How to Make Hand Painted Floral Macaron Favors

Instructions

Basic Macaron Shells

1. Set aged egg whites out at room temperature.
2. Pulse almond flour and icing sugar together in a food processor to further break down any large pieces of almond flour.
3. Sift dry ingredients: almond flour, icing sugar. Discard big pieces of almond that can't be sifted.
4. If you are new to making macarons, please read the instructions to my BEST MACARON RECIPE before attempting to follow the rest of the instructions since it is condensed for the advanced macaron baker.
5. With the balloon whisk attached, whip the room temperature egg whites on low-medium speed.
6. Add cream of tartar when it becomes foamy.
7. Turn up the speed to medium.
8. Once the whisk starts to leave tracks in the egg whites, add sugar a little at a time.
9. Turn the speed up to medium-high and whip until firm peaks, stop mixer and add gel food color if desired. Continue whipping on medium-high until stiff peaks.
10. Fold the dry mix and meringue together until the batter becomes a "lava" or honey-like consistency.
11. Transfer batter into a piping bag fitted with a round piping tip.
12. On parchment paper or silicone mats, pipe out round shaped macarons. 
13. Rap the tray hard on the counter to remove any excess air bubbles. Use a toothpick to pop any remaining bubbles. 
14. Wait until the shells become completely dry before baking. 
15. Bake at 325F for 12-14 minutes. Every oven is different, you may need to adjust your own temperature settings. Please read How to Use Your Home Oven Properly for Baking Macarons if you are unsure.
16. Macarons are done when the foot doesn't push back and the tops don't move when you wiggle it. 
17. Once baked, let cool completely before removing from the baking mat/parchment paper.
18. Fill, assemble and chill the macarons before decorating.

Hand Painted Shells

1. Put a drop of each gel color on a clean plate. Use a little at a time since it will dry up.
2. Dip a fine paint brush into the light pink colour. Paint a few random strokes in a circular pattern leaving some white space in between strokes. This will form the rose "bud" foundation.
3. Repeat previous step with the medium pink color while adding a few more strokes to the outer edge of the bud to create the "petals".
4. Repeat previous step with the red color.
5. Paint on the leaves and stem with the green gel colour.
7. Place macarons back into the refrigerator and let dry for 24 hours before adding gold foil and packaging.
8. Add gold foil. Tweezers or wooden chopsticks work really well for transferring gold fold. 
9. Don't forget to watch the video at the bottom of this post to see the video tutorial I made as well.