Hello and welcome to another blog post! Hold tight because this recipe is one of my greatest creations to date. My boyfriend’s father is a pecan lover. He often tells me how my desserts would be better with nuts, and his passion for pecans really got me thinking about different ways to incorporate them. Of course, I love baking macarons, so I thought about turtle macs. Sure, they’re not too original, but I decided to put my own spin on them, and I am obsessed with these turtle macarons! My secret is that I swapped the almond flour in my normal macaron recipe for a 50/50 blend of pecan flour and almond flour for these shells. I wasn’t sure what the turnout would be, but it worked perfectly! I am ecstatic with how these turtle macarons turned out, and you’re sure to love these too!
How do I Make the Perfect Caramel for my Turtle Macarons?
Caramel can be a bit tricky. My best advice is to stir your caramel as little as possible. Stirring can create clumps that are difficult to dissolve and can create a lumpy caramel sauce. I have also tried adding the butter before the cream, but it has seized my caramel, and I have found that adding the cream before the butter is the way to go. This caramel will be a bit thicker than a normal caramel sauce because you do not want it to be super runny for the filling. Because this caramel is a bit thicker than a caramel sauce, you may need to warm it up a little in order to fill your shells using a piping bag. This is okay, and will still give you a delicious result in the end!
Can I Use Chocolate Chips for my Chocolate Drizzle?
Chocolate chips are not ideal for a chocolate drizzle because they have a stabilizer in them which helps them to hold their shape when heated. This is not ideal for a chocolate drizzle because melted chocolate chips will not be runny enough to get the desired drizzle. If you have no other chocolate besides chocolate chips, there is an amendment you can make in order to achieve the ideal drizzle. To make the chocolate more runny, you could add about a teaspoon of coconut oil to your melted chocolate chips. This will alter the flavor a bit if you are not using refined coconut oil. Regardless, refined or unrefined coconut oil will work to thin out your chocolate, give you the perfect drizzle, and be absolutely delicious!
Turtle Macarons
Ingredients
For the Macaron Shells:
- 3 Egg Whites 100 grams
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar 100 grams
- 1/2 cup Almond Flour 50 grams
- 1/2 cup Pecan Flour 50 grams
- ¾ cup Powdered Sugar 100 grams
For the Caramel:
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
For the Topping:
- 2 ounces Chocolate melted
- 1/4 cup Whole Pecans
Instructions
For the Macarons:
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. For best accuracy, trace 1-inch circles onto the paper. Flip it over so the side that was drawn on is on the bottom and will not touch the food side.
- In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the almond flour, pecan flour, and powdered sugar, set aside.
- In a small or medium sized bowl, combine the egg whites and granulated sugar. Place over a pot of boiling water to form a double boiler. Whisk the mixture until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixture is warm to the touch and frothy. This will take 4-6 minutes.
- Take off the heat and using a hand mixer, whip the egg whites until you achieve stiff peaks. This will take 4-10 minutes.
- Once you have stiff peaks, pour in the sifted almond flour, pecan flour, and powdered sugar mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients into the meringue in a “U” shaped motion. Continue folding until the batter becomes “drippy” and you can consecutively form a figure “8” in the batter. Youtube tutorials are very helpful for determining when your batter is just mixed enough, and when it is overmixed.
- Once the batter is totally mixed, fill a piping bag with the batter. The piping bag should have a ¼-inch circle tip, or something around there.
- Pipe macaron circles onto the parchment paper on the baking sheet. If you drew circles on it, follow the outline. If you did not, try your best to make them the same size.
- Once all of the macarons are piped, bang the tray on the table top hard. You want to make sure all of the air bubbles are out of the macaron shells, so you want to bang them at least 10 times to make sure there are no hidden bubbles.
- Once you have hit the air bubbles out of the batter, the tops should be fairly flat. Carefully pat down any points that might have resulted from piping them, but they will probably resolve themselves in the drying stage anyways.
- Next, preheat the oven to 310°F and allow the shells to dry for 20-40 minutes until the tops are not sticky when touched. While the shells are drying, you can make your curd and buttercream.
- After the shells have dried, bake the shells in the preheated oven. Rotate them after 5 minutes, of baking, and allow them to bake for a total of 16-20 minutes depending on your oven.
- Once the macarons are baked, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool before filling.
For the Caramel:
- In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, caramelize the sugar over medium heat. Try not to stir it too much or else your caramel could crystallize, instead pick up the pan and swoosh the caramel around in there as a way to move it around the pan.
- Once the caramel reaches the desired amber color, add the heavy cream. Whisk constantly. The mixture will bubble and try to solidify, keep whisking until it becomes smooth again. Add in the butter and whisk until incorporated.
- Pour into a bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature, or until just warm. Once cooler, add to a piping bag and fill the macaron shells. If the caramel is too stiff and cold, heat it up a bit in the microwave so it is pipe-able. Allow the filled macaron shells to set in the fridge for about 10 minutes before adding the topping
For the Topping:
- Melt chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals until runny. Dip the bottom of a pecan in the chocolate and stick it on top of the filled macarons. Use a spoon or fork to drizzle the chocolate over the filled macaron shells. Let set in the fridge for 5-10 minutes until the chocolate is hardened and the pecan is adhered to the top of the shell. Enjoy!
Follow me on Instagram @BAKINGWITHLEMON and hashtag your posts #BAKINGWITHLEMON if you make one of my recipes! I adore seeing you guys get creative with baking!
