Baking Basics: Bunny Macarons (Small Batch)

We’re adding macarons to our baking basics series!
These cute bunny macarons have a crispy shell with chewy interior, filled with less sweet berry mascarpone filling.
Learn how to make this decadent French dessert with some simple steps below!

I’m revisiting this post to update the pictures with more macaron tips for you to take note of! 🙂

Macarons are my favourite dessert! How about you?

若想阅读中文版本，请在网页的右边 “Google Translate” 点击选择 中文简体 (Chinese Simplified）或 繁体 (Chinese Traditional) 翻译。可能食谱读起来会怪怪的，所以如果有疑问都可以问哦！

Macarons have long been well-known to be difficult to make! Some common problems include cracking, no feet, wrinkly top etc. After being in the baking business for 2 years and churning out many macarons for our customers, here are some tips that I have discovered!

(P.S.: This is not the recipe we use in the studio :p)

What Are Macarons?

Firstly, macarons are not macaroons. Macaroons are a type of coconut cookie.  Macarons are delicate almond cookies filled with buttercream, ganache or fruity curd filling. They are crispy on the outside and with a chewy interior.

These little cookies are quite finicky – you will have to be very precise in the measurements, mixing method as well as the oven temperature, for them to be successful. To succeed in making these dainty little treats, practice making them often!

The Different Types of Macaron Methods

Macarons can be made in 3 ways: French, Italian or Swiss method.

Bakeries usually use the Italian method for its stability. That’s because you can prepare the batter in one single batch for different types of colors, and the batter mostly stay quite stable, even after leaving the batter aside for quite a while.

However this method can be a little challenging if you’re new to making macarons, as Italian macaron recipes require boiling the sugar syrup to a certain temperature, to be added to whip up the meringue.

French method is the method that I usually use for home baking, because it is so straightforward and easy to make. However, it is also the least stable method. I find that the meringue tends to deflate easily, meaning that it is not ideal to make a large batch and try to pipe and bake many trays of them.

Swiss method would be a little more stable than the French ones. It requires warming up the egg white + sugar over bain marie till 40C to 45C before whipping the meringue.

If you’re new to making macarons, you can start by trying the easiest method – the French method.

How To Make These Bunny Macarons?

We will first sieve together icing sugar and ground almond. There might be large pieces of ground almond that will not go through the sieve. If the amount if not a lot, you can just discard them. Take note to not force the large pcs through the sieve.

Then, whisk the egg white and sugar to stiff peaks.

The ground almond mixture will be folded into the meringue in 2 batches. After that, we will continue folding (macaronage) until the batter is smooth and flowy.

Once the batter is ready, we will pipe into round shapes. For the bunny ears, we will just pipe 2 longish dollops on the top part of 7 shells. The rest of the shells can remain as round shape.

>> MORE PETITE DESSERTS:

• Moonlight Cookies
• Blueberry Glazed Baked Donuts
• Iced Gem Biscuits

Macaron Tips

• Use a weighing scale: As mentioned earlier, making macarons need a very precise measurement of the ingredients, so make sure you get a weighing scale to measure out the ingredients.
• Macaronage: This is the part where we work the macaron batter till it is smooth, shiny and flowing (lava-like consistency).
• Ground Almond: It is important to get finely ground almond, which can be sieved through easily. It is also important that you do not press the ground almond too hard against the sieve, as this may make the ground almond to release some of their “oil”, affecting the final bake. If you didn’t manage to get finely ground almond, you can always try to use a food processor to give the ground almond some blitz.
• Drying: You will need to let the macaron batter dry before baking. The drying can take about 20-40 mins, depending on the weather. If this is your first time in trying macarons, you might want to try making them on sunny days, as humidity doesn’t work very well for macaron making.
• Parchment Paper: I find the brand Glad works best for me. I don’t have great experience with Silpat mats. But then again, you can always try out the different types of parchment/silicon/teflon paper to see what works best for you!
• Practice: With macarons, you will need some patience and a lot of practices 🙂

Cute Bunny Macarons 可爱兔兔马卡龙

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• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 17 minutes
• Total Time: 47 minutes
• Yield: 7 Macarons 1x

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Description

These cute bunny macarons have a crispy shell with chewy interior, filled with less sweet berry mascarpone filling. Try out this decadent French dessert with some simple steps below!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Macaron Shells:

• 40 g ground almond
• 40 g icing sugar
• 35 g egg white
• 35 g caster sugar
• Pink food coloring gel, Black edible pen

 

Berry Mascarpone Filling:

• 20g mascarpone cream
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp strawberry jam
• 1/4 tsp strawberry powder

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Instructions

Macarons:

1. Sift ground almond and icing sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Mix them together.
2. Beat the egg white on medium speed till frothy. Add in sugar in 3 batches. Beat on high speed till stiff peak.

1. Add meringue into ground almond mixture in 2 batches. Fold in till roughly incorporated, then add in the 2nd batch of meringue.
2. Fold and press out air till mixture is lava-like, falling from raised spatula like fluid, ribbon stage, leaving a Y shape on the raised spatula.
3. Remove about 1/2 tsp of macaron mixture to tint pink.
4. Pipe out the mixture onto baking paper, doing circles first. Bang baking tray on counter top for about 10-15 times. Using a toothpick, gently poke the air bubbles that surface. Pipe the ears for 7 of the macaron shells. Leave to dry for about 5 mins before piping the pink portion for ears and nose. Let shells dry for 20-45 mins, or until matte and dry.

1. Preheat oven to 150C, bake for 17-19 mins. I am baking on 2nd lower rack. If your oven’s bottom heat is not too hot, you can place on lowest rack.
2. After baking for 5 mins, place a baking tray on the top rack and continue baking. This can help prevent browning of the macaron shells.
3. Remove from oven and cool completely before peeling the macaron shells off the baking paper. Decorate as needed. Fill with your favourite filling or the mascarpone filling below.

 

Berry Mascarpone filling:

1. Place mascarpone cheese and jam in a mixing bowl. Mix well with a spatula.
2. Place the mixture into the fridge to chill for about 10 mins.
3. Remove from fridge and whisk them together.
4. Pipe onto shells and sandwich together.

Notes

The macaron recipe makes a small batch of macarons (7 pcs of 1.5″ macarons). Please click on 2x or 3x on the recipe card if you prefer a larger batch.

I am using Americolor Soft Pink and #10 Wilton Tip. You can also just pipe out white bunny macaron shells, draw the pink ears and nose after baking (with pink edible pen).

For decoration, I am using edible pen for black; pink lustre dust. These can be bought from baking supplies stores.

Please test your oven temperature on your own. It will be good if you have an oven thermometer to keep track of the temperature inside.

I am using strawberry jam for the filling. It gives a dull pink color, which is why I added the strawberry powder, for more flavor and color. Otherwise you can try the raspberry jam, which should give a brighter pink color. The mascarpone filling is quite soft. If you need to transport the macarons, do not stack them together in case the shells may slide off.

• Category: Dessert
• Method: French Macaron

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