Pierre Hermé, French pastry chef, cook absolutely fabulous macarons. I bought his book few years ago and have tested some of his recipes. Today, I will share with you the raspberry macaron recipe. It’s a bit long to prepare but you won’t regret spending time on it when you’ll have these little delights in your mouth.

Macarons need precision, my first advice is to respect exactly the measures, so take care of having a precise kitchen scale. You also will need a digital probe thermometer for checking precisely the temperature.

Macarons are meringue-based confectioneries filled with ganache, buttercream or jam. For raspberry macarons, it will be with jam. They are cooked in three steps : jam preparation, shells preparation and finally putting jam between two shells like a sandwich.

Savor your delicious macarons :-)

French’Licious : Each year, the 20th March, Pierre Hermé stores organize the macarons day. You can taste delicious macarons by Pierre hermé for free. If you go to Paris during March, don’t forget to celebrate macarons !

Raspberry Macarons like Pierre Hermé

Raspberry Macarons like Pierre Hermé

By Sylvain
Published: May 17, 2012

  • Yield: 36 (6 Servings)
  • Prep: 1 hr 30 mins
  • Cook: 12 mins
  • Ready In: 1 hr 42 mins

Macarons are meringue-based confectioneries filled with ganache, buttercream or jam. For raspberry macarons, it will be with jam. They are cooked in three steps : jam preparation, shells preparation and finally putting jam between two shells like a sandwich.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Egg whites aged one week : Few days before cooking the macarons : separate the whites and the yolks, weigh the whites to have two batches of 2 oz in two bowls. Cover the bowls with cellophane and drill some little holes with a knife. Put them in the refrigerator for some days (ideal : 7 days).
  2. Raspberry jam preparation : Let’s begin with the easiest step. If you want, you can prepare the raspberry jam few days before cooking your maracons.

    Mix the raspberries for at least 10 minutes. Combine the sugar with the pectin and then put them with the mixed raspberries in a sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and mix again.

    Pour the jam in a container, let it cool and then put it in the refrigerator.
  3. Shells preparation : Sift the ground almond and the powdered sugar in a medium bowl.

    Mix the food coloring with the first batch of egg white. Add this batch to the grand almond and powdered sugar preparation without mixing them.

    In a small saucepan, combine the water and the caster sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil until it reach 244°F / 118°C. You can use for this a digital probe thermometer.

    Meanwhile, place the second batch of egg whites in a bowl.

    When the sugar syrup is at 239°F / 115°C, begin to beat the egg whites on medium speed. When the water / sugar reach 244°F / 118°C, pour it over the egg white and beat until the mixture drop to 122°F / 50°C. Well done, you’ve just done an Italian meringue.

    Fold the meringue into the ground almond and powdered sugar mixture until it’s homogeneous. Place in a large pastry bag with a plain #11 tip.

    Place greaseproof paper on two baking trays. On each tray, made 36 circles of about 1.5 inches with the dough. Let the meringues out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before baking them.

    Preheat the hoven to 350°F / 180°C. Bake the meringues for 12 minutes. Open the oven door quickly twice during cooking. When the meringues are cooked slide the greaseproof paper onto a table and leave them to cool.
  4. It’s almost finish. Now you can have some fun putting together jam and shells and admire your delicious macarons. So, put your raspberry jam in a pastry bag with a plain #11 tip. Take a shell and put jam on it, cover with another shell like a sandwich. Do this with all the shells.
  5. Before eating them, you have to put the macarons in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The next day, put them out of the refrigerator 2 hours before eating.