Imperfect Raspberry Cheesecake French Macarons | Recipe
A raspberry cheesecake french macaron recipe using the French method
French macarons are in my opinion one of the hardest thing to perfect. After so many failed attempts, sitting there next to the oven waiting and watching for the perfect feet to form only to find out 5 minutes later that the top cracked, I am about to swing these cookies out of the window. I literally read every tips and hints on the internet, but nothing helps.
It wasn’t until Christmas time last year that I ended up making a really nice batch of macarons. They were so perfect in every way. They had perfect feet, shiny shell, texture, and delicious flavor. I got so many compliments, so I thought I would record and share this recipe. Unfortunately, lazy me didn’t take any notes on how I made it last Christmas. When I recorded for the blog, I tried to do all the steps I can remembered, but the cookies didn’t have the perfect non-cracked shell. Trust me, I wish can I go back in time. Since I already recorded this, I figure I might as well share the recipe and any tips I have to help you guys out, taking you guys along my French macarons baking journey. If you have any tips for me, feel free to leave me a comment.
Here is the link to the printable recipe
What do I need? (~30+ macarons)
- 125g Almond flour
- 125g Powdered sugar (also known as confectioners sugar)
- 125g white granulated sugar
- ~ 90g egg white (~3 eggs)
- 1 bag (1.2oz) of freeze dried raspberry (Check out my review on Freeze Dried Fruits)
- Pinch of pink gel food dye/ gel paste dye
Filling (Cheesecake)
- 1 pkg of cream cheese
- ⅔ cup of powdered sugar
Tools you will need
- Fine mesh sifter (I got my at Daiso Japan)
- Food processor
- Nice spatula
- KitchenAid stand mixer (can use electric hand mixer as well)
How to?
Separate out the egg whites into a small bowl. Cover with a paper towel and put in fridge overnight. This process is called egg white aging.
Measure out all the almond flour, powdered sugar, and white sugar. Measuring out all the items in advance helps with the process down the line.
Add the dried raspberries into the food processor and blend away until they turns into powder.
Add in the powdered sugar and almond flour and blend away. Blend until everything is well mixed and turns into fine powder.
Sift the powdered sugar, almond, and raspberries mixture through a fine sifter to remove any big chunks and raspberries seeds. To learn more about the types of sifters and why this step is necessary, check out the Tips and Tricks section.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Start the beating process at low speed (~speed of 4) until the egg whites are foaming. Once the top surface is foaming, slowly add in the white sugar in 3 parts and continue beating the egg whites.
Right before it reaches stiff peak (around the soft peak part) add a pinch of pink gel food dye. Continue to beat the eggs white until it reaches stiff peak. Not sure what is stiff peak, check out the Tips and Tricks section.
Add in ⅓ of the shifted dry mixture. Carefully, fold in the dry mixture. Add in the other ⅓ and repeat the folding step until all the dry mixture is added to the egg whites.
Continue folding in the batter until the flow is ribbon like. This step is called the meringue and it is the most important part of the whole process that heavily impact the outcome of your french macarons, whether they cracked, have bottom feet, or turn out perfect. For more tips check out the Tips and Tricks section.
Once the batter reaches a ribbon like consistency, put it into a piping bag with a circle tip.
Pipe the batter into a 1” circle onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Drop the baking sheet on a hard surface a couple times to remove any air bubbles. Let it sit at room temperature above the oven until it is dried to touch. Preheat oven to 300F.
Bake at 300F for about 18–25 minutes. To test, open the oven and check one of the testing macarons. The macarons should be dry to the touch and easily come off the parchment paper. If it is then remove it from the oven. If not, continue to bake and check every 5 minutes. It is better to over bake the macarons then underbake it. Do not remove the macarons from the oven if it is under baked. This will deflate the feet.
Set the french macarons aside and let it cool at room temperature. Do not remove the cookies from the baking trays during the cool down process. Wait until the macarons are completely cool. This will allow the macrons bottom to harden and easier for removal later.
Meanwhile, into a stand mixer, whisk together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extra until the batter is fluffy and creamy.
Match up the macarons with one another. Pipe out some cheesecake filling onto one side. Save a little space around the edges of circle so that when they come together the filling doesn’t all come out.
Refrigerate them overnight and enjoy them the next day. French macarons always taste better the next day, but if you can’t wait, treat yourself to some.
Tips and Tricks (Advices :P)
Please note that these tips are what I learned through my 10+ attempts of making French macarons. After so many failed attempts, the only issue I can’t resolved is the cracked top shell. I believe it has to do with my under folding the batter during the meringue part and the fact that I added the food coloring too early during the egg whites whipping process.
What is the point of aging egg white?
This process helps remove any excess moisture from the egg whites. Removing excess moisture from the egg whites will results in a stiffer meringue and a perfect batter consistency for French macarons.
At first I didn’t believed it either; however, after measuring the before and after aged egg whites, the difference in grams is huge. Three egg whites is around ~100 grams (~33g each); however after 24 hours of aging, the 3 egg whites weighted below ~90 grams. I didn’t feel safe leaving it out on the counter, so I aged my egg whites in the refrigerator. Feel free to do this process on the counter if you feel safe.
Cane sugar vs white sugar.
Based on my experiences, white sugar is more fine than cane sugar. This fact matters because the key to a perfect French macarons is heavily depend on the meringue. If the sugar crystal is too large, it will take a longer time for the sugar to dissolve in the egg whites during the whipping process, thus will results in not as a shiny shell and possibly cracked top.
The one time that I made a perfect macaron was when I used pure granulated white sugar. When I was recording for this blog, I didn’t have any granulated white sugar, so I used cane sugar and blend it into fine in the food processor. The cane sugar still turned out not as fine as the granulated white sugar, so I would suggest that you use granulated sugar.
Differences between the different types of sifter and which one is perfect for this recipe.
The type of sifter matters for French macarons. Finer shifter will remove any medium size clumps resulting in a smoother French macarons shell.
In my experience, you should sift the dry mixture through a medium size sifter first and then through a finer sifter. This remove any big clumps that can clogged the fine sifter.
What is stiff peak and how do I know my egg white reaches stiff peak?
This is really hard to describe through writing, so here is a link to a video that show how you can tell when your egg white reaches stiff peak and give you hint on how to reach that perfect egg white peak. In summary, start out beating your egg white for 2 minutes at low speed (~4 on KitchenAid). Increase the speed to medium high (~6 on KitchenAid) and beat for 2 minutes. Afterward, increase the speed to high (~8 on KitchenAid) and beat for 2 more minutes. Add in the food coloring. Continue beating the egg white on high speed (~8 on KitchenAid) until you reach stiff peak.
I used his timing method and I ended up with perfect macarons shell. Unfortunately, I didn’t use this method when I record for this blog.
Why used gel food dye/ gel paste dye?
Traditional liquid food coloring contains too much water, which can deflate the meringue. Gel food dye and gel paste dye contains less water, thus help result in a better meringue. Here is a link to a website that explain in detail about each type of food dye. The best food dye option to use for French macarons is the powdered dye. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get these to test it out.
Other filling options.
Other options of fillings are white chocolate cream cheese, raspberry jam, and white/dark chocolate ganache. This recipe is also good with nutella and raspberry jam. Feel free to experiment and leave me a comment on what you filling you have tried.
Education Time
French macarons, pronounce as “macaron” are very different than macarons. Macarons, pronounce as “macaroon” are those balls of chewy coconuts balls that are often covered with chocolate. French macarons are cute cookie sandwiches that are filled with ganache and/or jam. This type of macaron are found at speciality bake shop and come in a varities to flavor and color.
French macarons originating is unknown; however, it was introduced to the Italians around the 1530s by Catherine di Merci. These little cookies were not popular until the 1790s, when Carmelite nuns, known as the macaron sisters, started selling this cookies in order to support themselves. The cookies were made of almonds, egg whites, and sugar and do not have any filling. Around the 1900s, Pierre Desfontaines and Laduree decided to turn these cookies into sandwiches with ganache filling. These cookies sandwiches are what are known today as the French macarons.
There are several ways to make the perfect French macarons. Two common ways are knowns as the French method and the Italian method. Both of these methods uses the same ingredients. The only differences is in the technique of making the meringue. French method uses a meringue made of beaten egg whites and sugar. Italian method uses a meringue made from beaten sugar syrup and egg whites. The sugar syrup are made from a mixture of water and sugar that has been boiled to a specific temperature and are slowly added to the egg whites during the whipping process. Though both of these methods results a slightly different French macaron, the macarons still ended up with the perfect feet and chewy sweet texture.
Fun Facts 😮
- The original French macarons are just cookies made of almonds, egg whites, and sugar. The cookies had no filling.
- There are difference variation of these cookies depending in what country you get them from (these really make me want to do a taste test for all version). For instance, Japanese version, known as “makaron” are made from peanut flour instead of almond flour. Korean version, known as “ma-ka-rong” are made with green tea powder. Taiwanese version, known as “makalong” are filled with red beans. Swiss version are made of two almond meringue cookies with a buttercream filling.
- Here is the equation to a perfect French macarons (from Serious Eats): 1 part cookie [ground almonds + egg white + sugar] + 1 part filling [buttercream, ganache, jam] + 1 part cookie [ground almonds + egg white + sugar] = 1 complete macaron [happiness]
- Australia McDonald sell these cookies.
- If you go to Paris, make sure you checked out Laduree pastry shops as they are the one who has been in business selling these French macarons for the past 150 years.
