Pumpkin Cheesecake Macarons
These delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake Macarons have a classic french macaron shell filled with a delicious pumpkin spice cheesecake filling.
Servings: 28 assembled cookies (about 56 shells)
Ingredients
MACARON
- 100 grams egg whites, room temperature
- 75 grams granulated sugar
- 125 grams fine almond flour, sifted
- 125 grams powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ tsp cream of tartar (optional)
- Gel food coloring (optional)
- 6 oz white candy melts (to top)
- Candy eyes (to top)
FILLING
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tbsp butter, softened (salted or unsalted is fine)
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground all spice
- ⅛ tsp ginger
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
MACARON
- Separate egg whites from the yolks, and set aside to warm up to about room temperature.
- In a large bowl, sift in 125 grams of almond flour. Depending on how fine your almond flour is, you may want to sift it 2 times. Don’t try to force the flour through the sifter. Any coarse remains should be thrown out.
- Sift in 125 grams powdered sugar with the almond flour. Whisk the two together and set aside.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, mix egg whites on low. Add optional cream of tartar (ensures an extra stable meringue, but not mandatory). After about 1 minute, or until the egg whites become frothy, turn up to medium speed and very slowly add the granulated sugar while mixing. If you are using food coloring (ensure it’s gel, not liquid food coloring), add it now while mixing .
- Continue to mix until you’ve whipped up a meringue with very stiff peaks.
- Transfer the meringue to your bowl of almond flour and powdered sugar. Using a spatula, fold the two together. Stop folding when you can lift up your spatula and the batter can flow slowly into a figure 8. This can happen very quickly, so when you are close, you may just be a few folds away. Do not over fold your batter. Doing so results in a flat macaron.
- Transfer macaron batter to a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip, gently pipe circles on your Kitzini Macaron Baking mat, fitted on a baking sheet. Make sure your piping bag is vertical when piping, not at an angle.
- Firmly tap your baking sheet on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Let the macarons sit to dry for at least 30 minutes, or until the shells feel dry. While it rests, preheat the oven to 300 Fahrenheit and prepare filling below.
- Once macaron shells are dry, bake for about 18-20 minutes. Let baked shells cool on the mat for about 15 minutes.
- Melt white candy melts and use a piping bag to swiftly drizzle over the top of the shells to create a mummy effect. Add candy eyes to half of the cookies, using a dab of the candy melts to help them stick.
- Gently flip over a cookie (without candy eyes) and pipe a dollop of filling on top. Then place another cookie (with candy eyes) on top of the filling. Gently sandwich together. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
FILLING
- Using a hand or stand mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, spices, and vanilla.
- Beat together until smooth. Store in fridge until ready to fill macarons.
Notes
* You can substitute 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, ginger, all spice, and
nutmeg combination.
* Do not open oven mid baking. This can make macarons go flat.
* Macarons often taste better the next day after the flavors have a chance to settle in
together. Great excuse to make in advance. Keep them in the fridge until ready to
eat.
nutmeg combination.
* Do not open oven mid baking. This can make macarons go flat.
* Macarons often taste better the next day after the flavors have a chance to settle in
together. Great excuse to make in advance. Keep them in the fridge until ready to
eat.