Cranberry Ornament Macarons With Gingerbread Buttercream

For the macaron shells

Preheat oven to 310F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat. set aside.

Heat a small pot of water over medium heat until it steams. In the bowl of stand mixer, combine egg whites and granulated sugar. Place the mixing bowl on top of the steaming pot to create a double boiler. Make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water.

Whish the egg whites and sugar until sugar melts completely and egg whites become frothy and white in color. It will take about 1 to 2 minutes. After you achieved that texture, remove from the pot and put in on the stand mixer.

Using the mixer's whisk, whisk on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until stiff peaks form. And there you go! You created a swiss meringue!

Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar and cranberry powder about 3 to 5 times and gently shake it onto the meringue bowl. Add in the gel food coloring.

Using the whisk again, whisk for about 10 to 15 secs on medium speed. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to fold in all the ingredients. If you can make a figure 8 without breaking the dripping batter, you can stop folding. Otherwise you have to keep folding and try doing the figure 8 again. Make sure not to overmix it.

Once your batter is correct, transfer it in the pastry bag fitted with 1 inch tip. Pipe it on the prepared baking sheets keeping about an inch apart between each cookie. Make sure to bang the baking sheet 3 to 5 times to remove the air bubbles.

Dry the for about 30 to 45 mins. Touch the top and once it is dry, toss the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 18 mins. Allow to cool at least 10minutes before removing from the pan.

For the filling

Whip the butter for about a minute until light and creamy. Add in all the spices and whip for 15 secs until it's all incorporated. Add in the molasses and mix for 20 secs.

Add the sugar and vanilla extract. Whip until everything is mixed together. The mixture must be smooth but not runny. Transfer in to a pastry bag and pipe on the flat side of the macaron shell. Cover it with another cookie.

For the Royal Icing

Beat the powdered sugar and meringue powder until combined.

Slowly add the water while whisking it and let it combine. Add vanilla extract.

Continue to whisk until icing forms stiff peak about 4mins. Transfer to piping bag and decorate the macarons!