Green Christmas Tree Macarons

Christmas is a time of year when many people love to bake. Baking can be a rewarding and creative hobby that brings family and friends together, while also providing delicious treats for the holiday festivities.

One of the most luxurious Christmas desserts is macarons, which are small, delicate sweets typically filled with buttercream or chocolate ganache.

Macarons can be shaped into any form you want. At Christmas time, you want your macarons to have an extra holly-jolly Christmasy vibe so why not shape your macarons as a little festive Christmas tree!

These homemade macarons can act as a perfect Christmas gift for anyone or be the perfect dessert for your Christmas party!

Tools and ingredients for making candy cane macaron shells

Making a batter for Christmas tree macarons

To make these cute candy cane macarons, you will need two colors of batter – most of the batter should be colored green. I recommend using green paste for beautiful vibrant green color.

The other part of the batter should be brown. You only need a few large spoons of brown batter. The brown batter is for the Christmas tree trunk (leg).

I have put together a comprehensive recipe for baking perfect homemade macarons with the Italian method. It goes into detail on every step of the process and should help you increase your success rate! I highly suggest you take the time to read this post thoroughly as well.

Once the macaron batter is almost ready, separate a little bit of it into a small bowl – it will be the brown batter for piping the tree trunks. Fold it until the batter is ready, then place it into the small piping bag. Cut a small hole into it so that you can pipe it out later.

Now, let’s move to the other part of the batter. Add a few tablespoons of dark green coloring to it. If you want to get a vibrant green color, you will need quite a lot of color. Otherwise, the batter will turn out light green.

Just remember, that adding too much food coloring can ruin the batter – so be extra careful! I also do not recommend using liquid food coloring as it can change the batter’s consistency.

TIP: To get extra vibrant color for your macarons, try to add food coloring to the sugar syrup. This only works when making the macarons using the Italian method. Just add a few tablespoons of coloring to the sugar syrup at the beginning. When using this method, you can also use liquid food coloring.

Piping the Christmas tree macarons

When I’m making the Christmas tree macarons, I love to use the silicone mat that has built-in heart templates with a little edge. It helps the macaron shells to have the shape of the Christmas tree.

If you don’t have this kind of template, it is totally fine! You can easily make a template by yourself. You will need a dark-colored marker and a piece of paper. Draw a heart shape on the paper using the dark and thick marker.

Now take a big piece of paper and place the heart template below the large paper – if you used dark, wide markers, you should be able to see the lines through it.

Draw the hearts next to each other, leaving a little space in between. Once ready, place this drawing beneath a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

The photos below might help you get a better idea of what it should look like when you’re done with it:

When using a template with built-in hearts, just pipe the batter to the silicone mats. Use a toothpick to help the batter reach the edges – by doing that, the macarons will turn out the prettiest.

Once the hearts are piped, add a few drops of batter to get rid of the heart shape. By doing that, the macarons will look more like the Christmas trees. See the pictures below on how to do it:

Once the green part of the Christmas tree macarons is done, it is time to pipe the brown tree trunks! Cut a small hole into the piping bag that has brown batter in it if you haven’t done it already.

Pipe little stripes to each of the macarons. See the pictures below on how to do that. Again, use the toothpick to make the brown stripes more like tree trunks.

The last thing is to sprinkle the green parts of the macaron shell over with some heatproof nonpareils! They will look like cute little Christmas tree ornaments.

Baking the Christmas tree macaron shells

Turn on the oven. I am using the convection oven in a fan mode. Set the temperature to the 250°F (120°C). Bake each mat for 16 minutes.

As each oven is different, you may need to experiment with the baking time. Macarons should not be wobbly when you push them. You will learn over time what works best in your oven!

TIP: Sometimes it is hard to get the macarons off from the silicone baking mat as they tend to stick to the mat. In that case, I recommend putting the silicone mat with the macarons into the freezer!

Wait around 30 minutes and then take them out. Remove the macarons fast from the silicone mat before they start to warm up. With the help of your fingers, gently press on the bottom of the silicone mat to help the macarons get off.

Cinnamon roll filling for Christmas tree macarons

You can use any filling you like between these cute Christmas tree macarons! Feel free to choose whatever you or your loved ones like the most.

This time, I am trying out the cinnamon roll flavored filling! I just think that the cozy and warm cinnamon roll flavor suits amazingly with these cute little Christmas tree macarons.

This easy-to-make filling will make you the hero of the kitchen, because it tastes heavenly, and no one would guess it is just one basic buttercream mixed with cream cheese. You just need to add some cinnamon roll flavor, cinnamon powder, and the vanilla bean paste into the butter-cream cheese mixture.

How to make cinnamon roll flavored macaron filling

1. Wait until the butter and cream cheese are warmed up to the room temperature
2. Add 7 oz (200 g) softened butter and 3 oz (85 g) cream cheese into the mixing bowl
3. Whisk the mixture for a few minutes until it gets nice and fluffy
4. Slowly add 7 oz (200 g) powdered sugar and whisk until even
5. Add 1 tablespoon of natural vanilla bean paste, a pinch of cinnamon powder, and a few drops of cinnamon roll flavor to the mixture and beat for a minute (product recomendations above)

Once the filling is done, place it into the piping bag, and cut a hole into it. The hole should be approximately the size of your index finger.

Filling the candy cane macarons

One of the most enjoyable parts of a macaron is the filling process. All the hard work is done for now, and it is nearly impossible to fail here.

Now it is time to pipe the filling to one of the macaron shells, and gently sandwich the macaron shells together!

How to store candy cane macarons

Macarons should mature in the fridge for at least a couple of hours before serving!

Macarons should be stored in the fridge, and they will last for at least a week. Make sure you keep them in an airtight container.

I’ve shared many ways to make adorable macarons for your Christmas party! If you want to make someone happy this holiday season, these macarons are the perfect gift. I wish you a Merry & Sweet end of the year!

Enjoy your macarons!
Belli xx