Wild Strawberry Valentines Macarons by Pastreez®

This Valentines season we teamed up with our friends at Pastreez® Macarons to create this gorgeous and delicious heart shaped Wild Strawberry Macarons recipe using Amoretti® Premium Blanched Almond Flour and Wild Strawberry Artisan. Pastreez® was founded by two French chefs and is based in California, they are an authentic online macarons store that also provides virtual macaron classes available worldwide. If you were asking yourself where to find macarons near me, don’t look further. The following recipe will yield around 30-35 macarons!

Ingredients

Macaron Shell

• 300g Amoretti® Premium Blanched Almond Flour
• 300g extra fine powdered sugar (12x powdered sugar is recommended)
• 110g egg white (room temperature)
• 3g red food coloring
• 300g sugar
• 75g water
• Another 110g egg white (room temperature)

Filling

• 1 tbsp. Amoretti® Wild Strawberry Artisan Natural Flavor
• 200g white chocolate chips
• 90g heavy whipping cream

Special Equipment

• Large bowl
• 3/8" piping tip
• 18" piping bag
• Rubber spatula
• Stand mixer
• Kitchen scale
• Plastic cups (for weighing ingredients)
• Sauce pan
• Thermometer

Directions

Macaron Shells

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a large bowl sift your almond flour and powdered sugar into a bowl.
3. Mix together powdered sugar and almond flour until you get a homogeneous mix like the below picture 
4. Slowly add 110g of egg white to your flour and sugar mixture.
5. Also add in your red food coloring at this point
6. Mix your batter with your spatula until you have a uniform color. You can test to make sure your batter is thick enough by placing a plastic scraper in the middle of the batter, if it stays still your batter is ready (see images below) Set aside for later.
   
7. Make a simple syrup by placing water and granulated sugar into your sauce pan.
8. Bring to a boil over medium heat and make sure all sugar granules are dissolved. Remove from heat once all sugar has dissolved
9. Place the remaining 110g of egg whites into your stand mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment.
10. Begin to whisk your egg whites to create the meringue. When your meringue is cloudy and white add 1/2 of the simple syrup and continue mixing. 
11. Once first half of simple syrup is mixed in add the remainder.
12. Stop mixing when your meringue is white and creamy and does not drop when whisk attachment is removed and flipped upside down. (see below)
    
13. Now it is time to start the macaronage step. This means mixing the batter vigorously to get a thick mix.
14. Tap off mixer whisk into bowl of powdered sugar and almond flour batter. Then take half of your meringue and mix it with the batter. 
15. Add remaining half and continue mixing.
16. Keep mixing until you get a smooth mixture. The texture needs to be glossy and smooth like below.
17. Now it's time to pipe! Follow along for Pastreez® fool proof piping method
18. Fit 18" pastry bag with 3/8" piping tip and fill.
19. • Use two hands: your main hand on top. Other hand at the bottom.
    • Top hand = Squeezing hand. Block the piping bag between your index finger and your thumb, and squeeze to release the batter.
    • Bottom hand = Control hand. This hand controls the direction and where to pipe.
20. Begin to pipe shells, twisting bag so it has continuous pressure.
    
    
    
    
21. Once all macarons are piped smack your tray onto the table at least 10 times to release any trapped air.
22. Let shells sit for 20 min before baking.
23. Bake for 15 minutes, check regularly. 
24.  Let shells cool before filling.

White Chocolate Strawberry Filling

1. Place white chocolate into a bowl.
2. Heat cream in a sauce pan until it begins to boil then immediately remove from heat.
3. Pour hot cream over white chocolate and whisk until white chocolate is melted.
4. Add 1 tbsp. of Strawberry Artisan and mix to incorporate.

Filling Your Macarons

1. On your sheet pan of shells flip half of them over. One row flipped the other not.
2. Starting in the middle of your shell pipe your ganache onto each flipped shell. 
3. Place bottom of unfilled shell on top of filled shell to close.
4. You're done. Enjoy! 

Looking for an even more in depth macron training? Check out Pastreez® virtual macaron classes HERE.