Cinnamon Macarons with Buttercream Apple Filling
Hallelujah, we have macarons!🎉
This recipe may not be easy to make but I had a blast finally making them. After several years of avoiding this delicious batter because of a few failed attempts in the past, I finally did it.
If you have never had a macaron cookie, you’re in for a treat. They are sweet and have a crisp outer layer with a chewy middle. The cookie itself is delicate and provides the perfect bite (or bites).
Let me share something with you. When I started my food blog in 2010, I did somehow successfully make raspberry macarons. Then every attempt after that for the next seven years was a huge fail. Well, not a huge fail technically because the cookie was good but I could never get what they call “Baby feet” around the edges of the cookie.
After stopping my blog in 2017 I just enjoyed eating the cookies.
Then Noah and Morgan in Her Snickerdoodle made a Christmas tree with red and green macarons. I figured if they could make that many macarons successfully, I could do it, too.
Challenge accepted!
I chose cinnamon because it would be perfect with apples. You could omit the cinnamon if you want. Instead, maybe shake things up and add food coloring. Have fun with the cookies!
Are you ready to give this recipe a try?
Don’t be like me and shy away from the beauty of the challenge. They are just too good and you need them in your life. I’m excited to see if you make them. Use the hashtag #CafeTerraBlog on social so I can see all those baby feet.
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Cinnamon Macarons with Buttercream Apple Filling
Recipe by Terra Kelly
(Level of recipe is difficult)
Prep: 15-25 minutes
Inactive: 45 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes
Makes: 15 cookies/ 7 macaron sandwich cookies
Ingredients
Cookie batter:
80 grams superfine almond flour, sifted twice
85 grams powdered sugar, sifted twice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, room temperature (you’ll only use egg whites)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
50 grams granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
Filling:
1 large apple, diced (I used the skin. You could peel it.)
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ to ½ cup granulated sugar, (depends on how sweet you want apples)
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp half and half
Directions
Note: You want to weigh the almond flour and powdered sugar for accuracy in the recipe.
Prepare sheet pan- use Silpat or parchment paper. (Note: Add circles on parchment paper and place below the prepared parchment or Silpat. You don’t want the ink on your cookies.)
Place parchment paper on the counter and sift almond flour and powdered sugar with teaspoon cinnamon. The remaining pieces of almonds left in the strainer you can discard. You don’t want those pieces in the batter.
Separate eggs carefully and only use the egg whites.
In a medium glass bowl (do not use rubber bowls) with a mixer, whip egg whites. While still slightly loose, add cream of tartar and continue beating. When egg whites are fluffy, slowly add sugar while continually beating until soft peaks form. (If you can turn the bowl over and they stay in the bowl, your eggs are ready.)
Sift almond flour and powdered sugar for a second time into whipped egg whites. (Discard small pieces of almonds left in the sifter.)
With rubber spatula carefully fold almond flour and powdered sugar into the whipped egg whites. Continue folding the batter once it’s mixed (don’t stop folding yet). The batter may be thick. If it falls off the spatula in clumps it is still too thick. Keep folding until the batter looks like molten lava and runs off the spatula (thick but not runny).
Add prepared batter to the piping bag and carefully pipe batter onto the center of circles you’ve traced. Important: don’t add batter to the whole circle. The batter will settle and fill the circle naturally. Once you have piped batter onto each circle, bang the pan on the counter two times hard to remove any air bubbles in the cookies.
IMPORTANT step: Once the cookies are ready to be baked. Wait to bake them and let them sit on the counter for 45 minutes so the top of the cookie can dry out.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a saucepan, add diced apples, cinnamon, and sugar. Cook apples down until apples are soft but not mushy (about 2-5 minutes). Pull off the burner and cool completely.
While apples are cooling. Once the cookies have sat for 45 minutes in a cool, dry space, place in the oven and cook on a middle rack for 20 minutes. (I have a gas oven and noticed a few of my cookies cracked. It may depend on your oven how long you need to cook them.)
Once the cookies are baked, let them sit and cool while preparing buttercream.
In a small bowl with a hand mixer, whip together butter and powdered sugar. You want the buttercream to be thick but if needed add 1-2 Tablespoons half and half to loosen the buttercream and make it easier to pipe onto the cookie. Add buttercream to the piping bag. These cookies are delicate so handle them with care.
Carefully pipe buttercream on the flat side of the cookie and then spoon a half of a teaspoon of cooled diced apples. Cover with a second cookie and very carefully push everything together so ingredients come together for a perfectly sandwiched macaron cookie.
Keep extra cookies refrigerated for up to one week. Enjoy!