This year add a touch of whimsy to your Easter celebration with these delightful and delicious carrot-shaped macarons. Flavored with orange zest and just a touch of vanilla, these delicate cookies are crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Double bonus: they’re cute and classy.

Aren’t Macarons Hard to Make?

Actually, they aren’t hard to make, but they do take some advanced preparation, lots of patience, and knowing a few basic skills. We started making them about two years ago during the lockdowns and tried a couple of different methods until we finally discovered a fabulous tutorial at Indulge With Mimi. Since then, my teenage daughter has become an expert, and she and my mom are always experimenting with different flavor combinations. I guess that is one of the things I love about macarons is that they are so versatile. Change the color (always use GEL food coloring), change the shape, combine different flavors of cookie and filling, and every time you end up with something to fit your occasion.

Carrot-shaped for Easter

Although macarons are usually round, I designed a carrot-shaped template, which you can download HERE, colored the batter bright orange, and added tops made from dark green chocolate melts. Adorable!

 

Macaron Tips and Tricks

I’ve included Mimi’s macaron recipe in this post, but there are a few important steps that can’t be neglected when making successful macarons. To ensure measurement accuracy you must use a kitchen food scale since the measurements are in grams. The recipe included only makes 12 cookies, so I recommend doubling or even tripling the recipe to get the maximum Easter carrot-shaped macarons.

1. Age your egg whites overnight! Skipping this step or using other methods suggested on the internet will probably result in a very inferior product.  Bring the egg whites to room temperature before you begin.

    2.  Wipe down your metal or glass bowl and the beaters with lemon juice before beating the egg whites. Any grease at all will “break” the meringue. Don’t use plastic bowls.

      3. Sift powdered sugar and almond flour twice.

      4. Make absolutely sure your meringue comes to a stiff peak before adding the flour/powdered sugar mixture and FOLD it in, don’t just mix to save time.

Finally, once piped, let the cookies rest until they have formed a dry skin on top that is fairly firm to the touch. The first time we tried them we got impatient and put them in the oven before a proper crust had formed. The cookies didn’t form the characteristic “foot” on the bottom of the cookie and were not very chewy. During high humidity weather (it is Texas after all!) we have rigged up a cardboard box with a fan blowing into it. Thankfully, we haven’t done this lately because we found they usually crust just fine if you let them sit out long enough.

Storing Your Easter Carrot Patch Macarons

One of the best things about macarons is they can be made ahead of time and stored in airtight containers in your refrigerator. In fact, they really are better if you refrigerate them a day before serving. They also freeze very well.

To serve, I found some little balsa wood fruit boxes and tucked them in with a fun napkin. However, they look darling on just a regular platter. Your friends and family will feel just like they’ve been transported into Mr. McGregor’s garden when you present them with this scrumptious Easter delight.

Yield: 12

Carrot Patch Macaroons

Print

Delicate, delicious carrot shaped macaroons filled with a scrumptious orange and vanilla cream cheese frosting.

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

• Macaroon Ingredients (recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc.)
• 65 grams almond flour
• 65 grams powdered sugar
• 45 grams extra fine granulated sugar
• 50 grams egg whites, AGED overnight
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 6-8 drops orange GEL food coloring
• Macaroon Filling
• 8 oz. cream cheese softened
• 2 c. powdered sugar
• zest of one large orange
• Juice of one large orange
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Green Carrot Tops
• 6 oz. Dark green chocolate melts

Instructions

1. Complete the PREP WORK which includes aging the egg whites overnight, wiping down the mixing bowl and beaters with lemon juice, placing the carrot templates on baking sheets and covering with parchment paper, and preparing a piping bag with the large round piping tip.
2. Set the egg whites out on the counter until they reach room temperature.
3. Weigh almond flour and powdered sugar. Sift together twice. Discard any lumps that will not crush and sift. Set aside.
4. When egg whites have reached room temperature, beat until foamy and add cream of tartar.
5. Once the beater starts leaving tracks in the egg whites and the bubbles have tightened up in size, add granulated sugar 1 heaping tablespoon at a time. Beat after each addition until the sugar is well incorporated.
6. Once all the sugar has been fully incorporated and before reaching stiff peaks add the gel color and beat until the color is what you want.
7. Whip into stiff peaks. When the beater is removed, the meringue should stand in a fairly stiff peak without flopping over. It is possible to over-beat so check frequently.
8. Pour 1/3 of the almond/powdered sugar mixture into the egg whites. Gently fold into the egg whites. Once the mixture is a consistent color, gently mash the mixture against the side of the bowl. This is called "macaronage" and improves the texture of the cookies. Repeat this process 2 more times.
9. Stop folding once the batter has reached a "lava" like or honey consistency. When dripped from the spatula the batter should be able to form an unbroken figure-8. (See Mimi's video for visual example.
10. Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper in the shape of the carrot template. Start at the top of the carrot and zigzag bake and forth towards the bottom. This zigzag technique will result in carrots that are more realistic looking. Remember the batter will spread a little bit.
11. Remove the paper carrot template from beneath the parchment.
12. Rap the tray several times on the counter to rid of excess bubbles.
13. Before batter dries, pop any remaining bubbles with a toothpick.
14. Let the cookies rest in a dry place for 30 minutes to an hour until a "skin" has developed. This will prevent the shells from cracking during baking and help them form the characteristic "foot" on the bottom of each macaroon.
15. While cookies are resting, melt the dark green chocolate according package directions and pipe onto parchment in a carrot top shape (three or four stems connected to a thicker bottom stem,) Place in refrigerator to set.
16. Preheat oven to 320 degrees F.
17. Place one tray at a time on the middle rack and bake for 12-14 minutes or until the shell is not wobbly and the foot has formed.
18. Let them cool off on the tray. (Or take them off if they are overdone.)
19. While cookies are cooling make the filling by combining all ingredients. If frosting is too soft, add additional powdered sugar.
20. Match tops and bottoms of cookies by size and shape, and then fill with cream cheese frosting. Gently push a green chocolate stem into the filling at the top of the bottom macaroon and then place the top macaroon on top.
21. Store finished macaroons in an airtight container in the refrigerator to mature for 24 hours.
22. Remove from refrigerator about a half hour before serving.