Gimmemy Gimmemy Gimmemy Apple Pie Maaacs 🙂

I had a chance 3 weekends ago to make a batch of Apple Pie Macarons for a friend’s birthday (her friends and family contributed all her favourite foods and desserts). As with all Macaron-making, I was hoping and praying throughout the process that the “Diva Desserts” would turn out alright and oh how they did! I certainly could not have done them without the help of some darling girls (you know who you are *hugs*)

This recipe came to me during the height of my Macaron Making Madness season – poor R had many a breakfast of macaron shells that did not make the cut, is that true love or what? Inspired by various foods that I’d had before, I’d toyed with a couple of different flavours such as Mango Sticky Rice (Coconut shells with Mango Jam), Spa Esprit Tea (Lemon Shells with Honey Ginger filling) and the all-time favourite combi of Green Tea with Azuki (Red Bean) filling 🙂 And along came the idea of Apple Pie – Cinnamon Shells with Apple Caramel filling and me like!

In my opinion, Macaron Making needs a monkey see monkey do learning approach – but if that’s not available get a book such as I love Macarons by Hisako Ogita. In any case, here’s the Apple Pie Macaron recipe for you.

Apple Pie Macarons

Equipment
Kitchen Scale
Electric Mixer
2 large bowls
2 medium bowls
1 disposable Piping bag
1 3cm piping tip
Spatula
Medium Saucepan
Wooden Spoon
Measuring Spoons
Baking Trays
Baking Parchment
Dish Towel

Ingredients
Shells
240g almond meal¹
180g icing sugar²
140g/ approx 4 egg whites, aged³ [Approx 4 egg whites]
60g – 80g caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
pinch of salt

Apple Caramel Filling
3 Granny Smith Green Apples (diced into small cubes of about 0.5cm)
4 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp lemon zest

Method

Prep Work
1. Trim tip off disposable piping bag (about an inch off the end).
2. Insert piping tip and twist bag at the tip and place in a tall container. (Twisting the bag keeps the mixture from oozing out when the mixture is placed in the piping bag.)
3. Line baking trays with baking parchment (trimmed to size). If baking trays are made of a thinner material, you might want to double up the trays to prevent the macarons from overheating which could cause cracking.
4. This has worked for me – working in a non-humid environment cos humidity kills the shells. If you don’t have an air conditioner in your kitchen, make sure it’s not raining and the fan is turned on 🙂

For the Shells
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Sift almond flour into a large bowl. Sift the icing sugar and cinnamon powder into the same bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk egg whites with the electric mixer until foamy and add sugar gradually. Once all the sugar is added whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
4.  Now we’re going to have to work fairly quickly from this point on. Fold in half of the icing sugar and almond flour mixture into the egg whites gently with a spatula, remembering to incorporate the mixture at the bottom.
5. Once the mixture is mixed evenly, add the remaining icing sugar and almond flour mixture and fold it in thoroughly. Until a magma-like consistency is achieved i.e. when you lift the batter up with the spatula it drips almost continuously and does not break away too quickly after the initial drop.
6. Transfer the mixture into the piping bag. Twist the top of the piping bag/ clip the top of the piping bag with a bag clip to prevent it from oozing out the top while piping.
7. Pipe circles of batter of roughly 3cm in diameter onto the baking tray with circles piped at least 1 cm apart and in alternating rows.
8. Once the batter is piped, place the dish towel on the counter top and while holding the 2 furthest corners of the baking parchment on the baking tray, rap the tray onto the countertop lined with the dish towel, repeat on other 3 sides of the baking sheet. This knocks out excess air in the shells further preventing the shells from cracking during baking and evens them out, the discs of batter after this process will flatten out.
9. Turn the temperature of the oven down to 150°C, then place the baking tray on the 2nd rack of the oven and bake for 10 mins. This is when I start to pray 🙂 By 10 mins macaron feet should have appeared.
10. After 10 mins of baking, turn the tray around and bake for a further 5 minutes.
11. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the macarons to cool.
12. Remove the macaron shells from the baking tray – they should come off fairly easily. Set them aside.

For the Apple Caramel Filling
1. Melt butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan.
2. Add apples and lemon zest.
3. Simmer for approx 20 minutes until mixture reaches a thick gooey consistency, while stirring occasionally to ensure that the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
4. Set aside to cool.

To Assemble
1. Match same-sized macaron shells and take about ½tsp of the apple caramel filling and place it on one macaron shell.
2. Sandwich the filling with another macaron shell. Repeat for all other macarons.
3. Enjoy!

Notes:
¹ Almond meal is also known as finely ground almonds. Packets of almond meal are available at Phoon Huat in Singapore in various sizes.
² It’s important to purchase pure icing sugar, I usually use SIS as other brands add corn flour to their icing sugar as fillers.
³ Aged egg whites are required when making macarons because the process reduces the water content in the egg white. Egg whites can be aged 2 ways, the regular way or the cheater-bug way, being the lazy cook that I am, I always opt for the cheater-bug way.
How To:
a) Cheater Bug Way – Place the egg whites in a microwave-safe bowl and pop them in the microwave and zap on high for 10 seconds (no more no less). Remove any wisps of cooked egg white that appear.
b) Regular Way – Place the egg whites in a bowl and leave them in a cool and dry corner of your kitchen to age overnight (I can hardly do this cos I don’t usually plan to make macarons 2 days in advance)