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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a 1 ½ inch cookie cutter, trace out guide-circles about an inch apart, and then flip the parchment paper over, ink side down. Prepare a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and set aside.
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In a large bowl sift together the confectioners’ sugar, almond flour, and coconut flour. If all the ingredients do not make it through the sifter add them to a food processor and process until fine crumbs form. Sift crumbs into the bowl with the other dry ingredients. Set aside.
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Add the egg whites, granulated sugar, and vanilla bean seeds to the bowl of a stand mixer. Turn the mixer to medium. Whip for about 3 minutes until bubbles form on top of the eggs. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip another 3 minutes. Increase the mixer speed a bit for another 3 minutes. Add the rose extract and food coloring (if using) and then finally increase the speed to the highest notch for 1 minute. At the end of this minute, you should have a very stiff and dry meringue. Remove the whisk and tap the whites back into the bowl.
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Now dump all of your dry ingredients and the two finely minced raspberries, all at once into the bowl with the whipped whites. Fold the dry ingredients into the whites until you have a thick, but still pourable batter. The batter should be a thickness that it will mound up on itself, but with enough fluidity that after 20 seconds, it will melt back down. This takes about 25 folds. Don't worry, it will look as though the dry ingredients will not combine with the whites, but they will!
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Pour half the batter into the prepared pastry bag and begin piping circles with the batter. Stop piping just shy of the borders of the guide-circle, as the batter will continue to spread just a bit. Repeat with the remaining batter. After piping your macarons, take hold of the sheet pan and hit it hard against your counter. Rotate the pan ninety degrees and rap two more times. This will dislodge any large air bubbles that might cause your macarons to crack. Now set your pans aside for 30 minutes, uncovered, and preheat your oven to 300 F degrees.
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Meanwhile prepare the filling. Add the package of raspberries to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Set a fine mesh strainer over the bowl and pour the raspberries through the strainer, push out all the juices, leaving the pulp in the strainer.
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Add the butter and confectioners’ sugar to the bowl with the raspberry juice. Using a hand mixer (or stand mixer) beat together the butter, powdered sugar and raspberry juice until smooth and creamy. Add the rose extract, coconut extract (if using), coconut milk, and vanilla extract. Beat until whipped and creamy. Place in the fridge until ready to fill the macarons.
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After 30 minutes bake the macarons for about 18 minutes, or until you can cleanly peel the parchment paper away from the macaron. When you go to pick up the macaron, if the top comes off in your hand, it is not done. Allow to cool before filling.
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Use a clean piping bag to pipe the filling on top of the bottom cookie. Now place another cookie on top. Repeat with the remaining cookies and filling. Eat up!
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Pro Tips:
Macarons are infamous for being tricky to make. Many factors influence the success of your macarons. Precise oven temperature, the temperature and humidity in your kitchen, and the way you beat the egg whites each make a difference and each can be hard to get just right. For this reason, we start off slow. We cook only three or four shells at a time, adjusting the rest-time, oven-temperature, and cook time until they come out just right. Once we’re sure we’ve got the right temps and times, we move ahead with making larger batches. With a bit of patience and practice your macarons will come out looking and tasting great!
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To see more raspberry dessert recipes, click here!