Pumpkin Caramel Macarons
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 4 grams egg white powder optional, read notes
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams egg whites
- 105 grams almond flour
- 105 grams powdered sugar
- Food coloring I used orange and carmine
Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 30 grams heavy cream
- 40 grams unsalted butter
- 30 grams pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1/4 tsp salt or more to taste
Pumpkin Caramel Buttercream
- 85 grams unsalted butter
- 28 grams cream cheese
- 2 tbsp Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
- 1 tbsp pumpkin puree
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Macaron Shells
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Before you start, get all of the ingredients ready. Prepare two large piping bags, fitted with a round tip, I use a 1/2” diameter tip. Set aside.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
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Measure out all of the ingredients.
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Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together. Set it aside.
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Whisk the sugar and the egg white powder (if using) in a bowl, and place it over a pan with barely simmering water. Add the egg whites to the sugar and whisk the mixture until frothy and the sugar is completely melted. It will take a couple of minutes. You can test by touching the mixture between your fingers, and if you feel any sugar granules just keep whisking the mixture over the water bath.
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Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the simmering water because you don’t want the whites to cook.
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Also, don’t overheat the sugar syrup, this may cause issues down the line, such as wrinkly macarons.
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Transfer the syrup to the bowl of a stand mixer.
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With the whisk attachment, start whisking mixture on low for about 30 seconds, then gradually start increasing speed to medium. Whisk on medium for one to two minutes, until the mixture is white and starting to become fluffy. Raise the speed to high, or medium-high and whisk for a few minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Best way to check this is to keep your eye on the whites. Once they get glossy and you start seeing streaks formed by the whisk, it might be time to stop.
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Whisk until stiff peaks have formed. When you pull your whip up, the peak should be stiff and shooting straight up, with possibly a slight bend at the top, but not bending down to the side.
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Pour the sifted powdered sugar and almond flour into the stiff meringue.
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Start folding gently forming a letter J with a spatula.
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If making two different colors from the same batch, fold just until you see no more dry ingredients in the meringue. If making just one color, ignore this and continue to fold the batter until the proper consistency is achieved. Which I will explain below how to identify. If making just one color batter, add the food coloring in the beginning.
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Anyway, back to the two colors batch. As soon as you see no more dry ingredients in the meringue, stop stirring. Divide the batter between two different bowls.
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Work with one bowl at a time, leaving the other one covered meanwhile.
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Add the food coloring to the first batter. I added orange. Then stir the batter until the perfect consistency is achieved. Read below how to identify.
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Once that happens, transfer this batter to the piping bag fitted with a round tip. Set it aside.
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Now, it’s time to work with the second batter. I added crimson and a bit of orange to the second bowl. Stir until the perfect consistency is achieved.
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How to know when to stop folding the batter: It’s time to stop folding when the batter is glossy and has a thick and flowing consistency. There are several ways to test this.
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First, pick up some batter with the spatula and try to draw a figure 8 with the batter that is dripping off the spatula. If you can form several 8 figures without the batter breaking up, that’s one indication that it might be ready.
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There’s another test you can do. I call it the Teaspoon test.
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Grab a teaspoon of batter and spoon onto the parchment paper or silicon mat. Wait a minute to see how it behaves.
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If the batter stays stiff, forming a point and doesn’t spread out, fold a little bit more, about 3 folds.
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Test again.
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Once the batter spreads out a bit and starts to look glossy and smooth on top, on the parchment paper, it’s ready.
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You don’t want your batter to be too runny either. So be careful not to overmix. It’s always best to undermix and test several times until the proper consistency has been achieved.
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When you hold the spatula with batter on top of the bowl and the batter falls off the spatula slowly but effortlessly the batter is ready. The batter will keep flowing off the spatula non-stop, but not too quickly.
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Transfer the batter to the piping bag.
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Place each piping bag directly 90 degrees over the center of the macaron template. Apply gentle pressure and carefully pipe for about 3 seconds, and then quickly pull the bag up twisting slightly.
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Once you’ve piped as many circles as you could, bang the trays against the counter a few times each. This will release air bubbles that are in the batter and prevent your macaron shells from cracking.
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Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the surface of the shells.
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Let the trays sit for a while so the shells will dry out a little bit. I usually leave about 20-40 minutes, depending on how humid the day is. You’ll know they’re ready when you gently touch the surface of a macaron and it seems dry.
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Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF.
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Bake one tray at a time.
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Bake for 5 minutes, rotate tray.
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Bake for 5 more minutes. Rotate again.
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I bake each tray for about 15 to 20 minutes.
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When baked, the macarons will have a deeper color and formed feet. If you try to move a macaron, it shouldn’t feel jiggly. If the macaron is still jiggly, keep baking.
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Remove from the oven and bake the other tray.
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Let the macarons cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
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Place the sugar in a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom, over medium heat.
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Stir the sugar the whole time, while it melts. The sugar will begin to form a brown syrup, and you have to stir the whole entire time, to make sure it melts evenly. Otherwise, some parts of the sugar will burn, while others won't get a chance to melt.
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As soon as the last bit of sugar melts, immediately lower the heat to medium-low, and add the heavy cream.
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It's very important to not let the sugar cook too much or burn. If the sugar cooks too much at this point, the caramel will be hard once it cools down, or it will taste bitter.
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So as soon as you see no more bits of solid sugar, be quick and add the heavy cream.
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Be very careful when adding the heavy cream as it will bubble up and you don't want to get burned.
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As soon as you add the heavy cream, some of the sugar will crystallize, and that's ok. Continue to stir the heavy cream for 30 over medium-low heat.
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Add the butter and stir to combine.
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Once the butter has almost completely melted, add the pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and salt to the pan.
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Stir to combine over the heat, for about 30 seconds.
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Remove from the heat and continue to stir until the pumpkin puree has fully incorporated with the sauce.
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Pour into a heat proof container and let it cool down completely.
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If there are bits of crystallized sugar in the sauce, pour the sauce through a strainer after you take it out of the oven. But if you follow all instructions right, that shouldn't happen. Though I understand sometimes we get distracted and don't stir enough, or forget to lower the heat. It happens. And that's a good way of fixing it. Pumpkin Caramel Sauce
Pumpkin Caramel Buttercream
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Cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer for about 2 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
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Add 2 tbsp of Pumpkin Caramel Sauce and pumpkin puree to the butter and cream cheese. Make sure the caramel is at room temperature, not cold, and also not warm.
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Mix briefly to incorporate.
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Add the powdered sugar and begin stirring on low until combined.
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Raise the speed to medium high and cream until fluffy, for another minute or two.
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If the buttercream seems too runny, add more powdered sugar to make it firmer.
To assemble
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Pipe a ring of Pumpkin Caramel Buttercream around the edges of each bottom shell.
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Pipe or spoon some of the Pumpkin Caramel Sauce in the middle.
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Top with another shell.
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Let the macarons mature overnight before serving.
Storage
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These Pumpkin Caramel Macarons will last in the fridge for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for 1 to 2 months, if well packaged.
Recipe Notes
Egg white powder: Egg white powder is not the same as meringue powder. Egg White Powder
Food coloring: Make sure to use gel food coloring, not liquid. If you are a beginner macaron baker, I recommend going easy on the food coloring, as it can alter your batter a lot, and it can take extra mixing time, specially if you continue to add the food coloring as you do the macaronage.
Colors: I made one batch into two different colors, and that's what I show on the video for this recipe. However, I made a few more batches to get different colors so I could have all the color shells you see above on the pictures. Here I am explaining how I made the orange and the carmine shells.
Scale: Please use a scale when measuring the ingredients for accuracy. Macaron amount: it will vary greatly depending on how big you pipe the shells, and on how runny or thick the batter is.
Baking time/temperature: Baking time and temperature will vary according to your own oven. I recommend experimenting with your oven to find out the best time, temperature, position of the baking tray.
Oven thermometer: Make sure to have an oven thermometer to bake macarons. It’s one of the most important things about making macarons. Home ovens aren’t accurate at all at telling the temperature, and even a slight 5 degree difference can make or break your whole batch.
Tray rotation: Lots of bakers don’t have to rotate the trays 180 degrees in the oven every 5 minutes, but I do have to with my oven, or I will get lopsided macarons. Please adjust this according to your oven.
Pumpkin puree: Use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is 100% pure pumpkin. Homemade pumpkin puree tends to be more watery than store-bought puree, so that might affect the sauce consistency.