Lucky Charm Macaroons for St. Patrick’s day!
Well happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
This year I really wanted to try something new but still keep it real cute and festive. So I figured I hadn’t made any macaroons in a minute so why not put a little twist on my ol’ favorite. Insert these St Patrick’s Day Lucky Charm Macaroons.
I decided to make the cookie just the same as you would any macaroon. With a ton of almond flour and powdered sugar. But to keep these fun, I added a bit of cereal milk to the butter cream in the center of each cookie. Then topped them with some of the actual cereal marshmallows and they came out amazing!
A few tips for making macarons that I always follow:
- Blitz the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor before mixing. This grinds down the powder even finer so you get a smooth finish with meach macaroon.
- Whip the egg whites until you get soft peaks. This take a couple of minutes so really don’t try to rush this. If you do, you end up with a batter that will spread. Then your cookies will turn out flat. Trust me, I’ve been there.
- Steep the milk for the buttercream in the cereal of your choice. This makes the buttercream add so much flavor to each macaroon.
- To make the lucky charm macaroons taste even more like the real deal, add a few pieces of cereal to the center of each cookie. If you don’t like lucky charms, mix it up and use cinnamon toast crunch or any of your other favorite cereal.
- I always use a silpat with macaroon outlines to pipe onto. This allows me to make uniform macs that will all line up once I put them together.
The Marshmallow Middle
The process of making these macaroons is pretty time consuming but if you have the patience, it will seriously be worth every minute. I plan on doing a step by step tutorial post in the future on how to make the perfect macarons but in the meantime, I figured I would post this here.
These St. Patrick’s Day lucky charm macaroons make for the best treat but the real surprise is each have some of the actual marshmallow in the center. If you want to try out different flavors, try mixing it up by adding a different cereal to your macs. All you need to do is play around with the flavors in the buttercream frosting. The cookie can stay the same but the buttercream is where all of the flavor comes from. If you want to play with other flavor macarons, try one of the following:
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch Macarons
- Reese Puff Macaroons
- Salted Caramel Cheerio Macaroons
If you love these Lucky Charm Macaroons:
Check out these other recipes of mine:
Lucky Charm Macaroons
These macaroons get all of their flavor from cereal milk. Topped with actual cereal marshmallows and you have some amazing Lucky Charm Macaroons.
Equipment
- Candy thermometer
- Macaroon Baking Sheet
- Piping Bag
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Scale for measuring out ingredients
Ingredients
Macaroon Cookie
- 100 g egg whites (about 3 large)
- 140 g almond flour
- 160 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp food coloring (or if using gel a few dots)
- extra lucky charm cereal for topping
Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 5 egg yolks
- 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp milk soaked in cereal
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Start by making your cookie
- Mix almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor and blitz it 10-15 times to make the flour even finer.
- Sift the almond/powdered sugar mixture into a large bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Mix on low one minute, then medium another minute, until you reach high speed. Slowly stream in the granulated sugar. Continue mixing until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
- Once you've achieved stiff peaks, add in the food coloring and vanilla and mix on high again about 30 seconds to another minute.
- Using a spatula fold in one third of your egg white mixture into the dry ingredients, being careful not to overwork the whites. You don't want them to lose their air bubbles. Next fold in another third and finally the last bit of egg whites. At this point your batter should look and move like lava. The true test is to see if you can use your spatula to pick up some batter and draw a figure 8 in the bowl, without the stream of batter breaking.
- Place the batter in a piping bag fitted with a #4 round piping tube (or any similar round piping tube) and pipe circles onto a silpat lined baking sheet. I use a baking sheet that has circles already printed on it for reference but if you don't have one, use a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Tap the baking sheet on the counter a few times to get rid of bubbles. Then let the macs sit for 15-30 minutes while the oven preheats.
- Bake at 300 degrees F. for 12-15 minutes. Rotate the tray around minute 7 for best results. Allow the tray to cool completely before removing from the oven.
To make the buttercream
- Make a bowl of lucky charm cereal with milk and place to the side to soak.
- Mix sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat over high to bring to a boil.
- Place egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk until thick and foamy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Monitor the sugar water syrup until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F. Once it has reached that temperature, with the stand mixer on low speed, stream the syrup into the egg yolks. Turn mixer back to medium high and continue mixing until the bowl is cool to the touch.
- Add butter into the mixture one tablespoon cube at a time and completely incorporating until the next tablespoon. Add in the vanilla, milk soaked cereal and salt. Mix until completely incorporated. Also adding in any food coloring here if you want the buttercream a different color.
To Assemble
- Pipe your buttercream into half of the shells. Then place a marshmallow or two (or three) onto the buttercream. Form a sandwich with the other half of the shells. Place in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The longer you let these sit in the fridge, the tastier!
Notes
NOTES:
- The Meringue should be whipped into really stiff peaks. So don’t get nervous here, whip those bad boys until the peaks can easily stand on their own!
- Use a scale to measure your ingredients. I know I threw a lot of kitchen equipment at you in this post, but trust me when I say the scale is the most important one. I was contemplating using US measurements for this recipe but when I had attempted this in the past, they never came out good. So trust me when I say, the imperial system works best here.
- For flat tops on each of the macs you really do need to sit and sift your almond flour powdered sugar. I wish this was a step that we could all skip as my arms always get tired here but trust me, you will end up with chunky clunky macs.
- Fold in the meringue. Be careful here, don’t just stir it in, you need to be patient and fold. (please tell me you know the scene from Schitt’s creek where they fold) If you don’t know how to fold, keep an eye out for when I do my step by step mac’s post or maybe just check out this youtube video.
- If you over bake your cookies that’s no problem. Don’t freak out! You can just brush the backs of the cookies before assembling with some milk and it will soften them right up!
Nutrition
Calories: 92kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 7mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 4IU | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg
