Since my first attempt at making French macarons, I’ve made them twice more – same recipe (from my trusty MacarOn Café recipe book), but I altered the appearance for special occasions.
Earlier this year, I made confetti macarons for my friend’s birthday gift and another friend’s graduation gift, which were coincidentally around the same time. As I was browsing Pinterest one day, I stumbled across beautiful confetti macarons from Style Sweet CA. I borrowed the decoration idea because what’s more festive than confetti? Especially for celebrations like graduations and birthdays. The only step in the macaron process was to put some sprinkles (I used Wilton flower sprinkles) on each macaron disc before I baked them in the oven (see photo above). The sprinkles would stick and stay on while the cookies are baking. A simple trick to plain macarons!
More recently, for my friend’s mint green-and-pink color scheme baby shower, I made macarons as party favors for the guests. It was my first time using gel paste food coloring (Wilton brand), which is recommended instead of liquid food coloring. A few drops of green and a single drop of blue coloring into the batter resulted in beautiful mint green-colored macaron shells. Since my friend was expecting a baby girl, I decided to make a pink-colored filling, strawberry buttercream. The recipe used fresh strawberries, which gave it a natural pink color and mild fruity taste. This buttercream was so good, I am saving the recipe to use for cupcake frosting in the future.
I love giving homemade treats as gifts, especially macarons, because they really “wow” the recipients. They’re sophisticated, tasty, and aesthetic cookies that everyone seems to love. If you’re looking for homemade ideas to impress your friends and family, macarons are a great idea!
