Lunar New Year macarons are filled with red bean buttercream and black sesame buttercream. They are perfect for Lunar New Year!

LNY Macaron Shells

Adopted from Pies & Tacos Blog – Swiss method.

Note: You do not have to get exactly 95g of egg whites. You can calculate the ratio as 1:05. For example: if you only get 100g of egg whites out of 3 eggs, multiple it by 1.05 to get to 105g on dry ingredients (almond flour and powdered sugar). Remember to use a scale to weight all the ingredients.

Yield about 40-44 shells

• 95g egg whites (from 3 fresh eggs)
• 95g white granulated sugar
• 100g almond flour
• 100g powdered sugar
• 3g egg white powder (optional) from Judee’s from Scratch
• Red and Yellow food coloring to split the batch into two colors
• An oval template if preferred to use

Steps

1. Before you start, wipe all the tools and bowls with white vinegar or lemon juice to make sure there is no oil on them and get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare a large piping bag, fitted with a large round tip. I use piping tip round 12. 1A can be used to. It depends on what your preference. Set aside.
2. Line two baking sheets with silicone mat or parchment paper. If you are using a template, you can put them underneath the mat or parchment paper now.
3. Measure out all of the ingredients using a scale.
4. In one large bowl, sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and oolong tea powder together. Whisk them until combine. Set it aside.
5. In another bowl, whisk the sugar and the egg white powder (if using). Using a double boiler method, place the bowl over a pot with water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Add the egg whites to the sugar and whisk the mixture until frothy. Use your finger to touch the mixture and you should not be feeling any sugar in it, which means the sugar is completely melted and ready for next step.
6. Transfer the sugar mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium-low (KitchenAid speed 4). Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed medium-high (KitchenAid speed 6) and whisk for a few minutes (could be up to 10 to 12 minutes) until stiff peaks are formed. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
7. Stiff peaks is the meringue shooting straight up. Then it is ready.
8. Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
9. Use a spatula and start folding gently until no more dry ingredients. Here is when you split up the batter into two bowls. You can eyeball it. We need more batter for the red shells so one portion of the batter will be 3/4 and the smaller portion of batter for yellow will be 1/4. Start with one bowl and use plastic wrap to cover the second bowl until ready to fold. Add in red food coloring in the 3/4 batter bowl.
10. What you are trying to do here is to deflate the air in the meringue and also incorporate it with the dry ingredients until it reaches a lava stage. I do not normally reach to figure 8 stage (if you have heard of this), because at this point, I feel like the batter is already overmixed and too runny. If the batter is flowing down from the spatula effortlessly and slowly, then it should be ready for the next step. If the batter is breaking up from the spatula, it means it is undermixed and you need to keep folding.
11. When ready, transfer the (red) batter to the piping bag.
12. Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template.
13. When piping is done, I would recommend tapping the bottom of the tray instead of banging the tray against the counter. Banging the tray against the counter is too loud and it really is scaring my kids. It still works but I no longer do the banging. This step is to get rid of air bubbles in the batter.
14. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
15. We will use a technique called wet on wet so we leave the first batter of red to dry for 15 minutes then add the yellow batter on top.
16. Now unwrap the second bowl of small batter. Add in yellow food coloring. Repeat the process. Put (yellow) batter into a piping bag.
17. Pipe the yellow batter on top of the red batter. I did a snake and 2025 on the top.
18. Pre-heat the oven to 310 degrees. You would need oven thermometer to know how hot your oven is. This is very important when baking macarons. What I have found out is the display of the oven is not accurate and it could be few degrees off, either hotter or under. Therefore, you would need to adjust the temperature and/or baking time. My oven is without a fan.
19. If you are using a template, do not forget to remove it, which you can take it out in this step.
20. Rest the shells about 45 minutes -1.5 hours, depending on how humid where you live. I rested for an hour after adding the yellow batter on top and few still cracked :(.
21. You could only bake one tray at a time and put the tray in the middle rack. I rotate the tray half way and I use airbake tray. The advantage of using airbake tray is if there is hot spot in your oven, the macaron shells are baked evenly and the airbake tray also can keep them from burning.
22. Bake for 15-18 minutes if using regular baking sheets. Bake for 16-19 minutes on airbake tray.
23. To make sure the macarons are done baking, when you try to move a macaron, it should not feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, bake for additional 2 minutes and test again. When done, remove from the oven and bake the second tray.
24. Move them to cooling rack. Let the macarons cool down completely before peeling off from the mat or parchment paper.

Red Bean Buttercream

• 1 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons red bean paste (I found mine in local Asian market. You can totally make your own red bean paste)
• 1-2 teaspoons of milk or heavy cream

Steps

1. Beat the butter for few minutes until light and fluffy
2. Add in powdered sugar half cup at the time until combined
3. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of red bean paste
4. Whip the buttercream in high speed for few minutes until fluffy
5. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of heavy cream or milk if too stiff
6. Whip in low speed for few more minutes to reduce bubble

Black Sesame Buttercream

• 1 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons black sesame paste (I made my own. 1 cup black sesame seeds and 1 teaspoon honey. Use food processor to blend until smooth. It takes about 10-15 minutes. It makes about 1/3 cup paste)
• 1-2 teaspoons of milk or heavy cream

• Steps
• Beat the butter for few minutes until light and fluffy
• Add in powdered sugar half cup at the time until combined
• Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of black sesame paste
• Whip the buttercream in high speed for few minutes until fluffy
• Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of heavy cream or milk if too stiff
• Whip in low speed for few more minutes to reduce bubble

Assemble

1. I decorated the macarons with strawberry mini cookies and used edible pens to draw the details on the snake. Dush with edible gold glitter. (Use 15% off discount code “CK15” on your order Foliay.)
2. Place the buttercream in a piping bag. Then fill the bottom of the macaron and top with another macaron shell.
3. Mature the macarons in the fridge for 24-48 hours before serving. When ready to serve, take the macarons out from the fridge and let them come to room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Comment below if you have tried this recipe. Follow me on Instagram.