My love for baking pretty much all started when I was scrolling through YouTube and saw someone’s French macaron tutorial. I became extremely curious because I had no clue you could make such a gourmet, difficult-looking cookie at home. I thought only professional pastry chefs could make them in commercial kitchens. I watched lots of tutorials for a couple days and then decided to give them a try. They turned out quite good for a first-timer (just a little over-mixed and crunchy from over baking)! But I wanted them to be perfect, and that’s how my 3ish year journey to find the most consistently successful recipe started. After about a year of successful Italian meringue macarons, they started to crack and never turned out right. I almost gave up (I wanted to eventually have a home business). With little motivation, I tried many many more recipes until I finally found the most consistent recipe for me. I still use that recipe to this day, but it isn’t my own so it wouldn’t be right for me to share it here. I started an Instagram account to try and kick off a small business, but only got one customer over an extended period of time. That dream quickly ended but I continued making macarons once in a while for special occasions like birthdays and Halloween.
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Everyone seems to LOVE macarons, I’ve never heard anyone say they dislike them. I mean, what is there to dislike about them? They look so adorable, they’re naturally gluten and dairy free, you can fill them with practically anything, the texture is crisp and chewy at the same time, they’re the perfect size, and won’t make you feel sick. Just last week, I spoke to a friend about food allergies/sensitivities and she said something about how she’s always wanted to try macarons but can’t eat almonds/tree nuts. That immediately struck a thought that I’ve had once or twice before. Can I make nut-free macarons?? I got so excited and experimented the very next day. I ground up some raw pumpkin seeds/pepitas and used it as an almond flour substitute. They look slightly different/speckled because the seeds are green, but other than that, they turned out perfect! Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and they have feet, a very important macaron characteristic! After that, I looked up nut-free macarons and, to my surprise, found pumpkin seeds macaron recipes! I guess I’m not the first but figured I’d still share mine with more detailed instructions. They have a different flavor, so if you’re not a fan of sunflower or pumpkin seeds, you can cover it up with with lots of bold flavored fillings like orange chocolate ganache or espresso buttercream. I enjoy the unique flavor and think it would pair very nicely with certain, more subtle flavored fillings. Overall, I’m pleased with how they turned out and I can’t wait for nut-free people to try and make their own macarons! I hope you will give this recipe a try, the cookies will bake successfully, and that you will gift some to your nut-free friends!
The link to the coffee grinder my family uses is here.
My metric cooking scale is linked here.
Raw pumpkin seeds linked here.
Raw sunflower seeds linked here.
My favorite gluten and nut free gel food coloring is linked here.
Silpat baking mats linked here. I consider them a necessity when making macarons.
Nut-free Macarons (gluten-free, dairy-free)
Equipment
- Metric cooking scale (linked above)
- Electric coffee grinder (linked above)
- Electric hand mixer
Ingredients
- 75 grams raw sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds/pepitas
- 75 grams powdered sugar
- 66 grams egg whites (about 2 medium-large eggs)
- 60 grams sugar
- Food coloring if desired my favorite is linked above
- Filling of choice (ganache, buttercream, etc…) dark chocolate ganache has always been the most complimented flavor for me
Instructions
Please read through the instructions to get a little preview of what to expect before making!
- Add a shallow amount of water to a small saucepan. Heat the pan on the stove over medium-low heat while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Add the raw sunflower/pumpkin seeds to a clean coffee grinder (mine is linked above) and blend until an almond flour-looking consistency forms. Careful, I almost made seed butter once by over blending! Add all the seed flour along with the powdered sugar to a sieve and sift the two together into a bowl. Add the chunky seed bits back to the coffee grinder and blend until fine. Sift the twice ground remains and repeat as necessary, until almost all of it goes through the sieve (you can discard some if there's only about a teaspoon worth of chunky bits).
- Add a splash of lemon/lime juice/vinegar to a large metal bowl and rub all over the inside with a paper towel to clean out any grease. Place the cleaned bowl on a gram scale and zero it out. Carefully crack and separate the egg whites to get their weight measurement (save the yolks in a small airtight container for some other recipe). If the yolks burst, you have to start this step over because even if the meringue whips decently, the macarons will not be the same. Once the egg whites are measured, zero out the scale and carefully measure out the sugar in the same bowl. Bring the bowl to the now slightly simmering saucepan. Grab a spatula, place the bowl on top of the saucepan, turn off the heat, and mix with the spatula constantly until the sugar is dissolved (to check, dip a finger in and rub the mixture between two fingers. If you feel little sugar granules, continue heating until you can no longer feel them).
- Remove the bowl from the saucepan, place it on a heat pad/towel, and beat on high speed with an electric hand mixer until glossy, fluffy, and stiff (takes about 7+ minutes). Add in half of the sifted seed/powdered sugar mixture and gently fold together using a spatula. Combine by cutting the spatula across the bowl towards you, scrape the spatula around the bowl, and cut through the center of the batter again. Repeat until the meringue and dry ingredients are just combined. At this point you can add food coloring if you wish. Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold together using the same technique.
- Once combined, continue folding the same way by cutting across the batter twice before scraping around the sides. If you are confused, there are many tutorials on how to do the "macronage" but the most important thing to remember is to not overmix. Once the batter looks slightly looser test and see if it's ready by scooping plenty on your spatula and letting it flow off and back into the bowl. If it plops off in clumps, continue mixing. If the consistency is thick yet flows off nicely without breaking (sort of like smooth, slightly runny peanut butter), it's perfect, stop mixing. It's better to have the batter too thick then too thin. Please be patient with mixing as it is the most difficult part of macaron making. It's okay if you mess up, it took me about a year to know what to look for. They will still taste good even if they don't look perfect!
- Fit a piping bag with a medium-sized circular piping tip, twist the bag right above the tip (so no batter will come gushing out), place the bag (tip side down) in a large cup, and fold the edges over the rim. This makes it easy to transfer the batter. Pour/scrape the batter into the bag. Place printed macaron templates on a baking sheet if needed (I always use them) and cover with parchment or silpat mats (I highly recommend silpat, linked above). Pipe all the batter into equal sized, distanced circles. Gently bang/tap the tray on the counter 2-10 times (less if you're batter was on the runnier side and more if your batter is thicker and you can see tracks from the piping tip). Optional: Pop and fill in the small air bubbles using a toothpick. Let the shells dry at room temperature for 30 minutes- 1.5 hours, until you can gently touch them without any residue on your finger.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (149 C). Carefully remove the printed templates by sliding them out from underneath the parchment/silpat. Bake the macarons for 11-13 minutes. Do not open the oven anytime before the 11 minute mark! After 11 minutes, gently touch a shell and if the top portion moves away from the "feet" (base) bake for one more minute. Touch test again and if the top and feet hold together, they are done. Remove from the oven immediately. If your macarons don't seem fully baked but are starting to brown ever so slightly on the bottom, remove from the oven immediately. Let the shells cool completely at room temperature.
- Once they're completely cooled, carefully peel them off the parchment/silpat. Pipe some filling on the bottom of one shell and carefully sandwich another shell on top. Repeat with the remaining shells. And you're done! It's a lot of work, but they're so fun, cute, and yummy! Hope yours were successful and enjoy!
- At the end of the day, store any leftovers in an airtight container and place them in the fridge. I actually prefer day-old macarons, because they become slightly chewier, less crunchy, and develop more flavor.
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