Carrot Cake Macarons For The Win!

Ok, so it's almost Easter and carrots are so cheap right now so look forward to at least one more carrot confection before Sunday. I knew that I was going to make something with carrots but I did not want to make a boring carrot cake, so I knew I wanted to make carrot cake macarons and I wanted to try the Italian method of making macarons. I think they turned out great.

Carrot Cake Macarons

I topped them with crushed pistachios and I painted some with gold luster and rimmed those with crushed pistachios. They taste like a slice of carrot cake without having to use a fork. I really liked the matte shells that this method produced. The Italian method is a little more tedious than the French method, but the results are more stable and reliable. This recipe also makes about 3 dozen or 36 sandwiched macarons. Lets get started. Using the Italian method I believe you have to use a stand mixer.

Carrot Cake Macarons

Macaron shells

• 120g of room temperature egg whites  (divide them into two bowls 60g each)
• 150g of almond meal
• 150g of powdered sugar
• 150g of granulated sugar
• 50g of water
• 35g of granulated sugar
• 1 tbs of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
• about 4 g of dehydrated carrots (ground) 
• crushed pistachios for garnish (optional)

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz room temperature cream cheese
• 5 oz room temperature unsalted butter
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla extract

Hey here's how you can make the dehydrated carrots

I sliced 2 medium carrots thinly and placed them on a parchment lined pan

I then turned the oven on 250F and let the carrots stay in for about 1 hour. I checked every 30 minutes. They came out looking like this

I then placed the carrots in my spice grinder (if you have a food processor you can use that) to make them into a powdered form.

This is two whole carrots

Lets's start making the carrot cake macaron shells

First take your powdered sugar, almond meal, ground carrots, cinnamon, and nutmeg and run that through a fine mesh sieve

I then take a whisk and mix all the ingredients after they have been sifted, then just set aside.

If you've followed any of my other macaron recipes, you will notice that everything is the same at this point, this is where the deviations begin. 

Take 60g of your room temperature egg whites and mix it into your dry ingredients. This is going to form a thick almond paste

This is also the step where you add in any food coloring. I used a few drops of a peach, I wanted them sort of pastel orange.

You can see how the paste changed colors (remember when baking macarons the color will lighten some during the baking process)

Now take your other 60g of egg whites and place them in your stand mixer on low until they start to get foamy.

When your egg whites get foamy add in the 35g of granulated sugar slowly and mix on medium speed until soft peaks form

Keep your egg whites beating on low speed 

Now take your 150g of granulated sugar and 50g of water  and place it in a saucepan on medium heat. 

Let this boil until the temperature on your thermometer hits 240F

Carefully take your sugar syrup and pour it down the side of your stand mixer ( in a slow steady stream) while the egg whites are whipping. 

Continue whipping this mixture until your bowl cools down and stiff peaks form so about 10-15 minutes

you should have a very glossy, shiny merengue, flip the bowl over and it shouldn't move

Now take 1/3rd of the egg whites and fold it into your almond paste

Don't worry about being gentle, this is just to moisten the paste again, add in the rest of the egg white mixture and continue folding

You will know when your mixture is done when it ribbons off of your spatula in a continuous motion.

Take your macaron batter and place in a large piping bag with a round tip attached.

On a parchment lined tray pipe out 1.5 inch circles, tap your tray on the counter top once finished piping. I then placed crushed pistachios over the top of each shell for garnish 

Preheat your oven to 300F

Let them sit on your counter to create a skin (I like to let them rest at least 30 minutes, normally an hour as I clean up the kitchen) You will know they are ready when you touch the macaron shell and nothing sticks to your finger. The macaron will also turn a flat matte finish.

Place your macarons in the 300F oven for 14-16 minutes (I rotate the tray at the 7 minute mark)

I then take them out of the oven and off of the baking tray and place them on the counter top still on the parchment paper to cool 

After a few minutes I like to match up the macaron shells of similar size and get them ready to be filled with the cream cheese buttercream

Matching up the macaron shells

In the meantime while the macaron shells are cooling I make the filling.

First take your butter and blend that with the paddle attachment until it turns smooth and pale in color.

Next add in the cream cheese, vanilla extract and one cup of powdered sugar and whip until smooth

It should look like this

It's so smooth

Now place your cream cheese butter cream in a piping bag with a round tip and fill one side of a macaron and top with another cookie

look at these cute carrot cake macarons

I also decided to brush some macarons with gold luster and then place pistachio crumbs around the sides

I love a little gold luster on top

They turned out great and of course they taste amazing. I placed all of these in the fridge to mature and will be enjoying them for easter.

So yummy, I had to try one, I love the spices and carrot flavor, It really does taste like carrot cake. I will add this to my macaron flavor list. You should really try this out.

so yummy