Pineapple Macarons
These Pineapple Macarons are filled with the easiest pineapple buttercream and jelly filling and are decorated with a simple royal icing design to look like the cutest little pineapples.
Servings: 14 macarons
Calories: 130kcal
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Stand mixer
- Two spatulas
- One 16 inch pastry bag
- Five 8 inch pastry bags
- Medium round piping tip (I used Ateco 10)
- Small round piping tip (I used Wilton 6)
- Two silicone mats
- Two half sheet pans
- Oven thermometer
- Two small glass bowls
- Pineapple template (download via link in post)
Ingredients
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 80 grams almond flour
- 70 grams egg whites (room temperature)
- 70 grams granulated sugar
- 2 grams egg white powder (optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 4 drops orange gel food coloring
- 3 drops egg yellow gel food coloring
- 3 drops mint green
Pineapple buttercream
- ¼ cup salted butter (½ stick)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp pineapple jelly
Pineapple jelly filling
- ¼ cup pineapple jelly
Royal Icing
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp meringue powder
- ½ tsp water (room temperature)
- 2 drops orange gel food coloring
- 2 drops mint green gel food coloring
Instructions
Prepare dry ingredients
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour using a whisk to break down any clumps. Set aside.
- Line sheet pans with silicone mats and place the templates under the mats.
- Insert the medium piping tip into the 16 inch pastry bag and the small tip into an 8 inch pastry bag.
Make the meringue
- Whisk the egg whites on medium speed (speed 4) until you see small bubbles (this can take as little as 15 seconds sometimes).
- Slowly add 3 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, waiting about 10 seconds between each tbsp.
- Whisk until you start to see tracks in the meringue.
- Increase speed to 6 and continue slowly adding the remainder of the granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until you’ve added all the sugar.
- Once you have soft peaks, stop the mixer, scrape the sides and add the vanilla.
- Whisk for about 5 more minutes, or until stiff peaks.
Combine ingredients
- Add in the powdered sugar and almond flour mixture in three parts, 1/3 at a time, folding each part until fully combined.
- Once the meringue and dry ingredients are fully combined, stop folding.
- Scoop out about ¼ cup of batter and place it in a bowl and set aside. This will be for the green tops.
- Add the orange and yellow gel food coloring to the mixing bowl and continue folding until the color is mixed in.
- Now you need to deflate some of the air in the batter by taking the spatula and smearing the batter on the sides of the bowl two or three times, and then folding once or twice.
- Repeat the process of smearing some of the batter on the side of the bowl and folding until the batter looks smooth and glossy and runs down the spatula slowly in ribbons.
- You can test the consistency by lifting the spatula and letting the batter run down. If it falls in ribbons and sinks back into itself within 30 seconds, the batter is ready.
- Transfer the orange batter to the 16 inch pastry bag and set aside.
- Take the small bowl with the batter for the pineapple tops, add 3 drops of green gel food coloring, and repeat the steps of folding and deflating the batter.
- Transfer the green batter to an 8 inch pastry bag and set aside.
Pipe the pineapple shaped macarons
- Take the pastry bag with the orange batter and, holding the bag at a 90° angle, pipe the round shells.
- Once all the orange shells are piped (and before adding the green tops), you can tap the tray a few times to get rid of any air bubbles.
- When the orange batter has started to dry a bit, take the pastry bag with the green batter, and pipe the green tops.
- Remove the templates from under the silicone mats.
- Let the macarons rest until they form a skin and are no longer sticky. Pay close attention to where the orange and green batter meet as this area will take longer to dry.
- While the macarons are resting, preheat the oven to 310°F.
- Bake the macarons for 14-16 minutes.
- Macarons are ready when they no longer shift if you touch the tops.
- Let the macaron shells cool for at least 15 minutes.
Royal icing
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and a few drops of water and mix with a spoon. Continue mixing and adding a drop of water at a time until you get a 25 second consistency. This means that when you lift the spoon, it will take 25 seconds for the icing to sink back into itself.
- Separate the white icing in half into two small bowls. Add the green food coloring to one of the bowls and mix until combined. Transfer the green icing to an 8 inch pastry bag and set aside.
- Take the bowl with the rest of the white icing and add a few more drops of water and mix until you get a 15 second consistency. Add the orange food coloring and mix until combined. Transfer to an 8 inch pastry bag and set aside.
Decorate the macaron shells
- Once the macaron shells are cooled, take half of the shells and decorate the orange areas with the orange royal icing by adding lines across the shell and then add small dots in between the lines. Decorate the orange areas first so the icing starts drying.
- Now take the pastry bag with the green icing and cut a V shape at the tip. Hold the bag so that the "V" shapes are on either side, place the tip of the bag at the bottom of the green leaf area, and squeeze. Release the pressure on the bag as you pull away from the leaf to make the leaf tip. Repeat on the other two sections.
- While the royal icing is drying, make the buttercream.
Pineapple buttercream
- In a medium bowl, using the stand mixer, whisk the butter until smooth.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and whisk until fully combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until combined.
- Add 1 tbsp of the pineapple jelly to the buttercream and whisk until fully combined.
Assemble the macarons
- Fill an 8 inch pastry bag with the buttercream and cut a ¼ inch opening at the tip of the bag.
- Pipe the buttercream around the outer edge of half of the macarons, leaving a space in the middle for the jelly.
- Fill another 8 inch pastry bag with ¼ cup pineapple jelly and cut a ¼ inch opening at the tip. Fill the center of the macarons with the jelly.
- Top the filled macaron shells with the decorated shells and refrigerate for at least 24 hours so that the macarons can mature.
- When ready to eat, remove the macarons from the refrigerator at least 20-30 minutes before and let come to room temperature before eating.
Notes
All ovens are different so temperature and baking times should only be used as a guide
Mixing bowl should be clean and grease free
Weigh all ingredients in grams for accuracy
Use room temperature egg whites (to bring eggs to room temperature quickly, put them in a bowl filled with hot water for about 5 minutes)
Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together because almond flour is moist and doesn't sift well alone
Mix the egg white powder and the granulated sugar before adding to the egg whites to fully dissolve the egg white powder
Whisk the meringue until you have stiff peaks
Let macarons dry before baking so they don't crack
*Calories reflected are for macaron shells only
Nutrition
Serving: 1 macaron | Calories: 130kcal