Halloween Macarons
These macarons are the perfect addition to any fall spread. Filled with classic fall flavors, these delightful little cookies are sure to be a favorite.
I love macarons, despite being the finicky little devils that they are. I’ve usually been able to produce decent batches, but I would never say I’ve got the shells down. For Halloween this year, I wanted to make some fun Halloween themed macs. I decided to go with pumpkins, bats, and Jack Skellington. I’m still working on my shapes, I’m thinking about investing in mats with macaron stencils on them already, but I think they turned out pretty cute. I colored them using this white icing color and these color concentrates*. It took a decent amount of the whitening color and black dye to get my macs to the shade I wanted, but the orange didn’t need very much dye at all. For the faces, I used an edible marker and royal icing for the bats’ teeth**. I wanted these macs to embody fall, so for fillings I used pumpkin spice for the pumpkins, cookies and cream for my bats, and salted caramel for Jack.
Unfortunately, all these shells ruffled out slightly at the bottom, and they were slightly hollow. I’m thinking that’s due to over-mixing them, and possibly not letting them sit out long enough. My white macs only sat out for 15 minutes, and my black and orange macs sat out for about 30 minutes. While they still developed the skin, I normally let them sit out for at least an hour. Something else to keep in mind, if you do make smaller shells like I did, is to adjust your bake times accordingly. They will need just a few less minutes to bake. Some of my smaller white shells browned on top, taking away from that crisp white color I wanted the skeleton heads to have.
Despite my baking issues, these still turned out super cute and tasted amazing. My nieces and nephews almost wiped out the entire batch in one go, and they kept coming back asking for more. These are such a fun treat to make and will definitely add that festive touch to any fall dinner or party you plan on having this season.
*I added the color right before the macaronage process. Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated into the meringue, split the batter into different bowls for each color. Add the dye then begin to macaronage. If you are only doing one color, add the dye into the meringue when you’ve just reached soft peaks.
**Wait until your macs have cooled completely before attempting decorations. I tried drawing a few faces before they were completely cool and the tops cracked. I also had hollow shells, so if you’re shells are full, this may not be as big of an issue.
Original Recipes:
Macaron Shells by Bake Toujours. Follow her on Instagram for more amazing macs.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling by Pies and Tacos
Cookies and Cream Filling by This Silly Girl’s Kitchen
Salted Caramel Filling adapted from The Spruce Eats. I originally made this caramel for the galettes. To make it a filling, I whipped the leftover caramel until it reached a buttercream-like consistency.