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Bourbon Pecan Macarons

I've married these traditional macarons with a bourbon pecan cookie recipe to give this grown-up cookie the ultimate feel of decadence. It's made with browned butter and browned butter pecans and filled with a browned butter pecan filled buttercream. Be sure to wait the full 24 hours before eating them. I promise you they will be well worth the wait!
Prep Time3 days
Cook Time15 minutes
Resting Time45 minutes
Total Time3 days 1 hour
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: French
Keyword: bourbon, browned butter, buttercream, macaron, pecan

Equipment

  • Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment
  • Large Mixing Bowl
  • Hand Mixer
  • Whisk
  • Spatula
  • Pastry Bag or Plastic Bag with ½" Round Tip
  • 2 Cookie Sheet
  • 2 Macaron Silpats

Ingredients

Meringue

  • 3 Egg Whites
  • 25 g Granulated Sugar
  • 25 g Brown Sugar
  • ¼ tsp Cream of Tartar (speeds process for stiff peaks)
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 tsp Bourbon
  • 1-2 drops Butter Extract (optional)

Dry Ingredients

  • 96 g Almond Flour
  • 242 g Powdered Sugar
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon

Filling

  • ⅛ cup Pecans
  • 8 tbs Butter (divided in 2 parts)
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar (more or less to taste)
  • ⅛ cup Mini-chocolate Chips

Instructions

Bourbon Cinnamon Cookie Shell

  • 3 Days prior to baking separate yolks from egg whites. Age egg whites for 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge. Separate eggs when cold.
  • 1 Hour prior to mixing remove egg whites from fridge and allow to come to room temperature. Room temperature eggs will give a better meringue.
  • Measure dry ingredients on a kitchen scale. Measuring cups can be used, but as macarons are notoriously fussy it is best to measure by weight.
  • In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and sift 3 times. Discard any small bit that remain in the sifter. Sifting helps ensure a smooth shell.
  • In a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whisk eggs until foamy.
  • Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, cream of tartar, vanilla extract, butter extract, and bourbon to egg whites to form stiff peaks. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without any of the meringue pouring out. Don't over or undermix. Under=Cracked Top / Over=No Ridges
  • Fold in sifted dry ingredients to the meringue in 3 parts with a spatula. Scrape the bottom center of the bowl and fold to the side of the bowl. Continue folding until all dry ingredients are combined and batter resembles smooth moving molten lava.
  • Transfer batter to a pastry bag.
  • Place silpat on cookie sheet and pipe onto macaron silpat.
  • Rap cookie sheet on counter top 3 times. This release air bubbles and ensures a smooth top.
  • Let sit 45 minutes before baking. Baking immediately will cause the cookie to spread.
  • After 30 minutes pre-heat oven to 300°.
  • Bake for 15 minutes or until legs are well formed. (Only bake one sheet at a time)
  • Remove silpat from cookie sheet and carefully transfer too cooling rack, without disturbing the cookies.
  • While cookie shells cool work on the filling.

Browned Pecan Butter Cream (can be done while resting shells)

  • Brown 4 tbs of butter in a saucepan on low heat until golden with little fleck of separated cream bits.
  • Remove from heat and allow butter to cool to room temperature.
  • Crush the pecans into pieces small enough to fit through your piping tip
  • Add 1 tbs of butter to the saucepan and add the crushed pecans.
  • Brown the pecans in the butter until aromatic. Remove from heat and set aside.
  • After browned butter has returned to room temperature combine with remaining butter and fluff using a hand mixer.
  • Add powdered sugar until desired sweetness is achieved.
  • Mix in buttered pecans and mini-chocolate chips.
  • Spoon into pastry bag.

Finishing Cookie

  • Pipe butter cream into the center of the macaron shells ensuring ample filling so that when top is placed butter cream expands to the edges of the cookie. The ideal amount of filling is equivalent to the height of each shell.

Extra!

  • Gently sift cinnamon over each cookie.
  • Dot the tops of each macaron and place a whole pecan on top.