Pumpkin Pie Macarons

While Thanksgiving is now past us it is still the season of pumpkin still here and these macarons are the perfect thing to make to enjoy that pumpkin-y goodness. I decided to make these for a friendsgiving my friends were having the day after thanksgiving. I though everyone would be sick of pie but these are the perfect pumpkin treat with out being too overwhelming but still tasting like everyone’s favorite autumn treat.

For the filling I followed the Pumpkin Ganache recipe from the Momofuku Milk Cookbook, this recipe makes way more than you need but it is to hard to make any less. With the full recipe you should have enough filling for 3 recipes worth of Macarons. With the extra you can always make some crepes and use it as filling.. which is always good 🙂

PUMPKIN PIE MACARONS

1 Recipe of Cinnamon Nutmeg Macaron Shells

1 Recipe of Pumpkin Ganache

Food Coloring of your choice (I used the cheap liquid stuff in Yellow and Red)

Offset Spatula

Silicon Basting Brush or Pasty Paint Brush

TO ASSEMBLE

Using an offset spatula spread an even layer of the pumpkin ganache on one of the macarons

Place a second macaron on top of the macaron with the ganache

Once you prepare all your macarons you can decorate the top if you want

For the brush lines that I did, I combined red and yellow liquid food coloring and used a silicon basting brush. Instead of using a real brush using the silicon brush gives you a interesting variation. I swiped the brush back a few  times to get an affect I wanted. You can do whatever you want or just not decorate the top.

CINNAMON NUTMEG MACARON SHELLS

Recipe from Brave Tart’s Macaron Recipe check out her recipe for the full detailed instructions and tips. My below info is only of the ingredients required and my small modification. As her recipe is so great and practically full proof I don’t want to lead anyone astray with less than stellar directions.

40z Blanched Almonds (or almond flour)

8oz Powder Sugar

5oz Egg White

2 1/2oz Sugar

1/2Tsp Kosher Salt

1/2Tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Ground Nutmeg (preferably fresh)

Flour Sifter

Stand Mixer with Whisk attachment

Food Processor

2 Half Sheet Pans

Large Pastry Bag w/ a standard tip

Parchment Paper

TO PREPARE

Follow the Brave Tart recipe all the way through to the point where you add in food coloring or other additives this is when you should add in the Ground Cinnamon and Nutmeg. I suggest sifting it first for the best incorporation.

PUMPKIN GANACHE

from Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook

I adapted this recipe to not need to use a microwave since I just don’t have one… but I included the original instructions as well.

150g White Chocolate

25g Butter

50g Corn Syrup (or Glucose)

55g Cold Heavy Cream

75g Canned Pumpkin Puree

1Tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Microwave safe container or metal bowl for double boiler

Tall and narrow container (like a 1 quart plastic soup container)

Immersion hand blender

TO PREPARE

Combine the white chocolate and butter in either a microwave safe container (or as I did in a metal bowl that fits over my stock pot which I was using as a double boiler).

Gently melt the white chocolate and butter together in 15 second bursts if using the microwave stirring after each burst or over lightly boiling water if doing this double boiler style. The result should be slightly warm and homogenous.

Transfer the chocolate mix to your tall container

Warm your corn syrup or glucose in the microwave or with a quick dip in the hot water in a small metal container

Pour the corn syrup into your chocolate mixture and buzz with the hand blender for 1 minute

After the minute pour the cream in a steady stream into the mix with the blender running. The mix will come together into a smooth and shiny mix

Blend in the pumpkin puree, salt, and cinnamon into the chocolate mix until everything is mixed and smooth

Put the ganache in the refrigerator to firm up for at least 4 hours or overnight if possible.

The pumpkin ganache will keep fresh in the fridge for a week.

Matcha Macarons with Almond Cream Filling

I have been obsessed with making Macarons lately (as obvious by my Espresso Macarons and my first attempt) and I have been wanting to work on different flavors which is the fun part of Macarons. So since I got off  work a little early this past Friday for Good Friday I thought it would be perfect to make some Macarons for Easter. I have had some Culinary grade Matcha kicking around my apartment for a little while now and I thought this would be the perfect application for it. Some how the more Macarons I make the crazier they are starting to look… I need a lot of practice which my pastry bag skills and maybe grinding the almond flour a bit smoother could have helped these look less crazy, but as with anything practice makes perfect and as long as they still taste good all is well!

MATCHA MACARONS

For the Macarons I used the technique and recipe from Brave Tart, same as my last 2 attempts.

4oz Sifted Almond Flour

8oz Powdered Sugar

1 Tbsp Sifted Culinary Grade Matcha Powered

1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt

5oz Egg Whites

2 1/2 oz Sugar

For the filling wanted to do a Almond Cream filling for the Matcha cookies because I thought it would be a good compliment to the Matcha and since Macarons are made with almond flour it made sense that the flavors would go together. When I was researching types of almond cream on the internet I decided to do a traditional French Frangipane (Almond Custard Filling) and decided to use the recipe from ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck.

FRANGIPANE

Adapted from ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’

This makes way more than you will need for 1 batch of Macarons, use extra for a filling for a Gâteau de Crêpes (a crepe cake like I did with the left overs check out the recipe here)  or a tart

1 Egg

1 Egg Yolk

6oz Granulated Sugar (approx 3/4 Cup)

2oz All Purpose Flour (approx 1/2 Cup)

1 Cup Almond Milk (Boiling Hot)

3Tbsp Butter

2 Tsp Vanilla

2oz Ground Almonds, more chunky than that ground for almond flour (approx 1/2 Cup)

Mixing Bowl

Whisk

1 Medium Sauce Pan

Wooden Spoon

TO ASSEMBLE

Beat the egg and the yolk with the whisk in the mixing bowl, slowly adding the sugar while mixing and continue mixing until the mix is pale yellow and the sugar is fully incorporated.

Mix the flour into the egg and sugar mix until fully incorporated then slowly pour in the boiling almond milk while whisking.

Pour the mix into your sauce pan and set over medium heat. Stir slowly until the mix begins to thicken and then beat it quickly until it smooths outs and becomes a thick paste.

Once thickened mix with a wooden spoon over low heat for 2-3 minutes allowing the flour to cook through, being careful to make sure that the mix does not burn.

Take the pan off the heat and mix in the butter and vanilla extract until incorporated, then mix in the ground almonds until everything is fully incorporated.

Use as desired, if saving for later cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze.

If using for Macarons pipe or spread the filling into the cookies and sandwich them together.

The Great Macaron: The First Attempt

I recently bought the Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel and while browsing the beautiful pages of the book I came across the Macaron recipe and was re-inspired to finally attempt them. I have been meaning to make them forever because of the normal reasons that they are so cute and you can make them in a million different flavor and flavor combinations. I was always hesitant because of everything I read about them being so temperamental, but have always wanted to make them so this weekend I decided to just go for it I mean what could really go wrong? Its just food. So before I set out to buy supplies I did some extra research on the web for tips and tricks to make sure I got the best results possible and I found this wonderful post on Macrons by The Brave Tart.  Once I found this recipe and technique I decided to go with it since it was a lot less fussy than the Bouchon version and since I am not a fussy person at all this really appealed a lot to me.

While in this recipe you do not have to age the egg whites I did leave mine out for a bit while I was making french buttercream for the filling. I thought since I am doing this by hand leaving the eggs out a bit might make my whisking job easier. I do not have a stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer so I had to do everything totally by hand which was an effort but not as bad as I would have thought it would be. When piping the cookies out they became a little off shaped because my pastry bag skills need to be improved upon but otherwise they did not come out too bad. The first tray were hollow because I accidentally overcooked them. The cookies were not releasing from the parchment because I accidentally used the less slick side of the parchment which I now know not to do in the future. The second tray of cookies were better in terms of hollowness but the shells cracked, I don’t think I rapped the pan enough and that pan in particular is cheap and has its own issues to begin with.

For this first attempt I did not add any flavoring or coloring to the mix to really focus on the technique. I filled them with a buttercream mixed with a blueberry/ pomegranate preserve for simplicity sake. I can’t wait to make the next round more exciting and even better than the first attempt!

Check out these wonderful posts for some more hints and tricks for Macarons and remember that Macarons are only as scary as you make them out to be and even ‘failure’ is tasty!

Hollow Pursuits by the Brave Tart

How to make macarons: what’s working for me right now by eat. live. travel. write.

Why do my macarons have hollow shells? A work in progress. by eat. live. travel. write.