Tie Dyed Macarons

I've been wanting to attempt tie dyed macarons for some time now having seen them continually grow in popularity among bakers and finally took some time this past week to give them a go.

Just research "tie dyed macarons" on the internet and you'll find lots of examples, some cute and some not so much.  I think the best looking ones use just two colors, keeping the design clean and not convoluted. I wanted to create a tie dye effect without making macarons that looked like they belonged at a Grateful Dead merch booth. Sorry, Deadheads.

To create the effect, I just drew three lines of gel coloring up and down the inside of a piping bag before adding the macaron batter. I did learn that a little gel coloring goes a long way and next time I'm going to even use less. I do like how these look though and am anxious to keep experimenting.

Here's how I made them:

I had my supplies (a piping bag, gel coloring and a small paint brush) out and ready to go before I started making the macaron batter.

When the batter was done, I painted three lines of gel coloring on the inside of the bag.

This doesn't look like a lot of coloring but a little goes a long way and next time I'm going to use even less. I reloaded my brush before each stroke and I now know that a single load of coloring on the brush for all three stripes will do.

Once the batter was in the bag, my coloring overload became obvious and I believe it altered the texture of the macaron, making the outside too crispy.

The piped macarons.

The macarons after baking.

I filled these with peppermint buttercream and dark chocolate. Those recipes can be found here.

The macarons after filling.