Apple Cinnamon Macaron Recipe

Keeping up with the spirit of Christmas, Gauri, one of my very good friends and an awesome home-baker shares her simple Apple Cinnamon Macaron Recipe in this blog post. A lot has been written about this rather finicky cookie. Macaron, often confused with a Macaroon, is an egg white, almond flour and sugar based light melt in the mouth confection. Macaroon on the other hand, is a coconut-based cookie. The name macaron is derived from the Italian word “Macarone” which means a meringue, since this cookie is essentially made from a meringue.

The cookie not only stands out for it’s spectacular taste, which in simple description has a crisp outer shell and an almost cakey slightly chewy interior of sweet goodness. The cookie has an outer smooth shell with a ruffled bottom layer which is also called as the “foot” of the macaron. It is this foot, which has been the distinguishing mark of a good macaron, but a good macaron in my opinion depends on a lot of other things as well.

A good macaron has a crisp outer shell. When baked, the cookie is crisp through and through, but you fill it, the moisture from the filling gets absorbed into the cookie, resulting in a soft cakey interior. A macaron needs to be left with the filling for 24 hours to mature.

A good macaron also has no hollows. A hollow means a large air gap between the shell and the foot, and although most times it doesn’t affect the taste as such, it sometimes causes the foot part of the macaron to be a bit chewy. This is not a very ideal macaron. An ideal macaron is one which simply melts away in the mouth. Last but important, the foot of the macaron. More often than not, beginners will make rookie mistakes and make a macaron which has no feet or uneven feet. In my opinion, a macaron with uneven feet will still taste good. But the mark of the best
macaron is to have an even layer of feet.

Apple Cinnamon Macaron Recipe

Here’s my simple apple cinnamon macaron recipe which uses the simple French meringue for making a macaron. Since a macaron is dependent on exact ingredients, you should never opt for volume recipes. Only weight recipes work well.

Ingredients:

For the macaron

 50 g egg whites
 50 g castor sugar
 75 g almond flour
 65 g icing sugar
 1 pinch cream of tartar
 A pinch of cinnamon
 Any gel based food color of your choice

For the filling:

 One small apple, peeled cored and diced
 2 tbsp brown sugar
 1/8 th tsp cinnamon powder
 1 tbsp butter
 salt (if using unsalted butter. Skip if using salted butter)

Method:

1. Sift the almond flour with icing sugar, and get rid of any large pieces of almond. For this recipe you need finely powdered almond flour. Keep aside.
2. Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature. Beat the egg whites on high till they are frothy and foamy. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to beat on high till you get soft peaks.
3. Now add the castor sugar little by little till you get a stiff meringue which is stable even when the utensil is tilted, and is shiny in appearance.
4. You can add the cinnamon powder and food color at this stage. Add it into your meringue and beat some more till the entire meringue is colored. It will be good to note here, that the macarons turn a shade lighter upon cooking, so always aim to get a darker color than you want at this stage.
5. Now add the almond flour-icing sugar mixture to the colored meringue in three batches using a rubber spatula. After adding each batch, gently fold the dry mixture into the meringue. After the last addition, fold well several times, till the batter taken on your spatula drops back into the bowl like slow moving lava. It should fall back down and gently settle into the batter in the bowl. This is the consistency you should aim for.
6. Now fill this into a large piping bag and secure the piping bag close. Cut off the tip of the piping bag so you have a 7 to 8 mm hole.
7. Also prepare a large baking sheet with a parchment paper. Apply a bit of batter on the four corners of the parchment paper to secure it to the tray.
8. Start piping the macarons in small circle son the parchment paper. Try and be consistent with the sizes.
9. Once all the macarons have been piped, pick up the baking tray and tap it sharply on your countertop at least three times on each side to get rid of the bubbles. This also settles your macarons so as to not have bumpy tops.
10. Allow the macarons to dry completely for about an hour, or till the topof the macaron doesn’t feel tacky to touch. You should be able to move your finger over the top of the macaron lightly without any batter sticking to your finger.
11. Once the macarons have dried, preheat the oven to 130 degrees C and the place your tray in the oven in the middle rack.
12. Allow to bake for 30 to 35 minutes and then take the tray out. Allow the macarons to cool before attempting to take them off the parchment paper.

For the filling:

1. Heat the butter in a heavy bottomed pan, and add the pieces of apple to it. Cook for sometime till the pieces of apple get completely softened, then add the brown sugar and cinnamon.
2. Allow the apples to break down as much as possible. Then allow the mixture to cool down. It will thicken as it cools.
3. Once sufficiently cooled, put it in an icing bag.

To assemble:

1. Match the macarons according to their sizes.
2. On one side of the macaron, pipe a little amount of filling.
3. Sandwich with the other cookie and your macarons are ready!

Important to note: Macarons need to be left with the filling for at least a few hours to mature. Put the filled macarons in an airtight container and place them in the fridge. Macarons kept in the fridge stay good for about 10 to 15 days.

Isn’t this a simple macron recipe that you should try?

Gauri is the awesome baker behind Lil White Oven. Her creations are fabulous and she’s been featured in magazines too. Follow her on her Facebook and Instagram pages. If you want to join one of her classes before they are sold out, follow her updates here.