27 November 2010

Apple and Cinnamon Macarons


After making some successful macarons with lemon and passionfruit fillings, I wanted to try and flavour the shells themselves. Sir D is a big cinnamon lover, and since cinnamon and apple go together like a fat kid and cake, I decided to make cinnamon flavoured macaron shells with an apple compote.



It's been a while since I made my last batch of macarons and I seemed to have lost my touch. The first batch of cinnamon macaron shells failed miserably with cracks appearing on the surface. The second batch was much better because I stood in front of my oven and watched them lke a hawk, but some of them still had a few imperfections on the surface. Seems like I need a lot more practice!



To make the cinnamon flavoured macaron shells I replaced 5g of the icing sugar from the basic macaron recipe with 5g of ground cinnamon. If you like it more or less cinnamon-y just adjust the amount of ground cinnamon you replace for icing sugar.



I was really happy with the overall flavour and that the shells actually tasted like cinnamon. Sir D thought that the combination of the apple compote and the cinnamon shell reminded him of McDonalds apple pie! And anything that reminds people of pie has to be a good thing :)



Apple and Cinnamon Macarons

For the macarons
100g egg whites (approx 3), aged
30g caster sugar
110g almond meal
195g icing sugar
5g ground cinnamon

1. Age your egg whites by leaving them out at room temperature for 24-48 hours, or for 3-5 days in the fridge. Process almond meal, icing sugar and ground cinnamon in a food processor and sift into a bowl. Process any remaining lumps again and sift again - discard any bits that do not fit through the sieve.

2. Beat egg whites until soft peaks, then gradually add the caster sugar whilst beating until stiff peaks form. Add the dry ingredients in two additions and mix quickly with a spatula a few times to get rid of any large air bubbles. Once the ingredients are starting to incorporate, slow down and fold the mixture until it flows like magma and falls in ribbons from the spatula. Pipe 3cm circles onto sheets lined with baking paper. Confidently rap the baking sheet onto the counter top to allow bubbles to come to the surface, pop these with a toothpick. Leave the shells out to dry for 30 minutes to an hour to allow a skin to develop on top - when you can touch the surface without any mixture sticking to your finger, they are ready.

3. Preheat the oven to 140ÂșC. If you have thin baking sheets, place an overturned baking tray into the oven and place the tray on top of it when the macarons are ready. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven. When they have finished baking, carefully peel the macarons from the baking paper and place onto a wire rack to cool.

For the apple compote (adapted from a recipe by Sherry Yard):
20g butter
2 medium or 3 small apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
25g caster sugar
25g brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Melt the butter in a skillet until it starts to bubble. Add the apples and allow to caramelise on one side, then turn over. Sprinkle the sugars over the apples and cook, turning occasionally, until the fruit is caramelised and soft. Place the apple mixture into a food processor with the lemon juice and pulse until smooth. Cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until required.

To assemble the macarons, spoon a teaspoon of the apple mixture onto one of the macarons and sandwich with another one. Leave in the fridge in an airtight container overnight to allow the macarons to 'mature'. Remove from the fridge 1 hour before you want to eat them and enjoy!


14 comments:

  1. Apple pie! Definitely one of my favourite flavour combinations and something I will try in future. And your macarons look better than you think =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh I like! Apple pie is one of my absolute favourites - can't wait to try the recipe... once I get my confidence to try macarons of course. =) Well done! They look beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Warm apple pie mmmmmm my favourite =D

    ReplyDelete
  4. what a yummy flavour!!! and dont worry they look great!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Apple and cinnamon is always a winner, and even better in a macaron =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. that is brilliant i loooove apple pie more cinnamon! moreeeee

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like you did an awesome job and omgomgomg cinnamon!!! Best. Spice. EVER!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a delicious combo- one day I'll muster up some confidence and make me some macarons!! Mmm I can only imagine how delicious this was!

    ReplyDelete
  9. These look great! Love this combo in most things, pancakes, muffins now macaron, what will you come up with next?! : D

    ReplyDelete
  10. This flavour combo sounds so appetising. The wacky flavours have been getting more and more bizarre and whilst interesting I don't know how many fish and chip macarons I'd want to scoff. This on the other hand sounds perfect for afternoon tea!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Apple and cinnamon, great flavour combination. Taste like a Maccas pie? I am sure the were much better than that, they look so perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mmmm.. YUMMO! Winning combination. Cinnamon is the best!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi mademoiselle delicieuse - Aww thanks, I wasn't really going for the apple pie flavour but that was just a bonus! and who doesn't like pie right?

    Hi Tambourine - Thanks Tammi! When you have the time to make a couple of batches of macarons you should give it a go, definitely worth it in the end!

    Hi the ninja - LOL I'm just going to take that a literal comment and not read into it any further....

    Hi the dainty baker - Thanks! Apple and cinnamon is one of my favourite flavour combos :)

    Hi Angie - hehe I think I'd have to agree with you there :)

    Hi Joy - Thanks!

    Hi chocolatesuze - hehe I think next time I'll give the shells a little dusting of cinnamon before I put them into the oven as well :)

    Hi FFichiban - hehe thank you! Yes cinnamon really is the best spice ever!!!!

    Hi Gianna - Yeah tackling macarons does take a couple of fails (I speak from the experience of many many failures haha) but that just makes you feel even better when you finally get it right!

    Hi Gummi baby - Ooh apple and cinnamon pancakes, that's something I've yet to try!

    Hi Forager - haha I'm not as crazy as Zumbo, I would never have even conceived the idea of a fish and chip macaron! I'll stick to my not so crazy flavour combinations hehe

    Hi Sara - aww thanks for your kind words!

    Hi Phuoc - hehe yay for cinnamon! Perhaps I should just make a cinnamon flavoured macaron next time... now there's an idea...

    ReplyDelete