Nut Free Sorting Hat Butterbeer Macarons

Nut Free Butterbeer Sorting Hat Macarons on a baking sheet

These Nut Free Sorting Hat Butterbeer Macarons are painted gold and filled with butterscotch buttercream and a colored center to determine which of the four Hogwarts houses you are in from Harry Potter. Bite into the cookie to see if you are a Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. These cookies are also gluten free, so they are an allergy friendly addition to your Harry Potter Birthday Party dessert table.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 30

Rest Time 40

Total Time 3 10

Servings cookies (approx.)

Calories 64kcal

Author Meghan

Equipment

digital kitchen scale
Piping bag holder. optional
disposable piping bags
medium round piping tip, such as a #12
Plastic tip coupler, optional
2 macaron mats
2 Baking sheets
Paint palette dedicated to food
food grade paintbrush
disposable transfer pipette

Ingredients

For the Macaron Shells:

126 grams oat flour
126 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites see note
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
90 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
gold food coloring gel

For Painting the Shells:

edible gold luster dust
Everclear, vodka or clear extract
edible gold glitter optional

For the Filling:

1-1½ cups Butterscotch Buttercream see note
1 cup Easy Vanilla Buttercream see note
food coloring gel in red, yellow, green and blue

Instructions

Make the Macaron Batter:

Place a macaron mat on each of 2 upside-down baking sheets. You can also use parchment paper with 1-inch circles drawn on underneath. Set these aside.
Place a medium round tip, like a #12, in a disposable piping bag secured with a plastic tip coupler. Twist the bag above the piping tip and clip it closed with a small binder clip. Fold over the top of the bag and place it in a tall glass or in a piping bag holder. Set aside.
Sift together the oat flour and the powdered sugar in a medium-sized bowl, then whisk to combine them completely. Set this bowl aside.
126 grams oat flour, 126 grams powdered sugar
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high until frothy.
100 grams egg whites
Add the cream of tartar, then slowly add the granulated sugar, one spoonful at a time, with the mixer still running.
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, 90 grams granulated sugar
Add the vanilla extract and gold food coloring gel. Keep in mind that the color of the batter will deepen after the dry ingredients are incorporated. Continue to beat the mixture until the meringue forms stiff peaks. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, gold food coloring gel
Using a silicone spatula, carefully fold ⅓ of the flour/powdered sugar mixture into the meringue. Then add the remaining ⅔ of the flour mixture and continue folding until just before you reach the figure 8 stage. See note.
Once the batter is the proper consistency, transfer it to the prepared piping bag.
Pipe 1-inch circles of batter onto the first macaron mat. Slam the tray down hard on the counter or a table several times to force any air bubbles to the surface. If desired, take a toothpick and pop large bubbles then smooth over the hole left after the bubble pops.
Pipe the batter onto the second macaron mat. You will not fill the entire mat. Repeat the process of slamming the tray and popping bubbles.
Allow the batter to dry at room temperature for 40 minutes, or until the surface of the batter does not stick to your finger when lightly pressed. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300°F.

Bake the Shells:

Bake the macaron shells for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pan once about 7 minutes into the bake. Only bake one pan at at time.
Allow the shells to cool completely on the mats before removing them.
To remove the shells, push up on the mat from underneath to help them pop off. If you have trouble with them sticking, that may mean they are underbaked. Some of the shells in the center of the tray may have a little bit of sticking. Very carefully use a stiff metal spatula to pry them off the mat, taking care not to rip the shell.
After your macaron shells have completely cooled, you can paint them with a gold luster dust suspension immediately or store the shells in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer to paint later.

Paint the Shells Gold:

Add some gold luster dust to the well of a food-dedicated paint palette.
Pour some Everclear or vodka into a small bowl.
Use a plastic transfer pipette to add a few drops of alcohol to the well with the gold dust. Stir it around with a food grade paintbrush to make the gold suspension. You may need to add more luster dust or more alcohol depending on the consistency of the suspension.
Dip the paintbrush into the liquid gold, and then quickly brush it across the surface and sides of the macaron shells. Paint the underneath (flat) side of the shells as well, or at least the perimeter that may not be covered with filling.
As you use the suspension on the macaron shells, you will need to remake more in the same well. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so if you don't use it right away, you will need to add another drop or two of alcohol to get the suspension back to the original consistency.
Because the alcohol evaporates very quickly, the shells will be dry quickly. Sprinkle the shells with edible gold glitter for extra sparkle, if desired.

Assemble the Macarons:

Divide the vanilla buttercream equally into each of 4 small bowls. Tint separately with blue, red, green and yellow food coloring gel.
Transfer each colored buttercream to a disposable piping bag, and secure the openings together with a rubber band. This will prevent the buttercream from drying out until using.
Transfer the Butterscotch Buttercream to a disposable piping bag fitted with a medium round tip or the tip cut off.
Pipe a border of buttercream around the perimeter of the flat side of the bottom shells.
Cut off the tip of each of the colored buttercreams. Pipe a single color into the center of the Butterscotch Buttercream dam. Try to make an equal number of each color.
After all of the bottom macaron shell have been filled, carefully pick up the top by the edges flat side down and place it on top of the buttercream, pressing gently to adhere. Repeat until all of the cookies have been assembled.

Notes

Butterscotch Buttercream recipe HERE

Easy Vanilla Buttercream recipe HERE

I highly recommend weighing the ingredients listed in grams. French macarons are notoriously finicky and require precise measurements.

I recommend using cracked whole eggs, not store bought egg whites.
100 grams of egg whites is the equivalent of the whites from about 3 ⅓ large eggs.

Macaronage: The process of incorporating the dry ingredients into the meringue is called macaronage. I recommend reading about this at America's Test Kitchen and Le Cordon Bleu to familiarize yourself with how the batter should look. This step is critical for the shells forming "feet" properly. You want the batter to flow off the spatula like a ribbon, and when you draw a figure 8 with the batter that flows off, you want it to slowly go back into the batter still in the bowl but not too quickly. For oat flour macarons, you want to stop mixing just before the batter reaches this step.

Storage: Store the assembled cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to several days. If refrigerated, allow the cookies to come to near room temperature before serving.

Nutritional information is only an estimate and will vary based on your ingredients and substitutions. The values for this recipe represent the shells only and does not include the filling in the calculation.

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