These Cranberry Macarons are the perfect addition to your Christmas dessert list. With no resting period, cranberry curd in the center these are the perfect festive holiday macaron.

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If making macarons scares you, please don’t be deterred! I included a video in the recipe card to help you through each of the steps. The hardest part of making macarons is making sure your batter has the right consistency before piping and that your oven temperature isn’t too hot!

Ingredients

Egg Whites – fresh cracked is best. I have mixed results when I use the egg whites from a carton. Also, make sure that you do not get any egg yolk in your egg whites. If there is traces of yolk your meringue will not whip properly.
Egg Yolks – used in the cranberry curd. I love using curd with my macarons because I’m able to use up the whole egg instead of either wasting the yolk or trying to find a recipe to use just yolks in.
Sugar – both granulated and powdered sugar are used for the macaron shells along with granulated sugar in the curd.
Almond Flour – ultra fine almond flour is best. I like the brand that Costco carries or Blue Diamond.
Butter – unsalted, used in the curd.
Red Food Coloring – Gel or Powder Red Food Coloring. Bonus the powdered coloring is dye free and is what I used.

You will notice that in the recipe card the macaron shell measurements are all in grams. This is because I HIGHLY recommend using a scale for Macarons. They can be a little temperamental, so making sure that our measurements are exact is important.

Christmas Macarons, peppermint macarons, cranberry macarons, gingerbread macarons

How to Make Cranberry Macarons

Cranberry Curd

Prepare cranberry curd so that it has time to cool before preparing the macarons.
In a small sauce pan add egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together until you have a light yellow color, then add in cranberry sauce. Mix to combine over medium heat.
Allow mixture to simmer while whisking constantly until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove pan from heat and stir in butter. Pour into a bowl or jar and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour before using. If you prepare before making your macarons it should be ready after your macarons have cooled completely.

Macarons

Preheat oven to 300 F. I highly recommend buying an oven thermometer to check your temperature. I have to set my oven to 285 F to have an accurate temperature. Preheat oven for at least 30 minutes. This ensures that the oven has been able to come up to temp before trying to bake.
Weigh out all your ingredients before beginning and prepare your materials. Piping Bags: fit your piping bag with a Wilton 12 piping tip (0.25” tip). Baking Sheets: I find my macarons turn out best when I use silicone macaron mats on upside down half sheet pans. If you don’t have the silicone mats, parchment paper works as well.
With a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, whisk together your egg whites, granulated sugar, and food coloring. Taking care to not get any egg yolk in your whites (your meringue will not whip up correctly if yolks get into your whites). Whisk until the meringue is stiff and glossy. You want to have stiff peaks.
Fold in the powdered sugar and almond flour. Press your batter against the sides of the bowl with your spatula. You can adjust your shell color at this point as well. Add more coloring if you need a more vibrant shell. You want to gently fold the mixture with your spatula, scooping up the batter from the outside of the bowl and gently twisting it into the center in a circle-like manner.
There are several ways to know you are done mixing. Some people prefer to look for the figure-eight method. Where you want to be able to make a figure 8 with the batter without breaking. The best description that I can give when making my macarons is that I look for a batter that looks like slow moving lava when I scoop it. And holds it’s shape in the bowl for about 10 seconds before melding back into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared piping bag and secure the top. Holding the bag perpendicular to the baking sheet (straight up and down), pipe approximately 1.25”- 1.5” circles onto the prepared baking sheet, if using the macaron mats pipe to fill the inside circle.
Once all circles have been piped bang the baking sheet onto the counter 2-3 times. This helps to remove any air bubbles.
Place macarons into the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, turning the baking sheets halfway through. You will know that your macarons are done when you can no longer wiggle the tops of the macarons. Allow macarons to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Scoop curd into piping bag with the Wilton 12 or Wilton 2A piping tip. Pipe filling onto half of the macaron shells and top with another macaron to make a sandwich. Repeat with all macarons.
Enjoy immediately, but macarons are best when put in an airtight container in the refrigerator to mature overnight. This allows the shell to absorb some moisture from the filling and bring all the flavors to life.

How do I store Macarons?

Macarons are best stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator. They are actually so much better once they have been left to mature overnight. You can also freeze the shells or assembled macarons for 2 months. Allow to thaw at room temperature before opening the lid.

Share Your Experience

I would love to hear about your experience making and enjoying my Peppermint Macarons! Feel free to tag me on Instagram or leave a review below. Your feedback helps me improve our recipes and provides inspiration to fellow home cooks.

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