Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons

For all of the cheesecake lovers out there! These Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons are full of scrumptious, scratch made, strawberry filling, and cream cheese frosting. Transport your taste buds with these descendant little cookies!

Every year my husband requests Macarons for his birthday instead of the traditional birthday cake. I have been making birthday macarons for him for the past 6 years. His go-to is the delicious Salted Caramel Macaron. This year I decided to make him a new flavor, Strawberry Cheesecake. He is a huge fan of strawberry cheesecake so I knew he would love it as a macaron flavor. And he did! We all loved it! He said it is "almost" better than his favorite. That is a win in my book!

I started the filling of this macaron with fresh, from scratch made strawberry filling. This is super simple to do, and tastes far better than store bought jams. The cream cheese frosting is your typical cream cheese frosting. The graham cracker part is just a few crumbs sprinkled across the top of the macaron, which has a drizzle of white chocolate. The white chocolate is simply there to hold the graham cracker crumbs on the macaron shell.

I know macarons can be intimidating, they are pretty tricky to make. They say macarons give even the most experienced pastry chefs gray hair. I can attest, I have had many trays of macarons go straight to the trash can. Years ago, when I worked in bakery, these little cookies were so popular I had no choice but to figure them out. With a ton of research and trial and error I have been successful through the years with making them. I am going to share with you all of my best tips for making macarons. I am confident that you will be able to make these delicious little cookies.

Sift - Using a fine mesh sieve, sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Do not force any of the almond flour through the sieve. If you have to remove any almond flour, replace it with more, sift and sift again until you have the total amount needed for the recipe. Set aside.

Make Meringue - In a mixing bowl fitted with the whip attachment add the egg whites and turn to low speed. Once the egg whites have started to foam add in the cream of tartar and food coloring. (Only use GEL food coloring) Turn the mixer up to the next speed and bring the egg whites to the soft peak stage. Once at soft peaks gradually start to add in the granulated sugar. Once all of the sugar has been incorporated turn the mixer up and begin beating until the egg whites appear glossy and have reached the stiff peak stage. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Fold in the dry ingredients - Pour 1/3 of the almond mixture into the egg white mixture and begin folding in the mixture, using a spatula. Continue until all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated. Then continue folding until the mixture becomes shiny and has a ribbonlike consistency. To check if the consistency is right, scoop up some of the batter onto your spatula and let it drop into the bowl. You want the batter to have a continuous ribbonlike flow, not dropping in blobs.

Pipe - Immediately fill your piping bag, fitted with a small round tip, with the batter and begin piping the macarons. Give 1 inch of space in between each macaron. Tap the tray on the counter 33 times, rotate and tap 3 more times to bring any air bubbles to the surface. You can then use a toothpick to gently pop any air bubbles.

Rest - Allow the macarons to rest for at least 30 minutes before baking. This may take longer, depending on the humidity. To test if the macarons are ready for baking, gently touch the top of a macaron, if it is wet or sticky let the macarons continue to rest. If they are dry to the touch, they are ready to bake.

Bake - Bake in a 325 ° F oven for 10-15 minutes. The macarons will peel off of the parchment easily when they are ready to come out of the oven.

Fresh Strawberry Filling: Add the strawberries to a small saucepan along with the sugar and water. Bring to a simmer, then add in the cornstarch slurry. Whisk until thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed. If you want a smooth filling without seeds strain immediately through a fine mesh sieve.

Cream Cheese Frosting: In a mixer cream the cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and continue mixing until smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract and set aside until needed.

These macarons need to be refrigerated. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They are best when given time to come up to room temperature before eating.