Macaron Pie Crust

Hello friends! Let’s make a super cool recipe today: Macaron Pie Crust! Yes this pie crust is made from macaron flour, which is nothing but ground up macaron shells.

During your macaron journey, you will most likely find yourself with batches that don’t turn out perfect, smooth, with the feet absolutely pristine. It’s part of it. And sometimes you just don’t want to eat the plain shells, or throw them out.

So I am coming up with some recipes to share with you for ideas on what to do with any extra macaron shells you may have laying around.

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Watch the video on this page and on YouTube to check out how to make this Macaron Pie Crust.

You can literally fill your pie crust with anything you want. Today we are going with a No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Filling.

Mini pies filled with chocolate cheesecake filling topped with mini macarons, red currants.

Whenever your shells look anything like this:

cracked macaron shells.

You have a few options, you could first try my Troubleshooting Guide, and see if you can find out what are the potential causes for your shells to not have worked out.

But then, what to do with the macaron shells that didn’t work out?

You could still fill them, or eat them plain. But a lot of us have found themselves in this situation a few times, where you didn’t want to do any of those things, or throw the shells out. Specially if you are trying to master macarons, or troubleshooting a recurring issue, you will get kind of tired of just eating the plain shells.

So this is the first idea I will show you, how to make Macaron Pie Crust with macaron shells that didn’t work out.

How to make Macaron Flour

Most recipes to use up macaron shells will begin with a macaron flour.

Place any macaron shells you don’t want to use in the food processor.

Then pulse until the shells are finely ground.

two pictures showing macaron shells being ground up in a food processor.

Make sure there are no large pieces of macarons in there, this will help your crust stay together, instead of crumbling too much.

How to make Macaron Pie Crust

Now that we have the macaron flour, let’s make the macaron pie crust.

Mix the finely ground flour with butter and mix to combine.

adding butter to a bowl of macaron flour.

The mixture should be clumping up together as you press it between your fingers. If it isn’t, add a touch more butter.

Remember that some shells might be drier than others, so you may need a little bit more butter depending on how long ago you’ve made the macarons, on how you’ve stored them.

Speaking of storage, here is a tip. If you have macaron shells that didn’t work out well, you can always place them in the freezer for about 2 months, in an air tight container, and then use it to make macaron flour at any time that’s convenient. You don’t necessarily have to use up the shells right away after making them.

I decided to make mini tartlets with my crust mixture.

You could go for a larger pie, such as a 8 or 9″. If making a 10″ pie, you might need to make 1.5 times the amount of crust described below on the recipe.

pressing down tart crust mixture on the bottom of tart pans.

Since the tarlets pan don’t have a removable bottom, I started by placing two strips of parchment paper on the bottom of the crust.

Pour some of the flour mixture in the pans, and then use your hands to press it down the bottom and up the sides.

Make sure the crust isn’t too thin, or it will break, and also make sure it’s very compact.

Then bake the crusts in the pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes.

Let them cool down before filling.

No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Filling

I chose to make a No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Filling for these pies. The same filling is used in this pie.

It’s super easy and absurdly delicious!

making no bake chocolate cheesecake filling.

Begin by melting the chocolate and then set it aside to cool for about 15 minutes.

Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until fluffy and creamy.

Add the condensed milk and mix to combine.

Also add lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Lastly, add the cooled down melted chocolate and mix to incorporate.

spreading chocolate cheesecake mixture on the bottom of the pie crusts.

Pour the filling on the bottom of the pie crusts, and use a spatula to smooth it out.

Keep the tarts in the fridge for at least 6 hours before serving.

Mini pies filled with chocolate cheesecake filling topped with mini macarons, red currants.

I topped my pies with red currants, mini macarons, and Callebaut crispearls.

For those mini macarons, I made them exclusively for this pie. You can see it in the video located on this page or on YouTube. And for the filling, I just piped a bit of the leftover cheesecake filling I had.

Mini pies filled with chocolate cheesecake filling topped with mini macarons, red currants.

Here are some more ideas of pie fillings you could make to fill your Macaron Pie Crust:

Mini pies filled with chocolate cheesecake filling topped with mini macarons, red currants.

Check out Macaron School, a place with everything about macarons, troubleshooting guides, science behind macarons, tips and tricks for beginners, and much more!

Mini pies filled with chocolate cheesecake filling topped with mini macarons, red currants.

Thank you so much for reading today’s post! Hope you enjoyed the recipe! Have a great day!

Mini pies filled with chocolate cheesecake filling topped with mini macarons, red currants.

Macaron Pie Crust

Camila Hurst
This Macaron Pie Crust is perfect to use up macaron shells that didn’t work out well. I am filling these pies with a chocolate cheesecake filling, you can make any kind of filling you want. You can even use it as cheesecake crust.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
0 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 mini pies
Calories 400 kcal

Ingredients
  

Macaron Crust
  • 4 tbsp butter melted, 56 grams
  • 2 1/2 cups macaron flour 250 grams*
Chocolate Filling
  • 1 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips 170 grams
  • 1 cups cream cheese softened (226 grams)
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk 396 grams
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Macaron Flour Crust
  • Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
  • Place 250 grams of macarons in a food processor, process until they are finely ground. Now you have your macaron flour.
  • Place the macaron flour in a bowl. Add the melted butter and stir to combine.
  • The mixture should be clumping up together when you press it between your fingers.
  • Depending on the texture of the macarons you may need a bit more butter. If your macarons were super dry, you may need to add 1/2 tbsp more butter or so.
  • Now you can press the mixture on the bottom, and up the sides of a 9 or 8” tart pan. Or you can divide it between small tartlet pans. My tartlet pans measured 3 1/4” in diameter, I was able to obtain 8 tartlets total.
  • Depending on the size of your pans, or how thick you make the crust, this number may vary.
  • You can also make 1.5x this recipe and use it to make this recipe for a larger pie pan, such as a 10" one.
  • When I made the tartlets, I placed two strips of parchment paper crosswise in the bottom of the pans before pressing the crust mixture on the bottom and up the sides of the pans, so this way I could easily remove the tartlets from the pan by lifting the strips.
  • Also, remember to coat the pan with spray oil or lightly brushed oil if the pans you have are not non-stick.
  • Bake the crusts for about 10 minutes, until they seem set. If making the crust on a larger size pan, bake for 12 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and let the crusts cool down completely.
Chocolate Cheesecake Filling
  • Place the chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) in a microwave safe dish, and microwave it for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate has melted entirely. Set aside to cool down for at least 15 minutes.
  • Place the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer.
  • Cream it for 90 seconds at medium high speed, until creamy and fluffy.
  • Add the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Cream for 30 seconds.
  • Add melted and cooled chocolate to the bowl. Make sure the chocolate isn’t warm.
  • Cream with the mixer for another 30 seconds.
  • Scrape the bowl down and cream for another 30 seconds, to make sure the mixture is smooth and the ingredients are incorporated.
  • Pour the batter on the bottom of the pre-baked pie crusts, or pie crust if making just one.
  • Use a spatula to spread it evenly.
  • Place it in the fridge for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Decoration
  • I decorated my pie with mini Chocolate Macarons, Callebaut Crispearls, and red currants.
Storage
  • This pie will store nicely in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Notes

Large pie pan: To make this recipe for a larger pan, such as a 10″, make 1.5x the amount of crust listed here.
Crust: You may need a bit more butter, in case the macaron shells you used were super dry. If the mixture isn’t clumping up together, add 1/2 tbsp more butter at a time and mix to incorporate, test to see if the mixture is clumping together, and then add more butter as needed.
Crust: Make sure the crust isn’t too thin, or it will break, and also make sure it’s very compact.
Macaron flour: After grinding the almond flour in the food processor, it can stay in an air tight container for up to 1 week in the fridge, or 1 to 2 months in the freezer.
Macaron shells: If you have macaron shells that didn’t work out well, you can always place them in the freezer for about 2 months, in an air tight container, and then use it to make macaron flour at any time that’s convenient. You don’t necessarily have to use up the shells right away after making them.
Tart pans: Remember to coat the pan with spray oil or lightly brushed oil if the pans you have are not non-stick.
Cheesecake filling: If you want to make a small amount of pies, and if you have leftover cheesecake filling, you can pipe it on the bottom of macaron shells. That’s what I did to the mini macarons you see decorating the pie. You could also simply pour them in small cups, and eat with a spoon like a chocolate cheesecake mousse.
Keyword chocolate, macarons, pie

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11 Comments

  1. Love this! We all have a container of failures in the freezer. too expensive to toss! Have you tried any macaron cakesicles? I am working on those but battling the oversweetness. Thank you, love your content and teaching mindset!

    1. I am going to try that next! I also made a cookie recipe!
      I wanna make brownies, and also cake pops! So many possibilities.
      I have never tried making the cakesicles but I heard they are very sweet if mixed with buttercream so I am going to try dark ganache I think. or just mascarpone cheese or something.
      I can see how they will be too sweet, because the cookies I made I didn’t even add sugar to them, and they were pretty sweet with just the macaron flour too!

    1. yes you can bake a filling in this crust. I would just line the pan with the crust, place in the freezer while you make the cheesecake batter, and then remove it from the freezer or fridge, pour the filling in, and bake the whole thing.

    1. for sure. You can! I would just line the pan with the crust, place in the freezer while you make the cheesecake batter, and then remove it from the freezer or fridge, pour the filling in, and bake the whole thing.

  2. What a godsend for us gluten free folks.! I’m going to make vanilla macaron crust. Fill with jam and bake! My mind is spinning!

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