These strawberry cheesecake macarons are filled with a delicious cream cheese buttercream and homemade strawberry jam. The combination of the cream cheese and strawberry jam makes the perfect little cheesecake bites!
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How to Make Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons
- Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour – sifting will help to get rid of any little clumps that may keep your macaron shells from coming out smooth. I would also recommend sifting the powdered sugar and almond flour together because almond flour has a lot of moisture and may get stuck in the strainer if sifted alone.
- Make the meringue – start with room temperature egg whites and whisk the meringue until you have stiff peaks. Be careful not to over whisk because you run the risk of breaking your meringue. The meringue should clump up in the whisk, but not separate.
- Combine the meringue and dry ingredients – when adding the dry ingredients to the meringue, you’ll need to do it in parts, folding each time until the dry ingredients are fully mixed in. You need to be careful not to over mix, because this can lead to a runny batter which can lead to fragile macaron shells.
- Separate the batter – Separate the batter in half and add gel food coloring to each. Fold until the color has fully mixed in and transfer each batter to a separate bag.
- Pipe the macarons – Place both bags inside the larger pastry bag and pipe the macarons while slightly swirling the bag in a circle to make the swirls.
- Rest the macarons before baking – Macarons need to rest until the batter dries.
- Bake the macarons – Bake at 305F-315F for 14-16 minutes.
- Pipe the filling – Pipe the cream cheese around the outer edge of half of the macaron shells and place a small amount of the jam in the middle.
How to Make Multi Colored Macarons
After folding the dry ingredients into the meringue, separate the batter in half and place half in a small bowl, leaving the rest in the mixing bowl.
Working with one bowl at a time, add the food coloring to one of the bowls and fold until the batter is ready. Repeat the process with the second bowl.
When making multi colored macarons, you have to be careful not to over mix the batter, which can easily happen because you’re trying to mix the food coloring into a small amount of batter. The key is to fold just until the color is fully mixed.
How to Make Swirl Macarons
After separating, adding color, and folding, transfer each batter to an 8 inch pastry bag, cut a 1/2 inch opening at the tip of each bag and place both bags inside the larger bag with the piping tip.
Holding the bag at a 90 degree angle, start piping and slightly moving the bag around in a circle to make the swirls. The circular movement is what will give the macaron shells the swirl appearance.
How to Make Cream Cheese Macaron Filling
- Salted butter – you can use unsalted but you’ll have to add a pinch of salt
- Cream cheese – use the block cream cheese
- Powdered sugar – no need to sift unless your powdered sugar is lumpy
- Clear vanilla extract – I use clear vanilla extract in my cream cheese buttercream to keep the buttercream white. You can use natural vanilla extract, but because it’s brown, the buttercream will look a bit yellow
Whisk the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and whisk until you can’t see any more sugar. Add the vanilla and mix until creamy and smooth.
Strawberry Jam from Frozen Berries
This homemade strawberry jam is very easy to make and I usually make it with frozen strawberries. I also use this jam for my Chocolate Strawberry Macarons. If you like jam filled macarons, you should definitely try those!
- Strawberries – I usually have frozen strawberries in my freezer so I just use those, but you could also use fresh strawberries
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon juice – helps to set the jam. Either bottled or fresh lemon juice will work
Place the strawberries and sugar in a small saucepan and heat on medium until it starts to boil. Add the lemon juice and continue stirring so that the jam doesn’t burn. Boil for 20 minutes, stirring regularly, and crushing the strawberries until you’re left with a thick jam.
Remove the saucepan from heat and let the jam cool before filling the macarons.
How to Keep Macarons White
White macarons tend to brown a bit in the oven. You can either lower the temperature a bit and bake the macarons for a few minutes longer, or you can place a piece of foil on the top rack of the oven for the last few minutes.
How to Store Macarons
Once the macarons are filled, you can store them in the refrigerator for up to a week in an airtight container. I have also frozen jam filled macarons for up to a month with no problems.
If you prefer to freeze them, remove them from the freezer a day before you plan on eating them, and place them in the refrigerator to thaw. Remove them from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes to an hour and let them come to room temperature before eating.
More macarons with fruit fillings to try
- Chocolate Strawberry Macarons
- Guava Macarons
- Passion Fruit Macarons
- Mango Macarons
- Orange Macarons
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Macarons
More swirled macarons
Macaron resources
Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Stand mixer
- Two spatulas
- Small bowl (for separating the batter)
- One 16 inch pastry bag
- Four 8 inch pastry bags
- Round piping tip (Wilton 12)
- Two silicone baking mats
- Two half sheet pans
- Oven thermometer
- Small saucepan (for strawberry jam)
- Potato masher (to crush the strawberries)
Ingredients
Macaron shells
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 80 grams almond flour
- 70 grams egg whites
- 70 grams granulated sugar
- 2 grams egg white powder (optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 4 drops red gel food coloring
- 3 drops white gel food coloring
Cream cheese buttercream
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ clear vanilla extract
Strawberry jam
- ½ lb frozen strawberries (can also use fresh strawberries)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (bottled or fresh)
Instructions
Prepare dry ingredients
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour using a whisk to break down any clumps. Set aside.
- Line sheet pans with silicone mats.
- Insert the piping tip into the 16 inch pastry bag.
Make the meringue
- Whisk the egg whites on medium speed (speed 4) until you start to see small bubbles (this can take as little as 15 seconds sometimes).
- Slowly add 3 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time.
- Whisk until you start to see tracks in the meringue.
- Increase speed to 6 and continue slowly adding the remainder of the granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until you’ve added all the sugar.
- Once you have soft peaks, stop the mixer, scrape the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla.
- Whisk for another 5 minutes or until stiff peaks.
Combine ingredients
- Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the meringue and fold the batter until you can't see any of the dry ingredients.
- When folding the batter, slide the spatula under the batter, lift it in a U motion, go over the top of the batter, and slide it under again. This way you make sure to get the batter at the bottom of the bowl.
- Once fully combined, add in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients and repeat the process of folding.
- Add in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients and fold until fully combined.
- Once all of the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture has been added, fold just until all the ingredients are combined well being very careful not to over mix.
- Transfer half of the batter to the small bowl and add 3 drops of white food coloring. Fold just until the color is fully mixed in.
- Now you need to deflate some of the air in the batter by taking the spatula and smearing the batter on the sides of the bowl two or three times, and then folding once or twice.
- Continue this process of smearing some of the batter on the side of the bowl and folding once or twice until the batter starts to run off the spatula in ribbons.
- You can test the consistency by lifting the spatula and letting the batter run down. If it falls in ribbons and sinks into itself within 30 seconds, it's ready.
- Transfer the white batter to an 8 inch pasty bag and set aside. Don't cut the opening at the tip yet.
- Now add 4 drops of red food coloring to the batter in the mixing bowl and repeat the process above of folding and deflating, being very careful not to over mix the batter.
- Once the batter is ready, transfer to an 8 inch pastry bag.
- Cut a ½ inch opening at the tip of the bags with the red and white batter and place both bags inside the 16 inch bag with the piping tip.
Pipe the shells
- Holding the pastry bag at a 90° angle, pipe the macarons into ¾ inch circles about 1 inch apart, swirling the batter slightly in circles to get the red and white swirls.
- Tap the tray against the counter about 8 times to release any air bubbles.
- Let the macarons rest until they form a skin and are no longer sticky.
- While the macarons are resting, preheat the oven to 310°F.
- Bake the macarons for 14-16 minutes.
- Macarons are ready when they no longer shift if you touch the tops.
Cream cheese buttercream
- Using the stand mixer, whisk the butter and cream cheese until creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar and whisk until fully combined.
- Add the clear vanilla extract and continue to whisk until the buttercream looks smooth and creamy.
Strawberry jam
- Add frozen strawberries and sugar to saucepan and heat on medium, stirring frequently.
- Continue stirring and breaking down the strawberries with a spatula.
- Once it starts to boil, add the lemon juice, and continue stirring so that the jam doesn't burn.
- Boil for about 20 minutes and using either the spatula or potato masher, crush the strawberries. Jam will thicken as it cooks.
- Check the consistency by running the spatula down the middle of the jam. If it takes a few seconds to come back together, it's ready. Jam will thicken as it cools.
- Remove saucepan from heat and let the jam cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to a glass container, or a bit longer if transferring to a plastic container.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour so the jam cools before filling the macarons.
Assemble the macarons
- Transfer the jam to an 8 inch pastry bag and set aside. Don't cut an opening at the tip yet.
- Fill another 8 inch pastry bag with the cream cheese buttercream and cut about a ¼ inch opening at the tip of the bag.
- Pipe the cream cheese buttercream around the outer edge of half of the macaron shells, leaving a space in the middle for the jam.
- Take the pastry bag filled with the jam and cut a ½ inch opening at the tip and fill the middle of the macarons with jam. It will be a bit runny but the buttercream will keep it in place.
- Place the top half of the macaron shells on top of the filled macarons.
Love your recipes! I’ve tried making multi colored macarons before and this is the first time they came out just like the pictures! Thank you!!!