How to Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons
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This is not my first macaron post, and it’s probably not going to be my last, either. The thing is, when the weather gets hot but I still want to bake, macarons are a blessing! The oven doesn’t need to be that hot, but you can still turn out with these gorgeous, little pink strawberry cheesecake macarons.
I know, right? How good does a chilled bite of strawberry cheesecake in a perfectly formed macaron shell sound? And, hey, guess what! We’re going to drizzle a bit of milk chocolate on top of some of them.
These macarons turn out a pure, fresh strawberry flavor with the creamy, not-to-sweetness of cheesecake. By themselves, they are perfection. Paired with a little milk chocolate, they are heaven. So, I leave it up to you. You can dip them, drizzle them, or leave your strawberry cheesecake macarons naked. You can’t go wrong.
So, let’s start by talking about the macaron shells. Then, we’ll look at that luscious strawberry cheesecake center. And finally, we’ll melt some chocolate and put the finishing touches on our beautiful little treats.
Perfect Little Pink Macaron Shells
I have tried a lot of macaron recipes out there, y’all. And while the Italian method is still on my to-do list, so far, the very best method is from Pie and Tacos. If it’s your first time making macarons, I highly recommend you take a minute to go to her site and bookmark her Macaron School. This is going to help to answer every question I can’t answer in a single blog post.
This is our starting point. We’re doing a Swiss method shell based on a Pie and Taco’s recipe. The difference is that I choose to use a cooler oven and I’m using liquid food coloring. Both of these are typically no-no’s in macaron making. So, let’s talk about it.
Neon Pink Food Coloring for Macarons
Generally, you want to avoid adding liquid flavors or liquid colors to your meringue as it will mess with the equilibrium of your egg whites and cause your meringue to go flat. I’m using a neon pink color and only 5 drops. 5 drops is enough to get a lovely pastel pink.
Your best bet if you really don’t want to tempt fate is to use a gel food color. This is how you achieve really vivid, bold, dark colors like navy or true red. If that’s your speed, try Americolor gel colors. Otherwise, whatever you already have on hand, red or pink, use 5 drops for a pastel pink color.
Oven Temperature for Macarons
Now, about the oven temperature: I tested at cooler and warmer temperatures and found a sweet spot. With a cooler oven, I ended up with pale, hollow shells that had nice big feet. So, they looked nice from the outside but weren’t fun to eat. With a warmer oven, I had nice full shells but the tops were brown and hard. For me, the happy medium is 315ºF.
I think this varies even by flavor. With my vanilla shells, 295ºF was what I recommended and with my chocolate almond shells, I used 310º. I’m just slowly working my way up. I may even have to retest those recipes again and adjust my temperature.
Many things will affect your oven temperature like weather and humidity. You may not have a perfect batch right away, so don’t be afraid to make a couple batches and tweak the recipe to your needs. I know some bakers have to bring in a dehumidifier when they’re making macs because it’s just so darn humid, their shells won’t dry!
For More Information…
At the risk of making this post far too long, I’m not going to repeat all my favorite tips and tricks for making perfect macaron shells. I highly recommend you read through my post from my Perfect Vanilla Bean Macarons because all that information is there. For now, I want to walk you through this amazing strawberry cheesecake filling.
The Strawberry Cheesecake Buttercream of Your Dreams
If you were to dream about strawberry cheesecake buttercream, this would be the star. It’s a naturally-bright-pink, perfectly fruity, creamy bliss that melts right in your mouth. Just bam! Pure strawberry flavor.
The key is using powdered freeze-dried strawberries. To do this, I throw a bag of freeze-dried strawberries in my Nutribullet and blitz it until there are no chunks left. Some of it may stick to the sides if you’re experiencing humid weather. If that happens, you might need extra powdered sugar to thicken your frosting. Just add a spoonful at a time until you like the consistency.
For our cheesecake base, we’re whipping together a little butter and a lot of cream cheese. This is, of course, relative because you’re not making the largest batch of frosting. To that, you’ll add a hint of vanilla for extra creaminess.
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Finally, you’ll slowly incorporate the strawberry powder and powdered sugar until it’s well combined and thick enough that the whisk leaves trails in the mixture. Then, whip it for 5 minutes to fluff it up. Now it’s ready to pipe!
Drizzling Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons in Chocolate
Just when you didn’t think these could get any better, let’s bring out the chocolate. You want to use milk chocolate. It’s milder and won’t overpower your strawberry flavor. I actually ended up using a square of almond bark so I could get a really good shiny finish on it without worrying about tempering it.
However, use what you like. Chop up a bar into small even pieces, or if you’re using chocolate chips, pour them into a microwave safe bowl. I added about half a teaspoon of coconut oil to soften it. The result is still shiny and solid at room temperature, but it won’t crack your teeth when you take a bite.
Microwave your chocolate for about a minute. Then, even start stirring. The bowl is warm enough that it will continue to melt the chocolate as you stir. Just keep going.
Now, I like to move the melted chocolate to a piping bag and snip the tiniest tip off. You could use a plastic baggy for the same effect. Drizzle the tops of your macarons to your heart’s content. I even piped a solid chocolate top on a couple of mine for fun.
Add Sprinkles to Your Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons
If you want to add sprinkles, do so while your chocolate is still wet. Keep in mind that with a drizzle, your chocolate will firm up really quickly. So, drizzle, add sprinkles, drizzle another one, add sprinkles, etc.
You may choose to drizzle half of your mac shells so that the bottoms stay clean. I chose to decorate after assembly because I sure love the chocolate dripping all the way down the side. Mmmm!
You could also have some extra fun by shopping Sprinkle Pop. They’ve got the cutest color pallets and a lot of fun textures to play with. This mix actually has little strawberry sprinkles in it.
Once you’re done, chill your macarons overnight. They tend to be better on the second or third day. So, if you’re making these for a special occasion, I’d recommend trying to get them done a day or two in advance. Remember to keep them in the fridge so they stay fresh for up to a week! You can also freeze them for up to 6 months and defrost some when you want a little treat.
The Tools You’ll Need
Before you get started, here are the tools I use for my macarons:
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment
- 2 Norpro half sheet pans
- 2 macaron template silicone baking mats
- Fine Mesh sieve
- Prep bowls
- Kitchen scale
- Heat-proof bowl
- Saucepan
- Piping Bags
- Piping Tips
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with whisk attachment
- Kitchen Scale
- Fine mesh sieve
- 2 sheet pans
- 2 macaron template silicone baking mats
- 2 piping bags + 1 round tip and 1 star tip
Ingredients
- 100 g egg whites about 3 eggs worth
- 100 g pure cane sugar
- 105 g almond flour
- 105 g powdered sugar
- 5 drops neon pink food coloring
- ½ block cream cheese room temperature
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ oz freeze-dried strawberries ground to a fine powder
- ¼ tsp pink himalayan sea salt
Instructions
- Weigh your ingredients thoroughly. For the powdered sugar and almond flour, weigh the ingredients after they've been sifted twice for an accurate measure. Then, whisk the powdered sugar and almond flour together into a bowl and set aside.
- Fill a medium sauce pan with 1-inch of water, and bring to a simmer.
- Whisk together the egg whites and cane sugar in the bowl from your stand mixer until the sugar is no longer clumpy. Place the bowl over your pot of simmering water, and whisk heartily until the mixture starts to look opaque and the sugar is totally dissolved. You can check with your fingers. It should be about body temperature and smooth (and sticky… wash your hands).
- Dry off the bottom of the bowl, and set it back in the stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk on 4 until it starts to thicken. Add in the 5 drops of neon pink coloring.
- Then, move it up to 6 until the tiniest stiff peak forms. You don't want to go to truly stiff peaks; stop when it starts to look glossy and test for a peak. If you can get a quarter-inch peak, test by tilting the bowl. If you can turn it upside down, you're done.
- Fold in the first half of the almond flour-powdered sugar mixture until incorporated. Then, fold in the second half. Continue folding by running your rubber spatula around the bowl and then down through the middle. Rotate the bowl by 90º on each turn. After about 8 turns, begin testing for an unbroken "lava-flow" from your spatula. You should be able to stream a figure-8 pattern with the batter. Fold a couple of times and test frequently.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a medium round piping tip. Hold your bag perpendicular to the templated mat, and pipe to fill to the larger circle on the mat. This will give you 44 2-inch macaron shells (22 macarons total). If you pipe smaller, you can get more shells, but you'll need to adjust your bake time. Either way, you'll need 2 trays.
- Slam the baking trays on the counter, keeping the pan perpendicular to the surface. The batter shouldn't slide around, but just in case. I do this anywhere from 10 to 15 times until I stop seeing bubbles rise to the surface. Sometimes, there are stubborn ones just under the surface that won't pop. Those ones, I'll pop with a toothpick and push the batter back in.
- Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Leave your macaron shells to dry for 20 minutes. Check one of the middle ones to see if the top is dry yet. It should look matte compared to how shiny it was when you piped it.
- Bake the first tray for 12 to 16 minutes. Watch for the feet to stop looking wet. The second they look less glossy, pull them out. Bake the second tray. Let the shells cool completely on the tray before moving to a cooling rack.
- For the filling, whip together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar and ground freeze-dried strawberries and vanilla. Once they're combined, whip for 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe a swirl of frosting into the center of half of the macaron shells. Top with the other half of the shells.
- Optionally, melt ¼ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with ½ a teaspoon of coconut oil, and drizzle the melted chocolate over your macarons. I further decorated mine with white sprinkles for fun.
- Store your macarons in an air tight container in the fridge. Age them overnight before enjoying.
