Two-toned seashell macarons are filled with cotton candy buttercream and a cute little pearl sprinkle in the middle. They turned out so beautiful!

Two-toned Purple & Teal Macarons Shells (split batch)

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 (usually from 3 fresh eggs)
• 95g granulated white sugar
• 100g almond flour
• 100g powdered sugar
• 3g egg white powder (optional) from Judee’s from Scratch
• Purple food coloring & teal food coloring

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 together. Whisk them until combine. Set it aside.
5. In another bowl, whisk the granulated 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 peak 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 the dry ingredients and meringue is combined, split up the batter equally into two bowls. Add the food coloring at this point, if using. Add purple into one bowl and teal into another bowl.
10. Start folding each bowl. 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, get a piece of plastic wrap and put onto the counter top. Pour the first bowl of batter on the plastic wrap, then pour the second bowl of batter. Wrap it up like a barrio. Cut one end of the plastic wrap and transfer the batter to the piping bag.
12. Place the piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of each macaron template.
13. To pipe the seashells, pipe every other section, leaving a space in between sections. Then let that piped batter dry for a few minutes before piping the rest.
14. 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.
15. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
16. 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.
17. If you are using a template, do not forget to remove it, which you can take it out in this step.
18. While it is a more complicated pattern, rest the shells from 1.5 to 3 hours depending on how humid where you live. You would make sure there is no shiny spot in those connected points on the macaron shells. If they are still wet, they would crack in the oven. Wait as long as you can!!
19. 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.
20. Bake for 15-18 minutes if using regular baking sheets. Bake for 16-19 minutes on airbake tray. I rotate the tray half way through the baking time and cover them up with foil to prevent browning.
21. 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.
22. Move them to cooling rack. Let the macarons cool down completely before peeling off from the mat or parchment paper.

Cotton Candy Buttercream

• 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoon(s) Amoretti Natural Cotton Candy Artisan Flavor (use my promo code “SUGARTREATS10” to get 10% off of your purchase.)
• 1-2 teaspoon(s) heavy cream or milk

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 cotton candy natural flavoring
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

Assemble

1. Pipe the buttercream on the macaron shell.
2. Top with another macaron shell. Put the large pearl sprinkle in the middle of the macaron.
3. This step is optional to airbrush the scale on the macaron shells. If you have a scale stencil and airbrush machine, use gold airbrush coloring to airbrush the scale. I also used silver airbrush coloring to airbrush on the macarons to make it shiny.
4. Chill the macarons in the refrigerator 24-48 hours for the macarons to mature. When ready, leave the macarons out for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Note

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