Pumpkin Spice Macarons are perfect little sandwich cookies filled with a delicious, warm spiced pumpkin-flavored buttercream. A great addition to your holiday dessert table and cookie trays or just to keep on hand for dessert!
First, Let’s Learn How to Make Macarons
The perfect macaron has a thin, domed, egg shell-like crust with a satiny sheen, a moist meringue interior that is soft but not gummy, and a crunchy, ruffled “foot” surrounding its base. While macarons have a well-deserved reputation as being finicky for the home baker, you can successfully make them yourself if you pay attention to certain rules and tips:
To Make the Best Pumpkin Spice Macarons, Know your Oven
Just because you set your oven to 300 F does not mean that the temperature inside the oven actually is 300F. It is not uncommon for a home oven to vary by as much as fifty degrees from its setting. Unless you know beyond a doubt that your oven is the exact temperature you think it is, get an accurate oven thermometer and check. Macarons require precise oven temperature. Ten degrees too hot or too cold is the difference between success and failure.
Be Mindful of Moisture
Macarons are sensitive to moisture in the ingredients and in the air. Common indications of too much moisture are weak shells that lose their “lids”, large air pockets under the shell, and cracked and/or wrinkled shells. Several things help:
- Avoid baking macarons on very humid days, especially during the warmer months.
- Open the oven briefly after five minutes of baking to allow the collected steam to escape. This is a good time to quickly rotate the pans in the oven.
- If the almond flour clumps tightly together when you squeeze it in your fist, it likely contains too much moisture. If so, the day you are going to make the macarons, spread the almond flour in a thin layer on a sheet pan and dry it for ten to fifteen minutes in a 170 F oven. (If your oven won’t go that low, just use the lowest temperature you can.) Be careful that it does not burn, and allow it to cool to room temperature before using.
Weigh your Ingredients Accurately
The quantities in this macaron shell recipe are given in grams which is more accurate than ounces or cups. For consistently good results, you need to measure consistently.
Weighing your ingredients, especially dry ingredients, is the only way to do that. Using cups to measure ground nuts and powdery ingredients like powdered sugar and flour is inherently inaccurate. Serious home bakers should have a scale, ideally one that can measure in grams.
Scales are available everywhere these days and are very affordable. This is the scale that I use:
For Perfect Pumpkin Spice Macarons, Mix the Batter Thoroughly, but Correctly
More than any other factor, how the meringue and dry ingredients are combined determines the success of your macarons.
Scrape the bowl well while mixing the ingredients together, and do not ignore any part of the batter. The slightest streak of unmixed meringue or dry ingredient can cause a macaron to crack and collapse.
Also, while you often hear advice about taking care not to deflate foam-based batters, macarons are unique in that the batter must be deflated to some extent. This even has a specific name: Macaronnage. Use a lifting and smearing motion to go beyond incorporating the dry ingredients into the meringue. The purpose of macaronnage is to remove enough air from the batter so that it turns shiny and flows thickly, forming a “ribbon”.
The batter is just right when it can flow in a “Figure 8” ribbon from the spatula without breaking.
Pipe Your Macaron Shells Consistently
Since macaron shells are matched up according to size, you’ll have the best results when all the macarons are piped the same size. (Besides, they just look better when they’re all the same size and all perfectly round.)
It helps to always use a piping guide placed between the parchment paper and the sheet pan. The guide can stay under the macarons during baking. It will not burn.
Bang and Rest your Macaron Shells
After piping the mounds of batter, pick up a pan and, while holding the parchment baking sheet in place with your thumbs, hit it hard against the counter. Do this several times. Then turn the pan 90 degrees and repeat several more times.
This spreads the batter to the proper diameter and dislodges any trapped air bubbles in the mounds of batter. Repeat with all the pans.
Then let the sheet pans rest, uncovered and undisturbed, for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour before baking.
Resting serves two purposes: During this time, the surface of the batter dries, forming the skin that gives the macarons their characteristic eggshell-like surface.
Also, the skin that forms prevents the macarons from expanding out as they bake. Instead, the heat of the oven will force the macarons up, giving them their characteristic “feet.” (No rest = no feet!)
Refrigerate Your Filled Pumpkin Spice Macarons for Best Texture
Maturing your macarons in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours will give you the best results and flavor. The time spent resting in the fridge allows the shells to absorb some moisture from the fillings and melds the flavors. Bring the macarons to room temperature before serving.
Make the Easy and Tasty Pumpkin Spice Buttercream to Fill Your Macaron Shells
Pumpkin Spice is a firm favorite of so many people. Why not take this classic and delicious flavor as inspiration for a macaron filling?
These macarons are the perfect addition to any holiday table, cookie tray, or just in the refrigerator for a snack or dessert!
The Pumpkin Spice filing couldn’t be easier! Just cream some butter and powdered sugar together with some pumpkin puree. Make sure that you are not using pumpkin pie filling!
Add some spices, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Mix until light and fluffy and then pipe into your macarons!
That’s it! Couldn’t be easier!
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Pumpkin Spice Macarons Recipe
Course: DessertCuisine: French28
servings15
minutes14
minutesPerfect French macaron shells filled with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream filling.
Ingredients
- For the Macaron Shells
198 grams powdered sugar
113 grams almond flour
113 grams egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
100 grams granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Gel coloring in your choice of color, I used orange and copper
- For the Pumpkin Spice Buttercream
113 grams (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
113 grams full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
2 to 3 tbsp pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling, to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
230 – 265 grams (about 1 3/4 cup to 2 cups) powdered sugar
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- To make the macaron batter, place almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor. Pulse 10 times to combine. Sift into a bowl and set aside.
- Make sure that your mixer bowl and whisk attachment are clean by wiping them out with a paper towel that is dampened with some lemon juice or vinegar. Place the egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar in the bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Rain in the granulated sugar very slowly. Whisk until they get to soft peaks. Add the vanilla and then whisk until they reach stiff peaks
- Sift the dry ingredients and then fold in 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the egg whites with a rubber spatula until incorporated. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and then continue folding, just a couple of folds at a time, until the batter makes a figure 8 when allowed to drizzle off the spatula. Check the consistency often with the figure 8 test so that you don’t overbeat. The batter should flow off the spatula and make a figure 8 in a continuous flow without breaking.
- Put the batter into a piping bag. The easiest way to do this is to place the piping bag with the tip down into a large cup or glass. Fold the bag opening down over the rim of the glass.
- Place the shell templates on a baking sheet and place parchment paper on top. Pipe batter slightly smaller than the circles by placing the tip close to the baking sheet and squeezing slightly and then quickly lifting.
- Bang the pan 4 or 5 times against the counter, rotate, beat 4 or 5 more times. Set aside to dry for about 30 minutes. They are ready to bake when the piped macarons form a dry film over the top.
- Bake the macarons for 12 to 14 minutes or until the macarons easily release from the parchment paper. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet and then peel off carefully.
- Make the Pumpkin Spice Buttercream
- Add the butter, cream cheese, and pumpkin puree to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment until smooth.
- Add the vanilla and spices and mix. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined, Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar if needed to reach piping consistency.
- Pair up the macarons so that the sizes match well. Pipe some buttercream on the bottom shell. Top with another shell. Repeat the filling process until you reach the last shell. Macarons are best if they are matured in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
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