Okay, when you were a kid, were you secretly jealous of Winnie the Pooh eating fistfuls of honey all the time? Or was I just a weirdo? Anyway, I took that childhood obsession of all things sweet and created these amazing Honey Macarons with a walnut filling and cinnamon buttercream. They are to die for!
Honey Macarons and More Unique French Macaron Flavors
You guys know I’m always trying to come up with unique French macaron flavors. I spend most of my time thinking about what macs I’m going to make next. I thought up these macs a few weeks ago and knew I had to try them.
Have you had that honey-walnut cream cheese from Panera? That stuff is like crack. I wanted to incorporate those flavors into this mac, so I decided to make a honey walnut crumble and a cinnamon frosting.
You guys, once I tried these my mind was blown. The classic combo of honey and cinnamon paired perfectly with the warmth from the walnuts and the almond flour.
Easy French Macarons Recipe
Making macarons at home isn’t as tough as you think. Thankfully, I have a step-by-step blog post that teaches you how to nail your macaron shells every time. I also have tons of useful tips on my Instagram.
Ingredients for Honey Macarons
You probably have everything that you need for these honey macarons on hand in your pantry. To get started, you’ll need the basics for macarons: egg whites, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, almond flour, and vanilla. Then, for the fillings, all you’ll need is walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, honey, and vanilla.
How to Make Cinnamon Buttercream
This cinnamon buttercream is so easy and delicious. I use my tried and true American Buttercream recipe for this one. If you’ve been around for a while, you know it’s the best buttercream recipe around! But I’m partial I guess. All you have to do is add 2 tsp cinnamon and boom you’re in creamy cinnamony heaven. Make sure you read the blog post because I have all kinds of useful tips and tricks!
Make Fancy Desserts!
Macarons make for a fun and kinda fancy dessert! If you’ve never made macarons before, impresse your friends by making them for your next party. They’ll be shocked you didn’t get them from your local French bakery. If you want a few other fancy flavors to try out, here are a few of my favorite:
Strawberry Pink Drink Macarons
Honey Walnut Macarons with Cinnamon Buttercream
Equipment
- baker's half sheet pans: high quality baking sheets with rimmed edges
- KitchenAid stand mixer
- parchment paper or silpat baking mats (with macaron template)
- oven thermometer
- piping bag
- Wilton Piping Tip #12
- food scale that will measure in grams or ounces
- scribe (a sharp, pointed tool), or a toothpick
- digital minute timer
Ingredients
Sweet Mac Shop Macaron Shells Ingredients
- 160 grams egg whites room temperature
- 88 grams granulated sugar
- 256 grams powdered sugar
- 205 grams almond flour
- 1 tsp. clear vanilla extract
American Buttercream Ingredients
- Yield: enough for two batches of shells
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter Let sit on counter for 30 minutes.
- 250 grams powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
Honey Walnut Crumble Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts pulsed in food processor until small pieces
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Sweet Mac Shop Macaron Shells Instructions
- This is Barb’s famous recipe for macaron shells. Please read through carefully before beginning. Cook time: 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 285 for steel pans, or 300 for aluminum pans. Preheat for at least 10 minutes.
- Measure out your granulated sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
- Measure powdered sugar and almond flour together, then use a sifter to combine. This will make them smooth and lump-free. Set aside.
- Place your bowl on the surface of your food scale. Hit “tare” button to zero out the weight of the bowl. Now measure the room temperature egg whites into the bowl of your KitchenAid stand mixer.
- Add the clear vanilla extract.
- Place bowl on mixer stand (this recipe is for the KitchenAid mixer), and attach the wire whisk beater. Set timer for one minute. Turn mixer to Speed 4, and slowly add sugar to egg whites, shaking it in a little at a time during that first minute.
- When timer goes off, set mixer to Speed 6, and set timer for 2 minutes.
- When timer goes off, set mixer to Speed 8, and set timer for 1 and 1/2 minutes (90 seconds). Coloring may be added just before this last mixing. Egg whites should look silky, yet stiff enough to hold the peak.
- Now we’ll make the macronage: blend in dry ingredients, by moving a flexible spatula around the bowl, then cutting down through the middle, making sure to scrape the bottom for the flour and incorporate it into the meringue. You know you are done when the batter rolls off the spatula in a continuous ribbon. Batter will be thick…but can flow like a ribbon.
- BAKER’S NOTE: I have several videos of making macronage in my Instagram Highlights.
- Insert Wilton #12 tip into the small opening of your piping bag. Scoop the macronage into the bag, filling only half-way full, leaving room to twist the top closed in order to keep the batter from spilling out the top. Pipe the macrons by applying pressure until the batter flows out and just reaches the inner rim of the marked circle on your mat. Immediately release pressure and swirl tip to incorporate point back into the center of the cookie. See my tips on Instagram Highlights.
- NOTE: if you will be using parchment paper — search for online — then download a template of circles and place underneath your parchment paper. You’ll remove this before baking.
- Once the full pan is piped, gently (or aggressively–no judgement here) bang the pan down onto the counter to release air bubbles. I usually place a towel on the counter before banging the pan. Use your scribe or toothpick to pop any large bubbles, in order to create smooth shells.
- PREP FOR BAKING, METHOD ONE: Place your parchment paper or silpat mat on the bottom of an upside-down baker’s half sheet. Pipe your circles. Let rest about 5 minutes, bang (see above) then place them to bake in a pre-heated oven.
- PREP FOR BAKING, METHOD TWO: Place your parchment paper or silpat mat on the inside of a baker’s half sheet (like normal). Pipe your circles. Let rest until your finger can glide across the top of the mac without stickiness, often up to 30 minutes. Bang (see above), then place them to bake in a pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Once out of the oven, DO NOT — I repeat — do not remove from pan until they are completely cooled.
- This recipe yields 36-42 completed cookies (about 72-84 shells).
American Buttercream Instructions
- Place butter in bowl of mixer, and attach paddle flat beater. Mix on medium speed until butter breaks up and is starting to look smooth. Add vanilla, cinnamon and salt; mix for 30 seconds until combined. Add in heavy whipping cream. Measure powdered sugar on scale. Slowly add to the mixer, 1 cup at a time.
- PRO TIP: Start the mixer speed back up slowly after adding the cup of powdered sugar, otherwise, pull out the mop.
- Once ingredients are all mixed, turn the mixer to medium high and set timer for five minutes.
- Flavor or color the buttercream to your preference. We make a huge batch of plain, then add flavor and color depending on the amount of buttercream we need. Making one large batch saves time in the long run.
Honey Walnut Crumble Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In stand mixer with flat paddle beater, mix together chopped walnuts, sugar and cinnamon. add vanilla and honey; mix until incorporated mixture will be wet).
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, Let completely cool before storing in an airtight container. If mixture still is too clumpy place a handful in a bag and smash to break up the pieces so they’ll crumble nicely into the mac center.
- To assemble, pipe a circle of cinnamon buttercream around the outside edge of the lower macaron shell. Fill with with walnut crumble, then top with another macaron shell.
Sounds delicious! Wondering if a cream cheese buttercream would put this over the top?!