Happy Spring! We’re welcoming the new season at my house with the sweetest of treats that I whipped up over the weekend, macarons. Since Macaron day also happened to fall on the first day of Spring, I made my macarons with a floral and fruity blackberry and elderflower jam.

The soft purple macaron shells and the tart fruit and flowery essence of the filling is reminding me of the warm days ahead, that we’re all very much looking forward to.

Although I love the clean look of plain macaron shells, keeping with the spring theme, I decorated each with a hand-written greeting using a purple food coloring pen.

The hashtags and hearts represent how much I love this time of year!

Blackberry Elderflower Macarons

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Description

Welcome spring with fruity and floral blackberry and elderflower macarons, complete with decorative greetings that are fitting for the season.

Ingredients

Scale

For the French Macaron Shells

106 grams of almond meal
106 grams powdered sugar
41 and 45 grams of egg whites divided
115 grams of granulated sugar
79 grams of water
dash of cream of tartar or lemon juice for stabilizing
¼ tsp purple gel food coloring
Purple food color pen to decorate the shells (optional)

For the Blackberry Elderflower Jam Filling

2 tsp pectin powder
1/3 cup sugar
1 overflowing cup fresh blackberries
Zest from half a lemon
3 tbsp elderflower syrup or juice (I found mine at Ikea)

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Instructions

For the macarons

First things first! Wipe down the mixing bowl and whisk attachment with vinegar to remove any built up residue. This will ensure that the egg whites whisk up properly!
Prep and measure all of the ingredients using a kitchen scale.
Prep a piping bag with a round tip. I use Wilton tip 10.
Line 2 baking sheets with silpat (or parchment).
Combine measured almond meal & powdered sugar together in a bowl. Sift one time to remove any lumps, discarding of them, then mix together to break up clumps.
Make a well in the center of the dry mix and pour the 41 grams of measured egg whites into the center of the dry mixture. Fold together until blended then add gel food coloring and mix well until fully incorporated. The finished mix will be paste-like. Set aside.

For the sugar syrup

To make the sugar syrup, heat granulated sugar and water in a pot on medium heat with a candy thermometer attached to the side. **Be careful to make sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pot**.
Once the thermometer’s temperature reaches approximately 200 degrees F, place the 45 grams of measured egg whites in the stand mixer and whisk on medium speed, to soft peaks.
Add a drop of lemon juice or dash of cream of tartar to stabilize, THEN continue whisking.
If the egg whites are at soft peaks before the syrup reaches 248 F, turn the mixer down to low speed to keep the egg whites moving.
Watch the sugar syrup closely!
As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 248 degrees F, remove from heat.
Quickly increase mixer speed to medium and begin slowly pouring the sugar syrup down the side of your mixing bowl into the meringue until thoroughly combined.
THEN increase the mixing speed to high and whisk sugar and meringue together until glossy and stiff peaks form and the meringue has cooled. (The meringue should keep its form.)
Gently transfer finished meringue into the almond/powdered sugar mixture in thirds, making sure that it’s fully incorporated before adding the additional 3rd of meringue.
Continue to fold the batter in a circular motion, going around the edges of the bowl, then once through the center. Repeat these steps until smooth and thick ribbons of batter run off the spatula.
**Be careful not to over-mix**
You want the batter to be slightly thick, but not so thin that it does not hold the ribbon shape. Err on the side of caution.
Transfer batter to the prepped piping bag(s).
Pipe 1 1/2 inch rounds about one inch apart on the lined baking sheet.
Be sure to hold the piping bag about 1/2 inch directly above the baking sheet when piping the rounds. Continue to pipe until you’ve filled an entire baking sheet.
*Tap the macarons on the counter three times to release air bubbles.
*Pop any air bubbles that might’ve come to the surface, using a scribe or even a toothpick!
Before placing the macs in the oven, allow them to rest until a proper skin has formed on the outside of the shell. This can take anywhere from 20-30 minutes. Test by touching the piped rounds to make sure they’re dry to touch and that no batter comes off on fingers.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Once dry to touch, place the macarons in the middle rack of the oven.
Feet will form halfway through the baking process.
Bake for 12-14 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow 15-20 minutes to cool before attempting to remove the shells from the silpat/parchment paper.
Once macarons are completely cool, gently remove from parchment paper/silpat.
Repeat same steps to bake the remaining macaron batter.
They’re ready to fill.

Notes

Blackberry Eldferflower Jam
Blend your blackberries in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Combine the sugar and the pectin powder in a bowl and mix together.
Place your blended blackberries, zest and elderflower juice into a pot and heat on medium high. Once the blackberries begin to bubble, add your sugar and pectin powder mix and stir.
Boil for 2-3 minutes until pectin has dissolved and remove from heat.
Transfer to a heatproof dish and refrigerate until jam has completely cooled and thickened (about 1 hour)
Once the filling has chilled, transfer to a piping bag and evenly pipe rounds of jam onto the center of each macaron. Top with second shell to create a sandwich.
Transfer your finished macarons into the fridge and allow time to rest.
Serve 1 hour after chilling.

Of course you need no excuse to make macarons, but if you’re serving these for an upcoming holiday, such as Easter, change out the handwritten words to match your celebration.