October 17, 2021

Pumpkin Macarons

Finishing up pumpkin week with Pumpkin Macarons. Macarons are not for the faint of heart or those that can’t handle a lot of failure. You can do everything “right” with your technique and still end up with a lot of ugly macarons because the humidity was too high that day. These might be the most finicky dessert that I have ever made. Nonetheless, the payoff is well worth it! Practice really does make perfect and even if they aren’t the beautiful French dessert vision you dreamed of they will still probably taste amazing even if they look a little wonky looking.

The easiest macaron cookie to make is a plain one. Adding an flavor or other element just makes the task harder and creates another avenue for failure. I often make the plain cookie and let the ganache or filling of the cookie handle the flavoring and that’s exactly what I did with this recipe.

The recipe I’m featuring today is a combo of two recipes from Serious Eats.

The pumpkin ganache is very easy to make. A few minutes at the stove will yield a deliciously smooth and creamy pumpkin filling for these macarons.

For the cookies, weighing your ingredients is critical. You need to be very accurate with any macaron recipe. Sifting your ingredients is also a vital step to insure your cookies end up light and don’t have clumps that will derail the rise. You also want to make sure that your dry ingredients are very dry. Don’t use a wet bowl that you just finished washing. Even a little extra moisture can throw off the whole recipe.

After combining the dry ingredients and the whipped eggs both over mixing and under mixing are both bad for macarons. (See why these are a pain yet?). Over mixing can cause the air to be knocked out of your eggs and you won’t get a good rise. Under mixing mean that your cookies won’t have a smooth consistency and may also have difficulty rising because the eggs aren’t fully incorporated. Many recipes describe the final mixed product as “magma” you want the mixture to keep a figure 8 in the batter after it is made with the spatula (see video below for example).

Have I fully discouraged you to make macarons or are you up for the challenge?

Print Recipe

Pumkin Macarons

These fancy French cookies take on a festive fall flare with their pumpkin ganache filling.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Inactive Time2

Total Time2 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: 20 macarons

Author: Grace

Ingredients

Plain Macaron Cookie

225 grams icing sugar
125 grams ground almonds
119 grams egg whites
30 grams granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Pumpkin Ganache

180 grams heavy cream
80 grams sugar
16 grams cornstarch
6 tbsp pumpkin puree
2 tsp allspice
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch ground ginger
90 grams white chocolate
100 grams butter

Instructions

Day 1

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a low boil. In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch and sugar. Pour the cream into the sugar slowly while stirring. Pour back into the small saucepan and let the mixture come to a full boil.
Add the pumpkin puree and the spices and whisk to combine. Roughly chop the white chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream/pumpkin mixture over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted and fully combined. Let the ganache cool until warm and then stir in butter.
Cover the ganache with plastic wrap that is touching the ganache so as not to form a skin. Let the ganache cool at room temperature overnight.
Set out four eggs to mature overnight.

Day 2

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Whip egg whites on medium speed with a pinch of salt in a large bowl until foamy. Increase the speed and gradually add the sugar. Whip to stiff peaks.
Sift almond flour and confectioners sugar into the bowl. Gently fold into the egg whites with a spatula. The mixture should look like ‘magma’ and be able to draw a figure 8 with the spatula (see video below).
Put the mixture into a piping bag and pipe 1 inch circles about 2 inches apart on the parchment paper lined baking sheets. Tap the sheets 2-3 times against the counter to remove air bubbles. Let the macarons dry out for 1-2 hours at room temperature.
Once a “skin” has formed on top of your macarons, bake for 10 minutes at 325 degrees F with a spoon propping the oven door open slightly. Rotate the macarons halfway through baking so they bake more evenly. They are done when they easily lift off the parchment paper.
Let the macarons cool completely. Once cooled pair like-sized macarons together and pipe about a tablespoon of ganache onto the bottom shell and top with a matching top.