Caramel Apple Macarons with Cinnamon Apple Buttercream are the perfect fall treats. They’re so fun to make and easy to decorate. Get creative with them!
Happy Thanksgiving week! I’m so glad the holidays are here. My dear friend and neighbor Stephanie (who has a fun crafting & homemaking blog called All Artful) and I have been bitten by the macaron bug. You guys know how much I love macarons, and I love them even more now that I know how easy they are to make! I love coming up with fun flavors, shapes, colors, and decorations. Macarons are very customizable. We’ve been having a blast dreaming up all sorts of fun holiday themed macarons. I cannot tell you how excited I am to share these Thanksgiving macarons with you today! These photos nearly make me squeal with delight.
Just look at our lil’ turkey! This one’s a chocolate macaron shell with a smooth, creamy, peanut butter buttercream filling. YUM! I could just eat him up.
And here’s our chocolate acorn, isn’t he a beauty? This macaron is a chocolate lover’s dream-come-true with its chocolate acorn-shaped shell, milk chocolate ganache filling, and generous topping of chocolate shavings.
Oh, snap. This was our absolute winner. Our Caramel Apple Macaron. We made bright green and red vanilla bean macarons, filled them with a cinnamon apple butter buttercream frosting, dipped them in caramel and rolled them in crushed candy bars.
I. DIE.
If you’ve never had a macaron, don’t wait another second. Macarons are not hard at all, they just require a little precision which can easily be accomplished with a simple kitchen scale. I use mine all the time! Whip up these holiday macarons and treat yourself to a fabulous dessert, right away. You’ll be so glad you did.
How to Make Caramel Apple Macarons
All you need is 110 grams of almond flour, 200 grams of powdered sugar, and the contents of one vanilla bean. Process these in a food processor until thoroughly combined.
(For a more thorough step-by-step photo tutorial, check out my Halloween French Macarons post.)
After processing, move flour mixture into a large bowl. If you’d like to give your macarons a little color or flavor, now’s your chance! You can add up to 1 teaspoon of powdered food coloring or 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder for chocolate macarons.
So sparkly! I loved this green. I find Wilton’s Color Dust powdered food coloring at Michaels and Hobby Lobby.
After you’ve colored or flavored your macarons (or just leave plain for vanilla), whisk to combine, and then sift to make sure your dry ingredients are completely free of lumps.
Next, using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk 90 grams of egg whites until foamy, then add 25 grams of sugar and continue whisking until you get stiff peaks.
Add the egg whites to the dry ingredients — here’s one of our chocolate batches.
Using no more than 50 strokes, gently combine with a spoon, folding the batter on top of itself until you reach a smooth, shiny consistency.
Add your batter to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. We used a Wilton #2A, found on the cake decorating aisle at Walmart. Here are all of our macaron batches — we made four! — one red, one green, and two chocolates.
Pipe 1 to 1.5 inch circles onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
I find it much, much easier to keep my macarons all the same size if I make myself a template! Using the following macaron template, trace circles onto the back of a sheet of parchment paper (curly side up — you can hold it down with magnets) then turn the paper over (curly side — and marker side — DOWN) before piping. Here are the templates we used for our Thanksgiving macarons:
Circle Macaron Template
Acorn Macaron Template
How cute did these acorns turn out??
We covered the top half with a little chocolate ganache, then sprinkled on beautiful chocolate curls.
For more thorough step-by-step photos of our chocolate curls, check out Stephanie’s photos and recap of our day.
So yum! These were stuffed with a rich, decadent, supremely chocolatey milk chocolate ganache. Death by chocolate!
Next up were our turkeys!
What We Used to Decorate Our Turkeys
- Candy corn, of course
- Hersey’s Drops for the head
- Pretzels for the feet
- Cookie Icing and Black Sprinkles for the eyes
- Black sparkle gel to hold everything together
- And finally, our turkey’s little red gobble-gobble (what IS that thing called?) — I was originally looking for some heart-shaped sprinkles, and even though the stores are decorating for holidays ridiculously early these days, they still didn’t have any Valentine-themed sprinkles. But Stephanie found these Disney Princess sprinkles at the grocery store just last week. They include sprinkles shaped like a gold crown, Cinderella’s glass slipper, and Snow White’s red apple. The red apple worked perfect! We even stuck the stem into the candy corn beak for a little extra security.
Now for our piece de resistance… The Caramel Apple Macaron. It all starts with this Cinnamon Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting from Cupcake Project.
It is un.real. My mind was blown. Steph and I were literally dying over this frosting. If you don’t do anything else, at least promise me you’ll make this frosting. Add it to your bucket list.
Okay, so not only did we fill our cute apple red and green macaron shells with ridiculously good cinnamon apple butter frosting, but we also dunked them in caramel…
And topped them with crushed Snickers. And Reese’s Cups. And Butterfingers. And roasted, salted peanuts.
I die.
Dunk!
Keep your caramel warm, we had to reheat ours at least once during our macaron making process.
Let the excess drizzle off before topping, or you’ll end up with a mess.
Now top! The flavor combinations are totally up to you!
We used Snickers here. Gently press the caramel-covered macaron into your crushed candy bars of choice and lift up.
Wow. I still cannot get over this combination of cinnamon, apple butter, brown sugar, caramel, and chocolate. I wish I could make one of these for every person in the world.
To make our caramel apple macarons look a little more like caramel apples, we also dunked a few like this…
Mmm…
Half and half!
And rolled in crushed candy bars.
It’s caramel apple macaron pops!
Here’s our caramel apple macarons, all lined up and ready to be topped.
There was some serious deliciousness going on in the Kevin & Amanda kitchen this day.
Cinnamon apple butter buttercream frosting… I love you.
How amazing is this little tin of caramel apple macarons! Wouldn’t these be so fun to give (and receive!) as Christmas gifts?
Oh mama. Here’s our Reese’s topped caramel apple mac.
And another topped with Butterfingers. I think this one turned out to be my favorite.
I could just eat you with a spoon little chocolate peanut butter turkey!
Oh my gosh. Little flock of macaron turkeys. Cuteness.
Here’s another look at our acorns.
I seriously loved our chocolate curls!
Caramel apple macarons, on top of beautiful apples.
Here’s a peek at each deliciously decadent layer of our caramel apple macs. Reese’s cups. Caramel. Chewy red macaron. Cinnamon apple butter buttercream. Chewy red macaron.
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! Hope you had as much fun reading about these macarons as I had making them. I only wish I could give each and every one of you a big tin of them for Christmas! But they are so easy (and so delicious. and delicate. and unique) I think everyone should give them a try. All the recipes we used to create these macarons are below. Enjoy!
Be sure to check out Stephanie’s photos and recap of our macaron making day!
Print
Caramel Apple Macarons with Cinnamon Apple Buttercream
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Prep Time: 30 minutes -
Cook Time: 25 minutes
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Total Time: 55 minutes
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Yield: 24 Macarons 1x
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Category: Dessert
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Method: Oven
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Cuisine: French
Prep Time:
Yield:
Category:
Method:
Cuisine:Description
Caramel Apple Macarons with Cinnamon Apple Buttercream are the perfect fall treats. They’re so fun to make and easy to decorate. Get creative with them!
Ingredients
Macaron Shells
- 90 grams aged egg whites
- 110 grams almond flour
- 200 grams powdered sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 25 grams white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cocoa powder or powdered food coloring (optional)
Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Milk Chocolate Ganache
- 8 oz milk chocolate chips
- 8 oz heavy cream
Chocolate Curls
- 3 oz semi sweet chocolate
- 1 tbsp shortening (Crisco)
Caramel
- 1 (11-ounce) package Kraft Caramel Bits
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Cinnamon Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Macaron Shells
- Up to 5 days before making macarons, separate the egg whites, cover loosely with a paper towel, and store in the refrigerator. The night before making macarons, set them out on the counter to come to room temperature.
- The next morning, place almond flour, powdered sugar, and the contents of a vanilla bean into a food processor and process until fully combined. Move to a large bowl and whisk in one teaspoon of cocoa powder for chocolate macarons, or one teaspoon of powdered food coloring for colored macarons. Leave plain for vanilla macarons. Whisk to combine, then sift and set aside.
- With a mixer, whisk the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. Add in granulated sugar and continue whisking until the the egg whites have stiff peaks. Add the egg whites to the flour and fold to incorporate until the mixture is just smooth, using no more than 50 strokes. Fit a pastry bag with a large round tip, and fill with macaron batter. Pipe approximately 1-inch circles onto a baking sheet lined parchment paper. Let the batter rest on the pan at least 30 minutes before baking, to form a strong skin to help keep the macarons from cracking in the oven.
- Bake the macarons at 280 degrees F for 15-20 minutes directly in the middle of the oven. To test for doneness, gently touch the top of a macaron to make sure it’s dry. Then gently try to lift the macaron from the parchment paper. If it comes away pretty easily, they’re done. If it doesn’t come up and the top breaks away, they need to cook longer. Keep checking on them every two minutes until the bottom is dry. Once removed from the oven, allow the macarons to rest on the pan for 10 minutes to finish cooking before trying to remove. Cool completely before frosting.
For the Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
- Place the butter, sugar, peanut butter, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
For the Milk Chocolate Ganache
- Measure ingredients by weight. Place chocolate chips in a bowl, then bring heavy cream to a simmer, and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until completely smooth. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour or until it reaches a thick, frosting consistency.
- To top our chocolate acorn shells, I warmed part of the ganache up in the microwave just a tad to thin it out a bit so it would spread smoothly over the top of the macaron.
For the Chocolate Curls
- Combine chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl and heat until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Turn a clean sheet pan upside down and pour melted chocolate over the bottom of the pan, spreading thin with a spatula. Freeze for 5-10 minutes until chocolate is hardened. Use a small metal spatula to scrape chocolate off the pan forming curls. If chocolate is too hard to curl, let rest at room temperature for 1 minute. Keep chocolate curls in the freezer until ready to use, they do best when they are really hard and frozen!
For the Caramel
- In a double boiler, melt the caramel with the cream. Add the vanilla and salt and stir until smooth.
For the Cinnamon Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting
- Melt the butter in a sauce pan, then add the apple butter and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Continue to boil for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Add the milk and cinnamon, still whisking constantly, and return to a boil, then remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth and it reaches a frosting consistency.
Approx how many dozen does this recipe make?
I love your adorable comments and macarons, Amanda! Wow! How do you make your macarons so perfect?? I piped mine really carefully but they turned out all blobby… at least they had feet, I guess. :( I’d LOVE to be able to make mine look like yours… or you can just send me some! :D
Sorry, but this started out by suggesting these are quite easy! Doesn’t seem so to me! Besides, I don’t use the metric system–can you translate these figures please? They DO look creative & I love macaroons, but I’m afraid this recipe is too complicated for me. HELP!
When you weigh the ingredients, you have them in a bowl. Do you weigh your bowl first to know what it weighs, then add the required amount of almond flour/powdered sugar, etc.?
Thanks!
Thanks Amanda!! :) I found the vanilla beans at Walmart… I guess I over-looked them the first time or they were out. I ended up getting the flour at a health foods store. Ah, I’m so excited to try these in a few days!!! :D
These are ADORABLE!
Can you make these the night before?
Thanks,
Lindsay
Hi Amanda,
This macarons are so ca-ute!!! I’m definitely going to make this for Thanksgiving this year! I have a couple questions though– how many macarons does this recipe make? &Where can you buy the almond flour and vanilla beans? I’m from a small town- we only have a Wal Mart & Kroger!
Thanks!! :)
Hi Taylor! I’ve seen vanilla beans at Walmart with the McCormick’s spices. The almond flour I buy is made by Bob’s Red Mill, and you may be able to find it on the flour aisle, look and see if they have a special section for like, organic or specialty grains, with all the Bob’s Red Mill stuff. :) I know I’ve seen it at Target and Publix, but I can’t remember if I’ve seen it at Kroger or Walmart! : If all else fails, you can make your own almond flour by putting plain slivered almonds (without the skin) in the food processor and pulsing until the almonds are pulverized into almond flour :) Just don’t turn the food processor on and leave it on, or else the heat will activate the oils in the almonds and you’ll get almond butter instead of almond flour! Hope this helps! :)
I googled ‘decorated macarons’ & found your site. AMAZING! I am in luv. Was going to spend the day tomorrow making macarons & now how some more ideas. Thanks for such awesome photos & details.
In my quest of finding macaron recipes to try out, I came across your blog. I noticed that in weighing your ingredients {egg whites, powdered sugar, etc.} on the scale, that you don’t take into account the weight of the bowl that you are measuring the ingredients in – so for instance, your egg whites may say 110 on the scale, but isn’t it actually less because the bowl adds weight? From your blog, it is obvious that you are an amazing cook & baker and obviously know way more than I do…I would appreciate your feedback on this as I am new to weighing out ingredients and am trying to perfect making macarons! Thank you so much!!!
Absolument parfait, c’est très beau et original
Wow!!! i’m blown away and salivating,mmmmmm!!!
These looks super yummy…Mercier Orchards is about 15 mins up the road from our house! We love their apple butter, along with pretty much everything else they have:)
So apparently you have some sort of mac magic since you think these are easy! Mine were a disaster. None had feet, they spread out to thin crispy cookies, and they all cracked. Any chance of getting a video demo of your macaronage? Pretty please? Or just send me some? :0)
So adorable. Sadly, I’m still afraid of macarons, but one of these days I will try it. Bookmarking now….
I am amazed every time I visit your blog. I learn something new every time. You are so incredibly talented with recipes and photography – my favorites. You also are full of knowledge about other things but reading about food and looking at awesome pictures are 2 of my addictions.
These are so adorable. Now I am going to attempt making macaroons.
Ooohhh!!! I can’t wait to go out and buy ingredients to make these. My friends will just love it! Thxs!!!!!!!
I LOVE the turkey ones. So adorable. I tried to make turkey cookies but the didn’t turn out that well (pictures on my blog). I’ll definitely have to try these next year :o)
Okay, so I think these may be one of the best things you’ve ever made/posted about! the caramel apple macarons… I mean.. WOW I can’t wait to try to make some.
Is it just me, or do these cookies seem anything but easy? It’s a 40 step post- the pictures are lovely, but don’t make me think this would be an easy task. also, baking with a food scale is too precise for me- would definitely be a major fail if I tried it. Cute cookies though- but I think I’d leave it up to the local bakery
This is probably the most epic and thorough macaron post I’ve ever seen…ever. Seriously, kudos. The little cake pops are also super adorable! One day I’ll attempt to veganize the macaron, but until that brave day comes, at least that apple butter buttercream looks simple! :)
Greetings from UK….. love, love, love your blog – especially all the yummy recipes!
Love the pretty photos! I’m always taking pics of things I make now… Thanks to you! Can’t wait to try these macaroons… I need to find a good food scale. Happy Thanksgiving!
So this may come as a shocker but I have never had a macaron… and besides seeing them online I have never seen one in real life. What do they taste like? Is it like an oreo cakester consistency? I’m clearly out of this universe. At any rate they look amazing and I am especially fond of the green ones :)
Good question- I am clueless as well
Oh these all look so delicious and oh so cute! The pictures are awesome and Iagree the turkey is adorable!!
Amanda the turkey is too cute! Great work… your attention to detail astounds me every time!
Love the turkeys! We are on the same wavelength – I did pumpkin macarons that looked like little pumpkins last month. The Martha Stewart Show featured them so maybe you saw them. Are macarons just the funnest? Happy Thanksgiving Kevin and Amanda!
Man I so wish I had time to make these this week! I’ll have to bookmark it to get a jump on them next year! Gorgeous as usual! By the way, just got back from Memphis last night and hit up the cupcake place in Nashville. Unfortunately they were out of a lot of stuff by the time we got there but the chocolate one was good!
Okay, these are so darn cute, Amanda. I would just sit and stare at all of them…and then eat about five of the caramel apple ones.
MMMMMMMMM! “No I couldnt really. Really. No I really couldnt…….just have one that is”. They look so delicious. Especially the caramel ones. Love caramel.
you got me at the caramel apple!! YUM love the pictures!!
OMG, Amanda! You never cease to amaze me we your wonder recipes! Applebutter is one of my absolute favorite things….I’m going to have to try this frosting, even if I don’t get around to trying it as part of a macaroon.
This is one of the best blog posts on macarons I have seen! I’ve been dying to try these but I keep shying away!
LOVE the turkies! I want one of each!
Mandy’s Macarons needs to open ASAP!
I’m kinda obsessed with these….looks amazing! I bet they taste even better :)
You’re absolutely crazy, Girl! This was one huge project! So cute though!!
OH MY LORD! I wish I was there…
Seriously, could these GET any cuter?! SERIOUSLY!
wow these are adorable!!! and such perfect macarons :)
Wow.. so perfectly pretty..
Oh my goodness!! So cute! I need macron lessons…I can’t hang.
Ok I need a macaron right now!
Amanda, I’m so glad you posted these recipes!! I visited Sucre last weekend when I was in NOLA, per your suggestion and fell in LOVE with macarons. It was my first experience with them. Unfortunately it wasn’t in the budget to take some home after sampling so many of their other treats (which I don’t regret!!) I’ve been craving them ever since. You make this look so easy. I’m handy in the kitchen and I really think I could do this!! I found almond flour the other day at Whole Foods….so I’m excited to try these!
Thanks for the step by step tutorials and pictures!
you just forced me to put a digital kitchen scale on my christmas list because how can I not try to make these. i need these in my life.
I love macaroons! And I have never seen so many beautiful creations on one page with a macaroon. Caramel Apple? OMG! And loving the Turkey, too!
One of these days… I will need to try my hand at making macaroons with my daughter, the baker.
Wow… I’ve never had a macaroon. Nor do I have a kitchen scale. Nor do I believe I have the patience to make those. Can I just come over to your house? ツ
There all amazing. Love the Turkey !
Love the creativity today! Thanks to your pic of a macaron bitten into in your halloween post, I finally tried one: http://www.carlyklock.com/2011/11/kate-spade-macarons.html
…and now I’m obsessed. Embarking on macaron fun myself in my kitchen this Sunday!
These are so gorgeous. You are really creative with macarons. I’ve been sitting on this page since about 9 am this morning, but only because I got interrupted by small children and never got a chance to comment!
These are so cute! I can’t wait to try them!!! Love the photos!!
these look fantastic! so cute and festive! Happy Thanksgiving!
These are so cute – and make me want to get over my fear of making macarons!!
These are like macarons on steroids!
These have to be the cutest macarons I’ve ever seen!!! Happy Thanksgiving :)
How fun are these little cuties?! That’s it……next time we get together I want a macaron party!! Too cute!
That’s a lot of work and creativity, but you still made it look easy enough. I’ve been intimidated to try, but I think this post (and some free uninterrupted time) and I cold do it. Maybe something for Christmas. Love the acorn for thinking and of course love the apple one with those flavors. Very joyful post.
Wow, those are a lot of macarons! The turkey macarons are hilarious – what fun!
Wow! Such a fabulous post. I really need a caramel apple mac now.
Wow…so creative! They all look too good to eat!
Yum!! Those look amazing!!!
wow, these look great! looks like a lot of work but you made it seem so easy peasy! the apple cinnamon one sounds yummy!!
So who got to take the bite out of that red one to get that photograph??? ;) Caramel apple with apple cinnamon buttercream ….I’m jealous of that person for sure! Those look so FUN and so delish and the more I read, the more I’m convinced I might actually be able to make macarons :)
You’re going to need to open your own macaron business soon, girl!
WOW! I love macarons! Thanks for the recipe!
These are so incredibly adorable!
So much fun! I’m new to your blog and I just wanted to say, wow, you take incredible photos!
These look so delicious! Want some now!
Amazing! I will have to give these a try sometime…when I have a bigger kitchen!
i read this whole thing with my jaw dropped. I gotta try it. WOW!
Amanda these photos are spectacular! As always!
The little turkeys are so cute. Almost too cute to eat. Almost :)
Thank you for the step by step; that is so time consuming as a cook to stop and start, stop and start, pick up camera, repeat…but thank you!