Description
Delight in these festive Santa Claus Macarons featuring delicate almond meringue shells decorated with royal icing and filled with a luscious sugar cookie buttercream. Perfect for holiday celebrations, these vibrant red macarons are piped with precision and topped with a coconut coating for an extra holiday touch.
Ingredients
Scale
Macaron Shells
- 100 grams Domino® Golden Sugar
- 4 grams egg white powder (optional)
- 100 grams egg whites
- 105 grams almond flour
- 105 grams Domino® Powdered Sugar
- 2 drops black gel food coloring
- 1 drop yellow gel food coloring
Royal Icing
- 1 1/2 cups Domino® Powdered Sugar (187 grams)
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 4 tbsp water
Sugar Cookie Buttercream
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (63 grams)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 grams)
- 1/4 cup Domino® Golden Sugar (50 grams)
- 1 1/4 cup Domino® Powdered Sugar (156 grams)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tbsp milk or heavy cream
- 1/4 cup desiccated coconut (50 grams)
Instructions
- Preparation: Gather and measure all ingredients. Fit a large piping bag with a 1/4” round tip and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats; prepare using a macaron template if available.
- Sift Dry Ingredients: Sift together powdered sugar and almond flour; set aside.
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 300ºF (conventional) for 60 to 90 minutes to stabilize temperature. For convection ovens, preheat to 270ºF and adjust as needed.
- Prepare Sugar Mixture: Place a bowl over simmering water, add golden sugar and optional egg white powder, whisk to prevent clumping.
- Add Egg Whites: Add egg whites and whisk until sugar is fully dissolved, ensuring the bowl does not touch water and sugar does not cook.
- Whip Meringue: Transfer mixture to a stand mixer, whip on low for 30 seconds, then medium-low for 2 minutes, then medium-high until stiff peaks form (approximately 13-15 minutes). Avoid overwhipping.
- Incorporate Dry Ingredients and Color: Fold sifted almond flour and powdered sugar into meringue gently with a spatula, add red gel food coloring and continue folding until batter is glossy and flows slowly off spatula, forming figure 8 shapes.
- Pipe Shells: Transfer batter to piping bag, pipe onto prepared sheets following the template, pipe for 3-5 seconds per circle.
- Remove Air Bubbles: Tap trays on the countertop to release bubbles, use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles on shells.
- Rest Shells: Allow shells to rest at room temperature until surface is dry and firm to touch, forming a thick skin, essential to prevent cracking during baking.
- Bake Shells: Bake one tray at a time for 15-20 minutes at 300ºF; baking time varies by oven. Look for formed feet and non-jiggly shells.
- Cool Shells: Remove macarons from oven and cool completely before decorating and filling.
- Make Royal Icing: In a mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar and meringue powder; add water gradually while mixing on low. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until glossy and fluffy with a thick but flowy consistency. Divide into two bowls and color one black and one yellow with gel food coloring. Transfer to piping bags with sizes 3 (black) and 2 (yellow) tips, keep covered to prevent drying.
- Decorate Shells: Pipe a black line down the center of half the shells for Santa’s belt. Let dry briefly (use fridge to speed drying). Pipe a small yellow square buckle on black line.
- Heat Treat Flour: Spread flour on baking tray, bake at 350ºF for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool completely before use.
- Make Buttercream: Beat butter and sugars for 4-5 minutes until creamy. Add cooled flour, vanilla, almond extract, and mix on low to incorporate. Adjust thickness with milk or powdered sugar as needed.
- Assemble Macarons: Pipe buttercream onto undecorated macaron shells, sandwich with decorated shells. Roll edges in desiccated coconut.
- Storage: Macarons can be frozen for 1-2 months or refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Egg white powder is optional and can be skipped without altering the recipe.
- Resting time for macarons is crucial for developing a proper skin and avoiding cracking.
- Baking times and temperatures may vary; adjust based on your oven’s performance.
- Heat-treating flour is essential for safe consumption in buttercream.
- Royal icing consistency should be thick but flowy like sweetened condensed milk for pipeability.
- Use gel food coloring for vibrant and deep color without affecting batter consistency.
- Keep royal icing covered to prevent crust formation.
- Freezing macarons extends their shelf life without compromising texture.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking and Piping
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 macarons (1 sandwich)
- Calories: 180 kcal
- Sugar: 25 g
- Sodium: 35 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 30 mg
Keywords: Santa Claus Macarons, Holiday Macarons, Christmas Desserts, Almond Macarons, Royal Icing Decorations, Sugar Cookie Buttercream
