Raspberry Macaron Hearts – Classic french raspberry macarons are given a Valentine’s Day makeover by shaping them into lovely hearts. Perfect to share with the one you love!
Welcome to February, guys! The month of chocolate and, more importantly, my birthday! This year is a special birthday – my 30th – so get excited for an especially yummy treat to celebrate in a couple weeks.
But before we get to that, we have to celebrate the start of the new month. And how exactly do we do that? Well, with a new cookie recipe, of course!
Each month I vow to start it off with a new cookie recipe. Which one has been your favorite this past year? Here are some of mine:
- Sea Salt Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies – Chewy chocolate chip cookies with bits of toffee and finished with a sprinkle of sea salt
- Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies – super soft and fluffy sugar cookies with buttercream frosting and sprinkles
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – super moist pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips sprinkled throughout
- Funfetti Whoopie Pies – Cakey funfetti cookies sandwiched between buttercream frosting
For this month’s recipe, it only felt right to get into the Valentine’s Day spirit by featuring a cute heart-shaped cookie. So I decided to make these adorable Raspberry Heart Macarons. How cute are they?!
The recipe for these macarons is almost identical to the recipe I used for the Pumpkin Cheesecake Macarons, except for absence of pumpkin spice in the cookie, a different food coloring in the batter, and a different filling. Oh and the fact that they’re in the shape of a heart! But the process of making the macarons is pretty much the same as my past posts.
You guys know how much I’m in love with raspberry. I’ve made four recipes in the last couple months with raspberry flavor in it, for heaven’s sake! So it’s no shocker that it also happens to be one of my favorite macaron flavors. It’s super easy to make at home with the help of store-bought raspberry jam.
To get the heart shape, I used a heart template, similar the circle templates I use in my other macarons. I cannot make pretty macarons without a template so don’t forget to print this out!
In case this is your first time making macarons, here are few tips to give you confidence before you get started:
- Make sure you read my post about Nutella Macarons. I talk all about the techniques I learned when taking a macaron baking class. There is tons of valuable information there so don’t skip this read!
- When making the heart shape of the macaron, I recommend outlining the heart template by starting in the middle and working your way around the heart. This ensures that the heart keeps its shape at the top. Trust me – I had a bunch of hearts with flat tops because I would start in the middle and do one half of the heart and then start in the middle and do the other half of the heart. This caused too much batter to be at the top of the heart and ruined the shape.
- Macaron dough is very sticky. In order to get all the batter out of the pastry bag, use a bench scrapper to push it down the bag.
- I used pink food coloring gel to get the pretty macaron color. But I think red food coloring gel would get you a pretty pink color, as well. Just use about half as much so it’s not too deep of a red.
Alrighty – that’s all I got for you guys today. Get excited for the next couple of recipes because I’ve got tons of sweet treats coming at ya!
Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!
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Raspberry Heart Macarons
Ingredients
- 3.5 ounces powdered sugar
- 2 ounces almond flour
- 2 ounces egg whites
- 1.75 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 pinch cream of tartar (less than 1/8 teaspoon)
- 1/4 teaspoon pink gel food coloring
- 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Instructions
- Prepare two baking sheets by placing two heart macaron templates on each baking sheet. You can print the templates above. Place parchment paper or silicone mats over the templates. Set baking sheet aside.
- Place oven rack in the lower half of the oven, but not all the way to the bottom. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Add powdered sugar and almond flour to the bowl of a food processor. Process the ingredients for about 30 seconds so that the mixture is super fine. Sieve the flour and sugar mixture three times. Set mixture aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add egg whites and cream of tartar and begin to beat on medium-high until it begins to foam. Once it starts to get foamy, begin to slowly sprinkle the granulated sugar into the egg whites until it's all been incorporated. Increase the speed to high to whip the meringue into stiff peaks. The meringue should have the consistency of shaving cream, NOT soft serve. Add food coloring and mix to combine. If you want a deeper color, add a little bit more coloring. But a little goes a long way.
- Once the meringue is done, add one-third of the sifted flour mixture to the meringue and fold with a spatula. Do this step very carefully and slowly, cutting the mixture down the middle and swooping around. Once it's incorporated, add a second-third and gently fold in. Then, add the final third. Mix just until it's incorporated. Do not over mix. The consistency should be like slow-moving lava. To check for consistency, the batter should flow from your spatula like thick lava and hold a ribbon for a couple seconds. If it falls into clumps and doesn't fall slowly, it is not mixed enough. Keep mixing slowly so that the batter deflates a bit and the proper consistency is reached.
- Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with a smooth, round 1/2 inch tip. Trace the outside of the heart, starting and finishing in the middle. This will help keep the shape of the heart. Fill in the heart with a little more batter so it's full. Move onto the next heart. When you get to the end of the batter, a lot of it will stick to the bag. To push it down, use the edge of a bench scrapper.
- After you've pipped all the hearts, smack the baking sheets on the counter a couple times to release air bubbles. Use a toothpick to pop all the air bubbles. If you don't do this step, the air bubbles will release steam while baking and crack the shells.
- Let them sit to dry out until the tops are smooth to the touch, about 30 minutes. They are done when you rub your finger over the top and your finger doesn't stick.
- Bake macarons in preheated oven for 14-16 minutes. Make sure to rotate the sheet halfway through, for even baking. Remove from oven and let them cool for 5 minutes before transferring parchment sheet to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Lay half of the macarons flat side up on a baking sheet. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon of jam onto one macaron shell. Top with the other shell and gently press just enough to push the filling out to the edges. Do this for all the macaron shells until done.
- Once filled, macarons can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to five days. Or you can freeze for up to five months.
Pin for later:
More treats to enjoy for Valentine’s Day:
Chocolate Raspberry Mousse
Chocolate Berry Cups
Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies
I have had no trouble with the Nutella macarons however I cannot seem to get this recipe to work for me! I am from Australia, maybe I am getting the conversion from ounces to grams wrong?
Aw man! What exactly is going wrong? Are they too airy or too dense?
I’ve been obsessed with making macarons lately. Raspberry sounds perfect! Especially for Valentines Day!
Exactly! The heart shape and pink color is perfect for VDay!
I really don’t think I can make these, but can I order em? LOL! I love macaroons!!!
Aw don’t say that! I give you all the steps to get these done without a hitch. You can do it!
These look AMAZING!!!!! My mother in law makes macarons and I’ve been wanting to try making them too I think these would be an amazing place to start! So fun and festive!
Thanks so much!
Those are ADORABLE! And look so delicious! I love macarons but I don’t know if I’ll ever be brave enough to make them myself!
You can do it! Once you do it once, it’s a piece of cake. Or should I say, macaron 😉
They are so cute! Bet they are yummy too ❤ Perfect for Valentines day!
Thanks so much!
These are a work of art! I would love to make them with my kids for Valentine’s Day.
They’d love these, I bet!
I love that you shaped these into hearts. And the filling looks so good. What a sweet valentine’s treat.
Yes, so true!
These are just so cute and I love the vibrant colour. I would be very happy to get these for Valentine’s Day.
Aw thanks so much!
I’m in love with raspberry, too! I mean if I were to get caught on the dessert island and had a chance to have only one type of berry with me, it would be raspberry. Not sure if it would help me to survive but definitely I would enjoy those moments!
Haha we are so on the same page!