Brace yourself, friends! This week we’re grabbing a jar of cookie butter along with some biscoff/speculoos to make these incredible cookie butter macarons!
Now, I know we can all probably eat cookie butter with a spoon. It’s just that good. But let me tell you – cookie butter sandwiched between two macaron shells? It’s the stuff of dreams. Dreams, I tell ya.
If you’ve never had biscoff/speculoos, I have one question for you – what rock have you been living under?! These are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee. They are a thin, crispy, spiced cookie (think cinnamon & ginger) originating in Belgium. These cookies are one of the many reasons I want to go to Belgium once we can travel again. Honestly, the list of places I want to go gets longer by the day. Delta Airlines actually serves these cookies on their flights. They have a good thing going!
But back to these cookie butter macarons.
Cookie butter has been around for a few years and I’m not really sure why it’s taken me so long to bake something with it, but it was worth the wait.
Now, could you grind up your own cookies, mix in a few other ingredients and make your own cookie butter? Yes. But let’s be real, macarons take enough effort and you can buy a perfectly delicious jar from the grocery store, so why not just do that? It’s also easier on your knees if you’re like me and can only do so much standing around.
Grab your cookie butter and your cookies (you’ll need them for sprinkling on top) and make these macarons ASAP. You’ll LOVE them!
Cookie Butter Macarons
Ingredients
- Macaron Shells:
- 275g almond flour
- 250g powdered sugar
- 210g sugar
- 210g egg whites
- Brown gel food colouring (optional)
- 3 crushed speculoos cookies, for sprinkling
- Filling:
- 1 jar Cookie Butter
Directions
- Step 1 Shells:
- Step 2 To start, put the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and blend thoroughly. Sift into a bowl to ensure there are no lumps.
- Step 3 In the bowl of a stand mixer (make sure it’s clean and dry), beat the egg whites until foamy. Slowly add the sugar, about 2 tbsp at a time, beating on a medium speed. Once the sugar has dissolved, increase speed to medium high and beat until a thick glossy meringue forms. Add in the food colouring, beating to combine. The mixture should form stiff peaks and you should be able to tip the bowl over your head with none of the mixture coming out.
- Step 4 With a large, flat rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of almond flour/powdered sugar mixture into egg whites until combined. Repeat until all of the almond mixture has been added. Fold to combine until you see no streaks of almond flour in the batter. The batter should be pretty fluid, a lot of people describe as a lava-like consistency. It should run smoothly off the spatula when you pull it out. This part comes with practice. Once you know the consistency, you’ll just be able to feel when it’s ready.
- Step 5 Pipe the batter into circles onto parchment or silicone lined baking sheets. Bang the tray a few times on a table to remove air bubbles, sprinkle on the crushed cookies and allow to sit for about 30 minutes before baking. To see if they’re ready for baking, touch your finger to them. If you get batter on your finger, they need to rest longer.
- Step 6 While resting, preheat your oven to 300°F with a rack placed in the lower third of the oven. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 15-18 minutes (this depends on your oven, my old one was fine at 15 minutes, this one needs 17-18). The shells should cool completely before you remove them from the parchment/silicone.
- Step 7 Assembly:
- Step 8 To assemble, pipe the cookie butter onto one half of each macaron pair and gently sandwich together.
- Step 9 Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Allow to come to room temperature before eating.
