Sweet Explorations

Easter Chick Macarons

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Get ready for cuteness overload with today’s recipe: Easter Chick Macarons. I’m more than happy with the way these turned out. It’s funny when you have a concept in your head because you never really know how it’s gonna turn out. But let me tell you, these cookies are so adorable that they will bring a smile to everyone’s face. Paired with the bright and bold flavor of lemon curd, they make the perfect a perfect hostess gift for Easter Sunday. Here is how to make them:

Easter Chick Macarons
 
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makes 30 macarons
Ingredients
  • 200g almond flour
  • 200g powdered sugar
  • 4 egg whites (divided in 2)
  • 200g sugar
  • 50g water
  • Yellow food coloring
  • 1 cup lemon curd
  • ¼ cup yellow royal icing
  • ¼ cup orange royal icing
  • ⅛ cup black royal icing
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Over a large bowl, sift together almond flour and powdered sugar. Add 2 egg whites and mix to form a paste. Set aside.
  3. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip 2 egg whites on medium speed to soft peaks.
  4. In the meantime, in a small saucepan, cook 200g of sugar and 50g of water on medium heat until the syrup reaches 245 degrees F.
  5. Once the egg whites are forming soft peaks, slowly pour in the syrup with the motor running on medium speed. Then crank up to high speed and mix until the meringue turns super white and glossy, about 4 minutes. Add yellow food coloring and mix to combine.
  6. Spoon a quarter of the meringue over the almond paste mixture and stir to combine. Don’t worry about deflating any egg whites here. You are only loosening up the paste so it’s easier to mix with the rest of the meringue. Once the mixture is uniform, add the rest of your meringue and fold until combined.
  7. Spoon macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip, about ¾” wide. Pipe your macarons in perfect little circles on parchment-lined baking sheets. Once piped, tap your baking sheet on your counter a couple of times to get rid of any air bubbles.
  8. Bake for 15 minutes. The macarons should come off the parchment paper easily. Let them cool on the baking sheet. When cool, pipe the details with royal icing on half of the shells.
  9. To assemble, spoon or pipe 1 tsp of lemon curd between 2 macaron shells. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
Over a large bowl, sift together almond flour and powdered sugar:

Add 2 egg whites and mix to form a paste. Set aside:

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip 2 egg whites on medium speed to soft peaks.

In the meantime, in a small saucepan, cook 200g of sugar and 50g of water on medium heat until the syrup reaches 245 degrees F:

 

Once the egg whites are forming soft peaks, slowly pour in the syrup with the motor running on medium speed:

Then crank up to high speed and mix until the meringue turns super white and glossy, about 4 minutes. Add yellow food coloring and mix to combine:

Spoon a quarter of the meringue over the almond paste mixture and stir to combine:

Don’t worry about deflating any egg whites here. You are only loosening up the paste so it’s easier to mix with the rest of the meringue.

Once the mixture is uniform, add the rest of your meringue and fold until combined. You are looking for the consistency of hot lava:


Spoon macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip, about ¾” wide. Pipe your macarons in perfect little circles on parchment-lined baking sheets. To make sure my macarons are all the same size, I usually print circles on a piece of paper and slip it under my parchment paper as I pipe to use as a guide. You can kinda see my guide in the picture below…

Once piped, tap your baking sheet on your counter a couple of times to get rid of any air bubbles. If any of your shells have a little peak from where you piped them, dip your finger in water and dab the peak down:

Bake for 15 minutes. The macarons should come off the parchment paper easily. Let them cool on the baking sheet.

When cool, start decorating the top shells with royal icing. I am using a #1 tip. First the beak:

Then the feet:

Followed by cute round eyes:

and finally wings and a tuft of hair:

To assemble, spoon or pipe 1 tsp of lemon curd between 2 macaron shells:

Refrigerate overnight before serving so the shells and filling get to “merge”.

Happy Easter!!!

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Comments

  1. Thank you for making these adorable macarons!!! definitely made me smile today, they are the cutest things ever!!

  7. i would be so creative if my macaroons ever came out that nice but my oven is just too darn finicki.. 🙁

    • Hi Kristen,
      Check out the “my favorite tools” orange box in the right column. It has a link to where I buy my bottles. You’re better off buying a set from the get-go. They come in a handy carrying case. The bottles use a standard size screw top so all you need are standard tips and the screw-on piece of any piping bag coupler. =)

  11. Hi there Francois,
    I tried this recipe yesterday and cried when it flopped 🙁 I was so upset with myself. I didn’t have the right piping bag or even the tip, so i used the piping bag without the tip, since it was 3/4 inch wide. They also didn’t come out the right size, and flopped all over the place. However, I am determined to succeed. I will try this again with the right tools and some more confidence. I will master this yet! This is my kryptonite for sure. I will keep you posted on my success! Thank you, i love all your recipes! So glad I found your blog!
    Mimi.

  12. Dear Francois,
    I have to say I’m eternally grateful for this recipe. I’ve been trying to bake perfect macarons for AGES and they never turned out good. Still, I decided to try your recipe and to my surprise they came out ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Thank you so so much! <3

    • Hi Wilma,

      Weirdly enough, measuring by weight is the only way to go with macarons. They are one tricky cookie =)
      Here are the grams converted into ounces:
      200g almond flour = 7oz
      200g powdered sugar = 7oz
      4 egg whites (divided in 2)
      200g sugar = 7oz
      50g water = 1.8oz

  14. Francois,
    Do these adorable Easter chick macaroons need to stay refrigerated ? How far in advance can I make these?

    • You can make those up a couple of days in advance. They actually taste better after being refrigerated when the cookie shells pick up some moisture from the filling.

  15. These really caught my attention but unfortunately they didn’t come out for me. :(. Very disappointing. Not sure where it went wrong but I’ll just admire yours!

  16. Yours was the first french macaron recipe I’ve ever attempted to make, and each time they come out FLAWLESS! I’ve made them about 5 times in the past year from your recipe and I’m just overjoyed each time they come out.

    I have to confess, I tried a recipe from another blogger the other day that wasn’t the italian method, and it was the biggest disaster of macronage I’ve ever beheld in my life. I’ve learned my lesson, and I’ll be using your recipe faithfully for the rest of my days.

    THANK YOU!

    • Hi Sarah!
      There are 2 main techniques for French macarons: French meringue and Italian meringue. Italian meringue uses syrup to stabilize the egg white mixture so I found it to be more reliable than the French technique. The best part about Italian meringue macarons is that they can go straight in the oven. No need to dry out the top of each macaron first.

  19. Hi I’m wondering we’re did you get those bottles for the iceing with the silver tips thanks

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