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Strawberries and cream macarons are the ultimate taste of strawberries and cream! You’ll love these sweet strawberry macarons filled with cream cheese frosting.
Once you begin making macarons, the sandwich cookies quickly become addictive. After a successful first round, I decided to try a flavored version. Freeze dried strawberries (available at Trader Joe’s or online) give the shells an intense strawberry essence without changing the final texture.
To balance the sweet strawberry cookies, I used tangy cream cheese frosting as the filling. I gave a few of the macs a quick roll in pearlized sprinkles to complete the dreamy look (though I’m certain the French would frown on my adornment!). Embellished or not, each bite offers the ultimate taste of strawberries and cream.
Craving more homemade macarons? Try my raspberry cheesecake macarons!
Strawberries and Cream Macarons
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 24 minutes
- Yield: 32 macarons
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French
Description
Strawberries and cream macarons are the ultimate taste of strawberries and cream! You’ll love these sweet strawberry macarons filled with cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Macarons
- 3/4 ounce freeze dried strawberries
- 115 g almond flour
- 230 g powdered sugar
- 144 g egg whites, at room temperature
- 72 g sugar
- 2 g (1/2 tsp) salt
- 1 or 2 drops burgundy gel food coloring (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 oz reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
- pinch of salt
- 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 280°F and fit a large disposable pastry bag with a round tip. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a third sheet of parchment paper, trace out 24 1.5-inch circles (use a round cookie cutter or stencil as a guide), spaced 1 inch apart. Set aside as a master guide.
- Process freeze dried strawberries and almond flour in a food processor until finely ground. Use a fine mesh sieve or sifter to sift strawberry-almond flour mixture and powdered sugar together twice; use a firm spatula to push any large particles through. Set aside.
- Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in a large mixer bowl fitted with wire whip attachment. Whip for 3 minutes on medium speed (4 on a KitchenAid), until egg whites begin to foam. Increase speed to medium-high (7 on a KitchenAid) and whip for 3 minutes, until meringue forms soft peaks. Increase speed to 8 and whip for another 3 minutes. Turn off mixer and add gel food coloring; whip another 1 to 2 minutes on high speed to evenly distribute color until meringue is stiff and dry. The meringue should clump in the center of the wire whip attachment; knock against mixer bowl to release.
- Add dry ingredients to meringue all at once. Use a rubber spatula to fold dry mixture into meringue, smearing the mixture against the side of the bowl to knock the air out (you want to deflate the whites, so don’t worry about folding them gently). After 25 folds, your mixture may still look lumpy. Continue to fold about 10 to 12 more times, checking texture after each fold. The batter is ready when it holds its shape when spooned onto itself and slowly flattens out after 15 to 20 seconds. If the batter is stiff and doesn’t flatten out, it’s undermixed. If the batter is runny and fluid, it’s overmixed and won’t hold a shape.
- Transfer half the batter to pastry bag. Slide master guide of circles between baking sheet and parchment paper. Hold piping bag vertically and pipe batter to within 1/8″ from the edge of the circle. Carefully remove master guide from underneath piped circles and transfer to second baking sheet, repeating with remaining batter. Remove guide and save for future use. Tap pans sharply on counter; rotate 90 degrees and tap two more times (to deflate air bubbles and prevent cracked shells).
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until you can cleanly peel the parchment paper away from the macaron. Place pans on wire racks and cool completely before removing shells. For the cream cheese frosting, beat butter, cream cheese and salt in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; gradually add powdered sugar 1/3 cup at a time and beat just until smooth.
- When ready to assemble, fit a large disposable pastry bag with a round tip and fill with frosting. Pipe about a tablespoon of frosting onto the bottom of half the shells, then sandwich with remaining shells. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to three days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Adapted from BraveTart
Can I pulverize graham crackers in a food processor and substitute for the graham flour? Also, can you provide an approximate weight amount on the 4 cups of cherries? I’m able to tell by the ingredients (yum brown butter) this will be an exceptional tasting treat! Thanks!
Hi Stephanie! For which recipe? I think you meant to leave this comment on a different post. 🙂
This is an excellent recipe! I made these yesterday and they’re delicious! Thank you so much for the tips; so much easier than many other macaron recipes out there.
I didn’t have burgundy food coloring, so I used Americolor “Red Red” instead to see what would happen. The batter was pinkish purple, but during baking they turned brown. Any suggestions about the coloring.
Also, I couldn’t peel away the parchment from the shells to check for doneness — they were sticking. Should I have baked them longer? They do seem to be slightly chewier than ones I’ve had before.
So glad you liked the macarons! 🙂 My guess on the food coloring is that it’s not a heat safe formula. If the macarons were sticking to the parchment, then you could have baked them a few extra minutes. Hope that helps!
Hi Laura! Had a quick question about the amount of dried strawberries in the recipe. Is there 3 ounces of strawberries or 4 ounces that you used in your recipe, was just a bit confused. The macaroons look really nice by the way and I can’t wait to try them out!
Hi Sara, I used 3/4 (0.75) of an ounce. Use a food scale – it makes macarons much easier.
Hi Laura!
I was wondering if I could substitute the freeze dried strawberry with fresh ones. Would that chabge the consitincey of the batter?
Hi Tammy, no – fresh strawberries won’t work as a substitute because they will add extra moisture to the batter. Macarons can be quite temperamental!
these tasted fabulous! Although they did brown rather than stay pretty pink, but I’ll put that down to my notoriously fickle oven. The strawberry flavour came through loud and clear, especially after I stored them in the fridge for a day – it seemed to mellow the cream cheese filling and make them a more cohesive whole.
Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
Hi Sandy, thanks for your comment – so glad you liked the macarons! 🙂
I’ve just made these and they’re currently resting before going into the oven (not in your instructions I know, but I can’t make myself cook macarons without giving them some rest time).
The colour is beautiful even without the food colouring, and the mix tastes fabulous.
Next up is a batch with freeze dried mango instead of strawberries. I think the cream cheese filling should still work though.
Thanks for an excellent recipe!
Hi!
Does burgundy gel paste give it that pretty color rather than using pink? Did you use Wilton or AmeriColor gel?
Thanks!
Hi Rachel, I used AmeriColor gel in burgundy. Start with 1 drop and then see if you need 2 – the freeze dried strawberries in the mixture also help with the color.