Rainbow Macarons

• servings: 10 servings
• active time: 1 hour
• total time: 1 hour 12 minutes

Ingredients

63 grams almond flour

63 grams powdered sugar

7 grams black cocoa powder*

60 grams egg whites (about 2 large eggs) room temperature)

60 grams granulated sugar

1-4 squirts black gel food coloring

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (softened)

2 cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple gel food coloring

Directions

Chocolate Macaron Shells

Weigh the almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a sifter over a bowl and sift out/discard any large chunks. Then, transfer the mixture into a food chopper and pulse for 10-15 seconds. Sift again and set aside.

Weigh the egg whites & sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer (or large heat-resistant bowl). Place the bowl over a pot with an inch of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reaches around 100°F (it should look like a transparent syrup underneath white bubbles).

Transfer the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or remove from heat and use a hand mixer). Whisk on low speed for a minute, and then increase the speed 1-2 notches every 3-5 minutes. Once the meringue starts to get white and somewhat thick, add a squirt of black food coloring. Continue increasing the mixer to full speed and whisking until it reaches medium to stiff peaks (thick but still a tiny bit droopy when lifted). Mix in more black dye as needed (I use about 3 squirts, the meringue should look gray).

Gently fold ½ of the sifted mixture into the meringue, then add the remaining ½. Continue folding until the batter is smooth and creates a figure 8 without breaking when it trickles down from the spatula.

Pour the batter into a pastry bag with a medium round piping tip. Pipe circles on a silicon mat (or parchment paper) on a baking sheet by placing the piping tip at a 90° angle from the sheet, about ¼ inch away, and squeezing until the circle is 1-1½ inches in diameter.

I recommend wearing earplugs for this-Carefully lift the pan of shells ~6 inches and drop it onto your counter 5 times. Smooth out any air bubbles with a toothpick, and then drop it a few more times. Let the shells rest at room temperature until they're smooth & dry to touch (~45-60 minutes). I recommend making the buttercream while you wait.

Preheat oven to 315°F while the macaron shells are resting.*

Bake macarons for 12-14 minutes. The shells should feel pretty firm and stable when you gently tap on them. Let them cool on the baking sheet completely.

Vanilla Rainbow Buttercream

Mix together the softened butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.

Equally distribute the buttercream into 6 small bowls. Add a squirt of each color to the separate buttercreams and mix them in. Add more dye until you reach your desired colors.

Transfer each colored buttercream to its own plastic bag & cut the tip off the end. Lay a long sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and pipe a line of each color next to each other on the sheet. Roll the sheet up so you have a log of rainbow buttercream. Cut off the tip on one side.

Place the frosting log into a piping bag fitted with your preferred piping tip (I like to use a large closed star tip). Squeeze a bit out until all colors come out together.

Assembling the Macarons

Pair the shells up and then pipe rainbow buttercream onto half of them. Sandwich the shells together and enjoy!

Nutrition

• Calories: 267 kcal
• Total Fat: 13 g
• Saturated Fat: 6 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 25 mg
• Sodium: 12 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 38 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 36 g
• Protein: 2 g