Spooktacular Macarons with Jessie from @macaronart

Tis' the season for all things spooky!

Satisfy your halloween sweet tooth with these cute, caramel apple flavored macarons.

Made by Jessie Crystle from @macaronart on Instagram, these spooktacular macarons are sure to be the biggest hit at all your halloween festivities!

The tools you'll need:

• Food processor or whisk
• Food scale
• Mixing bowls: 1 large, 3 small
• Spatula
• Stand mixer
• Medium saucepan
• Baking sheet pan (upside down if not flat) 
• Piping bags
• Scissors 
• Design template (downloadable)
• Food coloring
• Thermometer
• Baking mat (parchment, silicon, or Teflon) 
• Scribe

Now that we have all our bases covered on what we'll need for this recipe, let's get to baking!

Ingredients

For the Almond shells:

• 100g Almond flour
• 100g Powdered sugar
• 90g Egg whites
• 85g Granulated sugar 
• 1/2 tsp cream of tar tar
• 1 tsp Amoretti® Natural Tart Apple Artisan Flavoring

For the Filling:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 can condensed milk 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1-2tsp Amoretti® Natural Tart Apple Artisan Flavoring
• 1/4 cup Amoretti® Crema di Caramel Premium Syrup

For the Decorations:

• Royal icing or edible pens

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 300F 
2. Measure and prep the dry ingredients and separate egg whites
3. Whisk the almond flour and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl.
4. Measure out your egg whites and granulated sugar mix into your stand mixer bowl. This will be for our meringue. Whisk together. 
5. Heat up about 2 inches of water in a medium saucepan until it starts to simmer. 
6. Once the water is simmering, place the stand mixer bowl with the egg mixture on top to ensure the water does not touch the bottom of your bowl. 
7. Whisk the egg mixture until it reaches 50C.
8. Carefully remove the mixer bowl and place it on your stand mixer. Add cream of tar tar and start mixing with a whisk attachment on low (2-4). 
9. Once the egg mixture starts to froth, increase the speed to 5 or 6. When the meringue starts to form, add your  Amoretti® Natural Tart Apple Artisan Flavor.
10. Let the meringue form until stiff peaks.
11. Change out your whisk attachment to a flat beater. Add about half of your dry ingredients into the bowl. Let it mix on the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are well incorporated, this happens very fast, about 10-15 seconds. Stop the mixer, and scrape the sides and bottom with a spatula. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until well incorporated.
12. Move the batter into a large mixing bowl, and give it a quick mix to make sure the batter is incorporated well with the dry ingredients. 
13. Using your other small bowls, begin to split your batters into how many colors you need.  
14. Begin to macaronage the batter. This is making sure we mix out any extra air from the meringue, do this slowly. Once you have a lava consistency, stop and place in piping bags. 
15. Prepare your piping station by preparing your baking pans, baking sheet, and template. Make sure you have a paper towel nearby to rest your open piping bags, your scribe, and scissors.
16. Begin piping your characters, using your scribe to manipulate the batter. 
17. Let each design element of your character dry before adding another design element for the 3D effect. 
18. Once you are finished with all your character, let it rest until all layers are matte or dry to the touch. I like to use a flashlight to check between the cracks and make sure none of it is still wet or shiny. 
19. Bake your macarons between 12-18 minutes. You will know your macarons are ready by gently tapping the top of the macaron with your finger and seeing if it does not move independently from its “feet”. If it is still wiggling, bake in 1-2 minute increments. Let rest. 

Directions for filling:

1. Using a hand or stand mixer, whisk the room-temperature butter until light and fluffy. 
2. Add half of the condensed milk and whisk until well incorporated. Add the last half and whisk again. 
3. Add your flavoring extract and whisk. 
4. Place the buttercream into a piping bag with a decorative tip. 
5. Place the Amoretti® Crema di Caramel into a piping bag. 

Decoration and filling:

1. Decorate your shells with royal icing or edible pen. 
2. Fill your macarons with a ring of buttercream then add the Amoretti® Crema di Caramel into the center. 
3. Top your shells and store them in an airtight container in the fridge overnight. This assures the texture to mature fully for optimal enjoyment. Once out of the fridge, let them thaw at least 10 minutes prior to consumption.  

Extra tips and insight: 

1. Don’t put too much pressure on the outcome! Have fun and enjoy the process. 
2. The macaronage process is something you have to practice and sense the more you create macarons. You will learn what the batter looks like when it's over-mixed and under-mixed. 
3. Get to know your oven well. Use an oven thermometer because the numbers on the screen may not be accurate. If it is top heat or bottom heat, is it both? Which level do you apply your oven rack to receive even heat distribution? Practice by making a few batches and recording the results. 
4. Store your macarons in an airtight container in the freezer to help the texture of your macarons last for up to 2-3 months! Let thaw to room temperature before consuming.