Cinnamon brown butter macarons

In my post on éclairs I mentioned an article which claimed that Popelini (mini choux buns) are the new macarons. I for one don’t think they could ever be a match for macarons. It’s the combination of crunchy shell and soft filling, as well as the difficulties of making them at home that make macarons the tastiest and most sought after kind of French patisserie. I’m not saying they won’t ever go out of fashion, but it will take more than a choux bun to knock them off my list of Favourite Things.

These macarons were inspired by another food fad: cupcakes. I never really got what the fuss was about with cupcakes until I tried Nigella’s recipe for Burnt Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes from How to be a Domestic Goddess. They are indescribably delicious.

But I can’t just leave recipes alone so I decided to try adding some ground cinnamon to the buttercream icing and sticking it in between two macaron shells instead. The results are well worth braving the difficulties of macaron-making for.

Macaron’s have a well-deserved reputation for unpredictability, but now I have found a recipe that works for me they seem much less scary. I have found three websites really helpful in smoothing out the bumps (both metaphorical and literal!): Not So Humble Pie, Syrup and Tang and David Lebovitz’s wonderful blog. I would recommend having a read of them before getting started as they have loads of tips and helpful pictures.

I use Not So Humble Pie’s recipe for my macarons, and I’ve given the ratios here so you can adapt the recipe depending on the number of egg whites you have to hand. I used 3 large egg whites which weighed 113g and that made 60 macaron shells, or 30 complete macarons.

Things I have learnt from making these macarons:

Make sure you sift the almonds and icing sugar to get a smooth finish on your macarons.

You need to leave enough time for the macarons to mature (for the insides to become soft and yummy). Buttercream fillings like the one in this recipe are best after 24-48 hours in the fridge, and cream based fillings, such as the chestnut cream I used in my yule log or chocolate ganache, are best between 4-24 hours in the fridge.

If at first you don’t succeed try and try again!

Macarons:

(adapted from Not So Humble Pie’s French macaron recipe)

Egg whites

Ground almonds 1.2 x egg whites

Icing sugar 2.35 x egg whites

Caster sugar 0.3 x egg whites

• 24 hours before you want to start making the macarons, separate the egg whites and leave in a mixing bowl covered with a piece of kitchen roll to age the egg whites.
• Cut out parchment to fit your baking trays and draw on 3cm circles (I use the base of a piping nozzle for drawing around) leaving at least 2cm between each circle and the edges of the tray.
• Prepare a piping bag with a 1.5cm plain nozzle.
• Put the ground almonds in a food processor and pulse until the powder becomes finer.
• Add the icing sugar and whizz up until combined.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs on a slow speed with electric beaters. Once they are foamy increase the speed and beat to soft peak stage.
• Gradually add in the caster sugar whilst continuing to beat the egg whites.
• Beat at a high speed until a glossy meringue is formed.
• Sift the almond/icing sugar mixture over the meringue, and fold in to thoroughly combine.
• The batter is the correct consistency when a ribbon of batter dropped on the surface disappears within 30 seconds.
• Put the batter into the prepared piping bag and stick the corners of the parchment to the baking tray with a small blob of the batter, making sure you have turned the parchment over so the pencil marks are on the underside.
• Pipe the batter into the circles.
• Give the tray 4 or 5 hard taps on the work surface to flatten the macaron shells slightly.
• Leave for half an hour, then preheat the oven to 220°C and leave for half an hour.
• Turn the oven down to *160°C and allow to cool to this temperature. The macaron shells will have been resting for around 1 hour now and will be ready to bake.
• Put the macaron shells in the oven and bake for 17 minutes, turning the trays half way through cooking.
• Remove from the oven and peel the parchment off the baking tray. Put the parchment on the work surface and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes before peeling off the parchment.
• If they are stuck, wipe a damp cloth over the work surface and leave the parchment on top for a minute or two. The macarons should then peel away easily.
• Once completely cool you can pipe or splodge on the filling, depending on your levels of patience at this point in the process, and sandwich them together.
• Place in an airtight container in the fridge and leave to mature for a few hours to 2 days depending on the type of filling used (see recipe notes above).

* I think my oven is a bit hotter than the temperature on the dial, but unfortunately I don’t have an oven thermometer so can’t be sure. I would recommend adding 10°C onto the temperatures given in this recipe, as that seems to be closer to the average temperature in macaron recipes I’ve seen.

Cinnamon brown butter filling:

(adapted from Nigella’s recipe for Burnt Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes from How to be a Domestic Goddess)

150g butter

200-250g golden icing sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or to taste)

A little milk

• Put the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
• Allow to melt and then leave the butter to bubble away until it turns a nice deep brown colour and has a delicious nutty buttery smell.
• Pour through a sieve into a mixing bowl to remove any sediment, and leave to cool slightly.
• Sift in the golden icing sugar and ground cinnamon and beat until smooth.
• If the mixture is a little too thick add some milk to loosen it to a good piping/splodging consistency.