So…it’s confession time. My homemade macarons do NOT look like the ones on the cover of my book, Macarons at Midnight. My homemade macarons are not perfectly round, and sometimes not perfectly fluffy. In fact, when I made these Pumpkin Spice N’ Everything Nice macarons, they weren’t perfect, or even really that pretty. However, they were absolutely delicious!
In my humble experience, macarons are one of the most difficult desserts to bake. I keep trying, though. I hope you will, too! Macarons don’t have to be perfect to be perfectly yummy.
For a fancy fall macaron, you can’t get any better than these. Go ahead. Give this recipe a try. I won’t judge if your macarons are lopsided or lumpy. Mine are, too! Believe me, you don’t want to miss out on these sweet lil’ bites of pumpkin.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
For the macaron batter:
1/4 cup almond flour
2 egg whites
3/4 tsp pumpkin spice
1/16 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp maple pumpkin butter (I used Stonewall Kitchen’s)
1/4 cup grantulated sugar
1/8 plus 1/3 cups powdered sugar
For the macaron filling:
1 8 oz block cream cheese
1/8 cup Libby’s pumpkin pie filling
Directions for the macarons:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Farenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, pumpkin spice, and the powdered sugar.
Then, sift the ingredients through a sieve. Do this at least twice.
Set these sifted dry ingredients aside. In another medium-sized bowl, mix two egg whites with the cream of tarter. Using a hand-held blender, mix the eggs and cream of tartar together until the mixture is frothy and bubbly, like in this photo:
Slowly add in the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, continuing to mix as you add. Eventually, the mixture will thicken and form peaks. At this point, add in the maple pumpkin butter. If you want your macarons to be pumpkin-colored, you can also add food coloring. I added 2 drops of yellow and one drop of red food coloring to my mixture. It gave my macarons a pastel orange color.
Once your batter is thick and peaked, gently spoon it into a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Squeeze the batter into the corner of the bag and cut a small diagonal slit in the corner of the bag. This turns your ziploc bag into a piping bag! Now, gently squeeze circles of batter onto the baking sheet (they should be about the size of a silver dollar).
Fill the baking sheet with dollops of batter.
Gently tap the baking sheet on a counter or tabletop to rid the batter of any bubbles. This is important, because if the bubbles don’t pop before you bake the macarons, your macarons will collapse. Let the baking sheet sit for at least thirty minutes before baking. The macarons need this time to “set.” You’ll know they’re ready for the oven when you touch one lightly with a finger and your finger comes away clean and dry.
Bake the macarons in the oven for fourteen minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through the baking time.
Once the macarons are done baking, remove them from the oven. Let them cool for a few minutes on the sheet, and then transfer them to a cooling rack or clean countertop.
Now it’s time to make your macaron filling!
In a bowl, mix one block of softened cream cheese with about 1/8 cup of pumpkin pie filling. Blend together with the hand-held mixer. The mixture should be thick and have the consistency of icing.
Spread a small amount of the cream cheese filling onto a macaron cookie and then sandwich another cookie atop to make a whole macaron. Keep going until you’ve sandwiched all of the macarons together. Remember: it’s okay if your macarons don’t look perfect. Keep on trying! In the meantime, eat and enjoy every bite of what you bake! Who cares what it looks like as long as it tastes good?
