Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

My blueberry cheesecake macaron recipe will color you purple. These macarons packed with flavor thanks to freeze dried blueberries in the macaron shells, and are filled with a quick & easy blueberry reduction and cream cheese frosting. These blueberry cheesecake macarons taste like a drop of warm sun in the afternoon.

What makes these the best Blueberry Cheesecake macarons ever?

• All natural colors and flavors: believe it or not, I used absolutely nothing artificial making these macarons. Their vibrant color comes from using freeze dried blueberries in the macaron cookies.
• Packed with flavor: These are not a boring vanilla macaron cookie. These macaron cookies are packed with blueberry flavor, thanks to those freeze dried blueberries. Not to mention, the tartness of the cream cheese frosting pairs so perfectly with the mellow sweetness of the blueberry reduction.
• No fancy equipment needed: These macarons are made using the French method. Which means you can use a stand mixer, but if you only have a handheld electric mixer, then that will do just fine as well.

As macarons can be a little tricky to get a hang of, I’ve included detailed instructions and tips in this blog post. However, if you’re a macaron pro, feel free to use the jump to recipe button below to get straight to the recipe.

Jump to Recipe

Ingredients

Blueberry Macarons

To make these blueberry macarons, you’ll need:

• Freeze Dried Blueberries: You can buy either blueberry powder, or whole freeze dried blueberries and crush them up yourself, as I have.
• Almond Flour: Try to find a brand with fine granules. Be aware that almond meal is not a good substitute for almond flour, as it is more course and the macarons will be lumpy.
• Icing Sugar: also known as powdered sugar.
• Eggs Whites: For best results, age your egg white (see below for details) and make sure they are room temperature before you whip them.
• Cream of Tartar: This is optional, but using cream of tartar helps the egg whites to whip up nicely.
• Caster Sugar: Also known as fine granulated sugar. This adds sweetness and stability to the meringue.
• Vanilla Extract: Adds another level of flavor to the macaron cookies.
• Salt: balances out the sweetness of the sugar and gives the macarons a more rounded flavor.

Blueberry Reduction

This is a super easy recipe. You’ll need only 2 (or maybe 3) ingredients:

• Blueberries: either fresh or frozen will work fine.
• Caster Sugar
• Water: If you’re using frozen blueberries, you may or may not need water.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Filling

This is a simple cream cheese frosting recipe that requires only a handful of ingredients:

• Cream Cheese: Use the type you buy in a block (the spreadable cream cheese will be too soft).
• Powdered Sugar (aka icing sugar).
• Freeze Dried Blueberries: Just enough to add a little color to the frosting
• Salt: To balance out the sweetness of the sugar.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to make Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

Prepare the dry ingredients

Crush the freeze dried blueberries into a fine powder. Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar into a bowl, then sift in 2 tablespoons of freeze dried blueberry powder. Set this bowl aside.

Make a French meringue

Pour your room temperature egg whites in a clean bowl and whip using either a hand held electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the cream of tartar, and then slowly add the sugar. Once the meringue reaches soft peaks, mix in the vanilla extract and salt, then turn the mixer up to high and whip the meringue until it reaches stiff peaks.

Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue

Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue in two batches. The best technique I’ve found is to use your spatula to gently scrape around the outside of the bowl then fold the mixture back in on top of itself. Continue with this motion until all the ingredients are combined.

Next we need to deflate the batter slightly. To do this, use your spatula to spread the batter around the sides of the bowl, then scrape it back into the center. Repeat this process until the batter loosens enough so that it falls off the spatula in a ribbon shape.

Pipe your macarons, and bake them

Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe circles of batter onto a baking tray that has been lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. To get even sized macarons be sure to hold the piping bag directly vertical, about half an inch over the baking tray. Squeeze out some of the batter until you have a circle of batter about an inch in diameter. Then release the pressure and lift the piping bag away.

For best results use a piping bag that is fitted with a circular piping nozzle and place a template underneath the parchment paper to use as a sizing guide.

Once you’ve piped all the macaron batter, bang your tray on the counter a couple of times to encourage any air bubbles to rise to the surface. Next closely inspect the macarons for visible air bubbles and pop them using a toothpick.

Let the macarons sit at room temperature to dry slightly. They’ll be ready when they are no longer shiny and feel dry to touch.

Bake at 260 degrees Fahrenheit (130 C) to minimize the amount that they brown. Once cooked, allow the macarons to cool on the pan before transferring them to an airtight container.

Make the blueberry cheesecake macaron filling

First make the blueberry reduction by stirring the blueberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until he blueberries soften. Use a fork to mash the blueberries slightly and encourage them to release their juices. The blueberries will soften as they cook and release their juices. Continue to stir the mixture until some of the moisture evaporates and it thickens, If the mixture thickens too quickly, add a teaspoon of water and continue stirring over heat until it comes back to a syrupy consistency. You can whiz this reduction up in a blender to smooth it out, but I chose to leave it lumpy for a more rustic style filling.

To make the blueberry cream cheese macaron filling use a spoon to mix the cream cheese, salt, blueberry powder and powdered sugar together. Don’t use an electric mixer, as this will cause the frosting to become very soft (which will make it difficult to pipe onto the macarons).

Assemble your blueberry cream cheese macarons

Sort through your macarons and match them into equal sized pairs.

If you plan to decorate the macarons, I recommend doing so now before they are assembled. These blueberry cheesecake macarons have been decorated with a little gold leaf and some blueberry powder (stuck on with a little white chocolate).

To fill the macarons, pipe a circle of the blueberry cream cheese frosting on the underside of one macaron. Then spoon some blueberry reduction into the center of the circle. Lastly place the second macaron shell on top.

Storage Recommendations

As these macarons contain cream cheese filling, they should be stored in the fridge. They’ll keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, but will taste best within the first day. This is because the cream cheese filling is soft and will cause the macarons to soften quickly.

If you want to make these macarons more than 1 day in advance, I recommend keeping them in the freezer. They’ll store well in an airtight container for up to 2 months.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Age the egg whites: This is an optional step, but going to this extra effort can help you to create a more stable meringue. To age your egg whites, separate your eggs and place the egg whites in a clean bowl and store in the fridge for 24 hours. Make sure you allow the egg whites to come to room temperature before you start to make the meringue.
• Keep freeze dried fruit airtight: The freeze dried fruit will start to absorb moisture from the air as soon as you open the packet. This will cause the fruit to become soft, and sticky rather than crisp and powdery. Keeping the freeze dried fruit in an airtight container will slow down this process.
• Be mindful of the oven temperature: Freeze dried fruit contains fructose, which starts to caramelize (and turn brown) at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 C). These macarons were baked at 260 degrees Fahrenheit (130 C) to minimize the amount that they browned.
• Don’t whip the cream cheese frosting: As I explained before, if you use an electric mixer to make this cream cheese frosting you’ll risk over mixing it and causing it to become too runny. Best to use a spoon to mix the other ingredients into the cream cheese by hand.
• Troubleshooting running fillings: If you find the filling is too runny, pipe the filling onto the macarons, then place them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. The coldness of the freezer should set the filling slightly, then you can pop the top macaron on, and it should stay in place.

Related Recipes

I hope you love my blueberry macaron recipe as much as I do. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Also, if you love macarons, I have heaps of macaron recipes on my site, some of my favorites include:

• Orange Macarons
• Lavender Macarons
• Holiday Spice Cranberry Macarons
• Fall Macarons