Remember a couple of months ago when I turned our favourite brown butter chocolate chip cookie into brown butter chocolate chip macarons? Well friends, we’re turning another favourite cookie into a macaron this week. Say hello to snickerdoodle macarons!
These little treats have cinnamon in the shells and cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top of the shells. After that we’re filling them with a delicious snickerdoodle frosting. These 100% taste like snickerdoodles and I’m HERE FOR IT!
A couple of things to note about adding the cinnamon sugar to the top of the shells. Yes, we’re adding it before we bake them. However, instead of sprinkling it on top right after piping, we want to let these sit for 15-20 minutes, then add it. Cinnamon sugar is a little wetter than other things we typically put on top of our shells so we want to make sure they’ve had a chance to start setting before we add it.
Now for the filling. It’s basically a snickerdoodle in frosting form and here’s how we’re making it.
Unsalted butter gets beaten with brown sugar. We want to really beat it so the butter breaks down the sugar crystals. Not grainy buttercream here, please. Other than that we add our typical ingredients, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and powdered sugar.
Trust me, this is one frosting you don’t want to miss out on!
And that’s it! Everything you love about a snickerdoodle in a macaron. Run to the kitchen and make these snickerdoodle macarons!
Snickerdoodle Macarons
Ingredients
- Macaron Shells:
- 137g almond flour
- 125g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 210g egg whites
- 210g sugar
- Cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling
- Snickerdoodle Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Directions
- Step 1 Macaron Shells:
- Step 2 To start, put the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cinnamon 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. 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 and allow to sit for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of each shell and let rest until the shells are completely dry.. 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 Snickerdoodle Buttercream:
- Step 8 Beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. The mixture should be nice and smooth.
- Step 9 Add in the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and powdered sugar, beating on low for 2-3 minutes, then medium for another 2-3 minutes.
- Step 10 Assembly:
- Step 11 Pair up the macaron shells. Pipe the filling on one half of each macaron pair and sandwich together.
