ¼ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- Pink gel food coloring
For white chocolate raspberry buttercream:
- 80 g unsalted butter
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 60 g white chocolate chips
- 5 g freeze dried raspberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
For dipping:
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
To make macaron shells:
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or teflon sheet, or silicone mat.
- To prepare the dry ingredients, place the freeze-dried raspberries between two sheets of parchment paper and crush them with a rolling pin until fine powder.
- Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and crushed raspberries twice. Note: If you have up to 2 tablespoons of chunky dry ingredients left in the sifter, you don't have to replace it. Simply discard those chunky bits.
- To make the meringue, in a clean mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, combine egg whites, granulated sugar, cream of tartar and salt and beat the mixture on medium speed until soft peaks form. (I set it to speed 4 on my KitchenAid stand mixer. It takes 30-40 minutes to whip the meringue, but it's well worth it for nice and full shells.)
- When the meringue reaches soft peaks stage, add couple drops of pink gel food coloring.
- Continue beating the egg whites on the same medium low speed until hard peaks form, about 20 minutes. Visual cues: Meringue should ball up inside the whisk, and when you lift the whisk, the meringue should hold a pointy end and have sharp ribs.
- To make batter, sift almond flour mixture into the meringue. Using a silicone spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the meringue until fully incorporated. Then continue to fold the batter until it’s runny enough to draw a figure eight. To test, take a small amount of batter and drop it into the bowl. If the small peaks dissolve into the batter on its own in about 10 seconds, the batter is ready. If not, fold couple more times and test again. Be careful not to over-fold the batter. (TIP: Making french macarons is all about the technique. This is one of the most crucial step. Let me try to describe the folding motion as best as I can: run the spatula clockwise from the bottom, up around the sides and cut the batter in half. If you’re beginner macaron-baker, I suggest to count every fold. It takes roughly about 50 folds to reach the proper consistency. After 50 folds, start testing the batter, and continue testing after every couple folds.)
- To pipe macaron shells, transfer the batter into a pastry bag, fitted with a round tip. (I used this Wilton 2A tip.)
- Hold the pastry bag at straight 90° angle and pipe about 1.5-inch rounds about an inch apart on prepared baking sheets. (TIP 2: Download my free macaron template. Simply pipe the batter to fill inner circle.)
- Tap the baking sheets firmly on the counter (or using your hand) a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. You can also use a toothpick to burst some large air bubbles. This step ensures smooth tops.
- Let the macarons rest on the counter for 15 minutes before baking.
- To bake, working one baking sheet at a time, place one tray with macarons on the middle rack. (TIP: To prevent browning, place an empty baking sheet on top rack to shield the heat.) Bake for about 15-18 minutes. It’ll take longer for larger macarons.
- To test for doneness, touch a macaron lightly and try to move it. If it slides and wobbles, bake a minute or so longer. The cooked macarons should be firm to touch and the base shouldn’t move. (TIP: It’s always better to slightly over-bake macarons than under-bake them!)
- Cool macarons complete and then remove the shells from the parchment paper. (TIP: Don't remove the shells while warm, you may risk breaking the shells, or the bottom might get stuck to the baking surface.)
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.)
- Crush the freeze-dried raspberries as you did for the shells.
- 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.
To assemble macarons
- Pair the macaron shells by size and arrange them on a wire rack. Line them up so that bottom shells are upside down.
- Pipe a dollop of filling on bottom shells. Place the top shell over the filling and press lightly so the filling spreads till the edges.
To make white chocolate coating:
- Melt white chocolate chips in microwave per package directions, or as described above. (TIP: I like to melt the chocolate in plastic measuring cup so the melted chocolate doesn't spread too much in a bowl. It's easier to dip macarons into a cup.)
- Dip macarons half way and place on a wire rack. If desired, sprinkle more raspberry powder.
- Store the filled and dipped macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for at least 24 hours to mature, which allows the filling to soften and flavor the shells.
- To serve, bring the macarons out about 30 minutes prior to serving.
Tips & Notes
Note 1: Use high quality freeze-dried raspberries and open a new package when you’re ready to make macarons, because freeze dried fruits absorb humidity from the air and loose its crispness quickly. I don’t recommend already crushed raspberry powder.
Note 2: It’s best to use super fine almond flour to ensure smooth tops. Weigh the ingredients before sifting.
Note 3: I don’t recommend making your own powder sugar, because commercial powdered sugar has cornstarch in it. And it helps with texture of the cookies.
Note 4: I’ve had success with carton egg whites (Bob Evans brand, #notsponsored). You’ll need 1/3 cup of egg whites.
Note 5: It’s important to use fine granulated sugar for meringue, as it dissolves quicker. You can also use caster sugar, aka baker’s sugar.
Note 6: Cream of tartar is optional and can be omitted. However, it helps to stabilize egg whites and create sturdier meringue. It’s just an extra insurance!
Note 7: You can easily double this macaron recipe.
Note 8: Read this post for must-have macaron tools.
GOT MACARON TROUBLE? Check out my macaron troubleshooting guide.
Nutrition
Calories: 116kcal
Carbohydrates: 13g
Protein: 2g
Fat: 7g
Sugar: 11g
Sodium: 11mg
Did you make this?Share a comment or a review below!
I’ve made many of your recipes successfully and watched nearly all of your videos. This one was a failure however. My batter was super thick and cement like, quite a workout to try and macarnage. Can you please make suggestions for recipe tweaks above based on the comments below so that more of us can make these successfully?
Oh bummer!! I did update the recipe last August based on the readers’ feedback and made a full video tutorial. Have you watched the video? If not, I highly recommend watching it, the video is right above the recipe card.
Watching it now! Thanks.
I think the salt is missing from the dry ingredients. Same amount as cream of tartar, no?
Thanks for letting me know, Samantha. I’ll update the recipe.
This looks nothing like how it was supposed to did everything perfectly and it came out brown.
Sorry to hear that, Elijah! Macarons are more about the technique than a recipe. Browning means your oven may run hotter.
My batter was like cement, and failed miserably. I measured the all the ingredients, but the ratios were way off. I ended up with Hershey kisses.
Thanks for your feedback, Tanya! I reworked the recipe and just filmed a video for this recipe. I think it’s going to work for everyone! Stay tuned!
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 😜.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
Yay, so happy you were able to adjust the recipe to work for you!! Thank you for sharing your tweaks, Melissa!
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.
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!!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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?
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.