WATERMELON MACARON RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
- ⅔ cup almond flour
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 large egg whites at room temperature
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Buttercream filling:
- 1½ cups unsalted butter
- 4 oz cream cheese, cubed
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon watermelon flavoring
- Optional- black decorating gel for seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper and prepare a piping bag by adding a large, circle pastry tip and set aside.
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour together in a large bowl and set aside. You should have a very fine powder with no lumps.
- Next add the room temperature egg whites and the sugar to stand mixer with a whisk attachment and mix on the 4 setting for 3 minutes. I use a timer app on my phone to actually time the whisking.
- Increase the speed to a 7 setting and whisk an additional 3 minutes.
- Increase the speed one more time to 8 and whisk 3 more minutes. Your whites should be very thick and fluffy.
- Add vanilla and food coloring to the mixture and whisk for one more minute on a 10 setting.
- Add the almond flour mixture to your egg whites and use a spatula to incorporate everything into a nice smooth merengue. I find about 35 stirs with a spatula is about right. You don't want to overmix.
- Add the mixture into a piping bag fitted with round tip and pipe 1 inch circles on your parchment paper.
- Bang the cookie sheet on the counter to remove any air bubbles.
- Preheat oven to 280 degrees and set cookies aside for 20 minutes.
- The top of the cookie should be slightly sticky to the touch after 20 minutes- this prevents them from cracking in the oven.
- Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven and let cool.
- To prepare the filling:
- Mix buttercream and cream cheese in a stand mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add confectioner's sugar ½ cup at a time until it hits the consistency you like. I use about 3 cups.
- Add 1 teaspoon of watermelon flavoring and mix well.
- Pour into a piping bag fitted with a round tip.
- Pipe a generous dab onto one cooled cookie and sandwich with a second cookie.
- To add the seeds as I did, simply pipe a tiny bit of black decorating gel on top of the pink cookie. Do this just before serving.