Snow White Mashimaro Bunny Macarons

I love making cute animal shaped macarons for gift giving. It always pleases me to see a big bright smile on someone's face when they receive them. Maybe it's a psychological thing, when someone sees a smile, they tend to smile back.  And that's exactly the reaction you will get when you present a cute smiley animal macaron to your loved ones.

Okay, so technically, these guys aren't smiling but my friend sure was when I presented these to her and her child. So, you get the point.. hehe

Without further ado, let's discuss the techniques you'll be using and the tools you'll need for these cute little bunnies.

❤ TECHNIQUES TO MASTER 

All techniques below are in addition to using my regular French Macaron Recipe

Correct Oven Temperature and Rack Position: 

The most challenging part of these Moshi Maro macarons is being able to use your oven correctly in order to bake snowy white shells. When using bright vibrant colors, Macaron shells can be somewhat forgiving if it has browned from being over baked.  With white shells, all the browning will be clear as day so you'll need to know how to adjust your oven accordingly. I would err on the side of caution -  lower the temperature and increase bake time. If the tops are browning, place an empty pan above the tray to shield the shells from the heat. On the other hand, if the bottoms are browning, place an extra pan below the tray. Click here for a full post on how to use your oven correctly to bake macarons.

Piping Unique Shapes:

Prepare your template accordingly with a round circle for the face and 2 dots in the centre for ears. Make sure you provide enough clearance between each little animal. I like to make these faces a little bit bigger than my regular round macarons. I find the bigger they are, the easier it will be to pipe. Trust me, when you get to the ears, you'll see how easy they run into the face and you'll end up with a big bad blob! I pipe the face first, let them dry slightly, then I go on to pipe the ears. This will prevent it all from running into each other. Using a small round tip also helps control how much batter comes out at once. I prefer the Wilton 12.

I also like to use a Silpat mat for piping all my unique shapes because it works wonders to keep the shapes round and provides great control when piping. The batter doesn't spread as easily as it would on parchment paper.

Matching Macaron Shells: 

These shells are pretty asymmetrical so its still pretty easy to match them up once you're ready to fill them. One easy way to ensure that you'll get a perfect match is to pipe half of your batter into faces and the rest into regular round shapes. Match the face macaron in the front with the round macaron in the back. It's the easy way out but hey, if your reciepient isn't a macaron snob, then they won't know you took a shortcut. And if they are a macaron snob, they don't deserve your awesome macarons in the first place!

Drawing with an Edible Pen and Painting on Ears:

Using an edible pen is pretty self explanatory.  Go get yourself one and the macaron decorating fun will be endless! In terms of the yellow ears, I don't like to buy too much unnecessary ingredients. I mix a little bit of gel color with water and use a paint brush to paint on the ears. It's soo easy and you'll find a huge array of color possibilities when you do this as opposed to the ugly primary colors of edible pens.

Application of the Sprinkle Bow:

Hopefully your fingers are not as fat as mine because I had a really hard time placing these tiny hearts in the correct position to mimic a bow. But if you've got a pair of tweezers at home, it will be very easy to pick one up and apply it accordingly. Apply the edible glue directly onto the face and then use the tweezers to move the heart into the correct position.

I hope these macaron tips work out for you and let me know how you did! Join me on Instagram and let's talk baking! XOXO, Mimi

[srp post_limit='5' post_random='yes' category_include= 24 widget_title = 'Other #MacaronArt You Might Like']