These bright, fruity Yuzu Raspberry Macarons may be delicate and small but they're bursting with flavor due to yuzu raspberry ganache is piped inside macaron shells flavored with freeze-dried raspberries!
How to add flavor to Macaron Shells
Although the fillings of macarons has endless flavor possibilities, it can be quite tricky to add flavoring to macaron shells. Sadly, adding liquid flavorings to macaron shells will ruin the texture, structure, and appearance of the macaron. So to add a raspberry flavor to these macarons, I chose to use freeze-dried raspberry powder! You can purchase raspberry powder or you can make it yourself. Simply pulse freeze-dried raspberries in a food processor until they're finely ground and pass through a fine-mesh sieve.
What is Yuzu?
Yuzu is a citrus fruit that is mainly cultivated in Japan, Korea, and China. I would say that a Yuzu tends to be most often compared to both a lemon and lime. Although it is incredibly fragrant, it's also extremely sour and tart, meaning that in cooking it is mainly used for its juice and zest. We'll be using Valrhona's Yuzu Chocolate in this recipe to flavor the ganache!
My Favorite Tools for Making Macarons
- Stand mixer: I always bread out my stand mixer with a whisk attachment for making macarons. You can use a handheld mixer, yet know it will take some time before your meringue is complete.
- Macaron Template: Before I pipe my macaron batter, I like to draw identical circles onto a piece of parchment paper that I will then flip over before piping. You can use a cookie cutter, small lid, salt shaker – anything that is about 1 inch in diameter that you can then trace onto your parchment.
- Food Processor or Fine Mesh Sieve: Both tools ensure that your dry ingredients have been finely processed. Any abnormally large chunks that aren't sifted will affect the outcome of your macarons
- Piping bag: You can use a reusable piping bag or even a plastic bag in a pinch!
- Piping tip: Using a piping tip will ensure that your macarons are perfectly round.
Tips & Tricks for Making Macarons
Want to make sure that you have perfectly circular macarons? Use a template! Before I pipe my macaron batter, I like to draw identical circles onto a piece of parchment paper that I will then flip over before piping. You can use a cookie cutter, small lid, salt shaker – anything that is about 1 inch in diameter that you can then trace onto your parchment.
After renting various apartments throughout the west coast, I have experienced my fair share of…let’s say quirky ovens. Without an oven thermometer, I would not have known that a couple of my ovens were running 50 degrees hotter than what I had actually set my oven temperature to. If you don’t have an over thermometer already, I would highly recommend grabbing one to make these delicate macarons. Here’s the one I use!
Since macarons require such precise measurements, I would encourage those that do not own a kitchen scale to invest in one! Here’s a link to the scale I used throughout pastry school, and to this day. When working with pastry and confection recipes such as macarons, even a slight over-measurement of say, egg whites, will alter and potentially ruin your recipe. Macarons only require four ingredients – if one of those ingredients is not measured correctly, your odds for macaron success are considerably decreased.3
The French term “Mise En Place” means to set up your working space in preparation for an activity. With macarons, it’s extremely important to make sure that set yourself up for success before starting. The meringue and batter you will be making are quite sensitive – if you take too much time in-between each step, you won’t see quality results. Take that extra bit of prep to measure your ingredients and prepare the tools you need before starting these macarons.
How to make Yuzu Raspberry Ganache
This flavorful ganache takes mere minutes to whip up - here how it's done!
- Add cream & glucose to a saucepan and bring to a slight boil.
- Remove from heat and pour over the yuzu and raspberry chocolates. Stir to combine as the warm cream starts to melt the chocolate.
- Add the butter into your warm chocolate mixture, using an immersion blender, blend ganache until the butter has fully incorporated and your mixture is smooth.
- Allow to cool until chocolate ganache has cooled before assembly.
Adding Color & Toppings
A fun way to jazz up your macarons is to add some gel food coloring into your meringue before the macaronage process! I prefer to use gel food coloring as liquid food coloring adds too much moisture to the meringue and the color is not as intense.
Adding an ingredient such as cocoa nibs to the tops of your shells before they've dried allows for a lovely decoration and added crunch! Make sure to add a topping to only half of your shells so that the other half can serve as the base of each macaron.
Maturation & Storing
Technically, allowing your completed macarons to sit overnight in the fridge allows for the best texture for consuming! If you have the patience, place your macarons in the fridge overnight and enjoy the following day. Macaron shells can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for a month and still taste as good as new! Take the frozen macarons out of the freezer and let them sit for 10-15 minutes before enjoying. In the fridge, filled macarons should be stored in an airtight container for no more than 3 days.
Here are some other Macaron Recipes to try!
Yuzu Raspberry Macarons
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Fine Mesh Strainer
- Mixer with Whisk Attachment
- Spatula
- Bowls
- Parchment Paper
- Baking Tray
- Piping Bags & Piping Tips
- Immersion Blender (optional)
- Saucepan
Ingredients
Raspberry Macarons
- 76 g (⅓ cup + 1 teaspoon ) Granulated Sugar
- 90 ml (About 3 egg whites ) Room Temperature Egg Whites
- 80 g (¾ Cup + 1 Tbsp) Almond Flour, Blanched
- 135 g (1 ¼ Cup ) Powdered Sugar
- 15 g Freeze Dried Raspberry Powder
Yuzu Raspberry Ganache
- 100 g (⅓ Cup + 1.5 Tbsp) Heavy Cream
- 32 g (1.5 tablespoon) Glucose syrup, or corn syrup
- 150 g (1 Cup) Raspberry Chocolate, Melted
- 25 g Yuzu Chocolate, Melted
- 25 g (2 tablespoon) Unsalted Butter , room temperature
Instructions
Raspberry Macarons
- Line each baking sheet with your prepared parchment templates and prepare your piping bags along with your piping tips. I like to use a small, round piping tips for piping.
- Pour your egg whites into the bowl of a a kitchen aid and start whisking on medium speed. Once they start to foam, slowly add your sugar and bring up your speed to medium for about three to four minutes.
- While your meringue is whisking away, grind together your measured powdered sugar, freeze dried raspberry powder and almond flour using a food processor for one minute. Sift these dry ingredients into a large bowl with a fine sieve and set aside.
- Your meringue is complete when it holds stiff peaks - add desired food coloring and gently whisk for a few additional seconds to incorporate,
- Now it’s time for the ever so important Macaronage! This is the act of mixing your dry ingredients into your french meringue and folding these ingredients enough to allow for the perfect desired consistency. To start, pour your dry mixture onto the meringue and slowly start to fold with a spatula. While rotating the bowl, continue to fold ingredients together. Press mixture on the side of your bowl until the mixture the batter flows off your spatula rather slowly and smoothly. You should see that the batter will drip off the spatula back into the bowl, and rest on top for a moment. Then, the batterfrom your spatula will slowly sink back into the mixture. One too many folds and your batter could be over mixed leading to it being impossible to work with, so be careful not to overmix!
- Pour your macaron batter into your prepared piping bag and pipe in circles onto your templated parchment paper. In order to get rid of any air bubbles within your piped shells and to even out your tops, tap your baking sheet firmly on a flat surface. You can always use a toothpick to gently pop any extra air bubbles that you see hovering on top of your shells.
- Allow the shells to rest for approximately 30 minutes. Once the top of your shells are dry to the touch they are ready to bake!
- Place your macarons in your oven that has been preheated to 310 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 9 minutes, then rotate the baking tray and bake for an additional 2 minutes.
- You will know that your macarons are ready to remove from the oven when you gently touch the upper shell, and it barely moves, while the developed foot of the macaron stays set to the parchment paper. Remove from the oven to cool completely before removing shells from the parchment paper.
Yuzu Raspberry Ganache
- Add cream & glucose to a saucepan and bring to a slight boil.
- Remove from heat and pour over the yuzu and raspberry chocolates. Stir to combine as the warm cream starts to melt the chocolate.
- Add the butter into your warm chocolate mixture, using an immersion blender, blend ganache until the butter has fully incorporated and your mixture is smooth.
- Allow to cool until chocolate ganache has cooled before assembly.
Assembly
- Once cooled, the shells will peel easily off of your parchment paper. Find each shell's matching half and pipe a circle of ganache into the middle. Finally top with the matching half.
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