Macarons with Raspberry Filling

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line parchment paper with 2-3 baking sheets and set aside. Weigh 107 g almond flour and 176 g powdered sugar; transfer to a bowl of food processor. Process dry ingredients for about 1 min. Stop and scrape of the sides with spatula and pulse 4-5 times. Pass almond mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl, gently pressing with spatula. You will have about 1 tbsps of solids in the sieve (discard or if you have a lot more, pulse them few more times in the food processor).

Step 2

Weigh 70 g granulated sugar. Separate egg whites from egg yolks. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk 3 egg whites and 70 g sugar by hand to combine (30 circles). Beat on medium speed-KitchenAid (2 mins on #4 speed, 2 mins on #6 and 2 mins on #8). The egg whites should hold stiff, glossy peaks when you lift the whisk out of the bowl.

Step 3

Add sifted almond mixture all at once OR egg whites mixture into bowl with almond mixture (I prefer this way because the mixer bowl bottom has a shape that kind of stands in my way to properly stir the batter). Fold with spatula from bottom of the bowl upward, then press flat side of spatula firmly through middle of mixture. Repeat until batter is smooth and falls of spatula in a thin flat ribbon (35-40 complete strokes). Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4” round tip. Holding the piping bag about 1” above the sheet, pipe batter into a 1 – 1 1/4″ circles, keeping them 1” apart. Firmly tap the baking sheets against the counter to release any air bubbles (5-10 times). These don't need to rest, put them straight into the oven. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 13 minutes. (When you have 6 minutes left, open oven door all the way and close – this will prevent macaron shells from turning out hollow, letting all that extra air out). When time is up, remove baked cookies from oven immediately, and gently slide onto a counter to cool. Repeat with 2nd and/or 3rd baking sheets.

Step 4

TO MAKE THE FILLING: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 3 oz fresh raspberries, 3 tbsps sugar and 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir and press raspberries to let the juice out and heat until it starts bubbling. Spoon the raspberry mixture through a sieve pressing on the raspberry seeds to get the most juice out. Set raspberry juice aside to cool to room temp and discard the seeds. (I got 2 tbsps juice.)

Step 5

In a medium bowl, beat 2 oz room temp cream cheese for about 1 minute to break into smooth texture. Add cooled raspberry juice and beat again for 2-3 minutes on high to fully combine. Last, pour 1/3 cold heavy whipping cream and beat until filling is soft but fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). This fluffy and soft filling will make the macarons melt in your mouth.

Step 6

Pipe a good amount of filling onto one side of cookie and top with 2nd matching cookie by gently sliding cookies to the right and left to spread the cream evenly and have perfect macarons. Refrigerate for few hours or overnight and enjoy with cup of tea or coffee!!!