Happy Labor Day weekend! I know it was a few weeks ago, but did you all get to witness the eclipse? My hubby ordered eclipse glasses so we all got to watch it right from our back yard. Though we didn’t have 100% totality in our location, we did get to see roughly 90% of the total eclipse which was pretty awesome. That duration of time when the moon covered the sun, brought with it quiet chill in the air. It didn’t last long but it felt more like evening than it did 10:30 in the morning. I have to say it was a once in a lifetime experience, worth viewing and celebrating!
I loved seeing how excited my girls were to watch the eclipse. Perhaps it was the treats we enjoyed after that made them anticipate it even more.
We celebrated with a few special drinks and I also made blackberry macarons, inspired by the eclipse. You may have seen these over on my instagram.
I painted the shells in gold to represent different phases of the moon, then filled them with vanilla cinnamon cream and fresh blackberries from our yard. It’s not often that I keep my fruit whole when I make filling for macarons. I usually end up turning it into jam, but I wanted to showcase the beauty of the blackberries this time around.
As an added bonus, whole fruit is much easier than making jam, so filling macarons is a breeze!
Blackberry Eclipse Macarons

Blackberry Eclipse Macarons
- Category: Baking
- Method: Macarons
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
French macarons inspired by the Great American eclipse. Painted with edible gold and filled with fresh blackberries and cinnamon vanilla frosting. Dairy & Gluten Free
Ingredients
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
- 1 tsp black gel food coloring
- Edible Gold Paint (I used spray color mist)
- Edible glitter stars
For the Filling
- 1 cup vegan organic shortening
- 1/2 powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla or seeds from one whole vanilla bean.
- Whole blackberries cleaned and dried. (see link)
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.
Decorating the shells
- Dip food safe paint brush into edible gold paint. Paint varying phases of the moon/eclipse onto each shell. Garnish with edible silver stars for an additional touch of posh.
For the Filling
- Mix shortening, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in a stand mixer until incorporated.
- Transfer filling to piping bag with tip of choice (I use Wilton 2D) and pipe onto the bottom of each shell.
- Evenly pipe decorative rounds frosting on the bottom each macaron shell. Top with 3- 4 fresh blackberries and then add the painted eclipse shell on top to create a sandwich.
- Transfer finished macarons to the fridge and allow time to rest.
- Serve 1 hour after chilling.
Notes
- Instructions for making delicious french macarons using the Italian Meringue method. Adapted from Buchon Bakery. **I choose to halve this recipe because I always end up with more batter than I need. Also I think smaller batches are easier to work with, especially when you’re first starting to bake macarons. To bake a full batch, you’ll just double the measured ingredients: 212 grams of almond meal 212 grams powdered sugar 82 and 90 grams of egg whites divided 236 grams of granulated sugar 158 grams of water ¼ tsp gel food coloring
Keywords: french macarons, blackberry, summer, dairy free, gluten free, baking,
This mac combo almost tastes like the end of summer, with the warm spice from cinnamon and tart berries.
They were liked so much by my family, I have a feeling they’ll be on the menu a time or two more before blackberry season is done. We have so many bushes in our yard that my girls and I have enjoyed harvesting. There’s nothing better than picking wild blackberries during summer right?!
Click on the link from Delishably for good instructions of how to properly clean wild blackberries.
And be sure to add these delightful macs to your list of treats to make in September. They’re an end of summer must make that I promise you won’t regret!
Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!
Blackberry Eclipse Macarons was seen first on Posh Little Designs. All Rights Reserved 2017.
So adorable! The eclipse was fascinating to see 🙂
Thanks Brandie! I couldn’t agree more. Once in a lifetime experience 😊💜
Those are adorable! Seriously lovely. I would love those for a wedding or something too!
Thank you so much! They’d be perfect for a wedding or for any occasion really! xx