Nut Free Wicked Macarons

These Gluten Free and Nut Free Wicked Macarons are filled with vanilla buttercream. They are painted with phrases from two famous songs from Wicked: defy gravity and popular.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 30

Dry Time 40

Total Time 2 10

Servings cookies (approx.)

Calories 108kcal

Author Meghan

Equipment

2 macarons mats
2 half sheet pans
1 small binder clip
Round tip like #12
disposable piping bags
Piping bag holders
digital kitchen scale
Decorative star tip like #6B
Food safe paintbrushes

Ingredients

For the Green Macaron Shells:

63 grams oat flour
63 grams powdered sugar
50 grams egg whites see note
⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
45 grams granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
green food coloring gel

For the Pink Macaron Shells:

63 grams oat flour
63 grams powdered sugar
50 grams egg whites see note
⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
45 grams granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
pink food coloring gel

For the Buttercream Filling:

10 tablespoons salted butter
1 dash table salt
5 ounces powdered sugar see note
1 tablespoon heavy cream
½ tablespoon vanilla extract

For Optional Decorations:

black food coloring gel
green edible glitter
pink luster dust
pink edible glitter
Everclear or vodka

Instructions

Make the Green Macaron Shells:

Sift together the oat flour and powdered sugar into a medium sized bowl, then set it aside.
63 grams oat flour, 63 grams powdered sugar
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy, then add the cream of tartar. With the mixer still running, add the granulated sugar one spoonful at a time.
50 grams egg whites, ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar, 45 grams granulated sugar
Add the vanilla and green food coloring and continue to beat the whites until the meringue has formed stiff peaks.
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Fold ⅓ of the flour/powdered sugar mixture into the meringue. Then, add the rest of the dry ingredients and continue to fold and carefully press the batter against the sides of the bowl until the batter reaches just before the figure 8 stage. See note below on "macaronage."
Transfer the batter to the prepared piping bag. Remove the binder clip, if using, to allow the batter to flow into the tip.
Pipe 1-inch circles of batter onto the first macaron mat.
Slam the tray down on a flat surface several times to cause air bubbles to rise to the surface. Use a toothpick or scribe tool to pop any large bubbles and smooth the batter over the hole.
Repeat this process with the second tray. You will not fill the entire second tray.
Let the shells dry at room temperature for 40 minutes. While they dry, preheat the oven to 300°F.
Bake the shells for 12-15 minutes, rotating once after 7 minutes. I recommend baking one tray at a time.
Remove the pan from the oven. Allow the shells to cool on the mat completely before removing them.
To remove shells from the mat, carefully push up from underneath the mat to release the shell. If the shells stick, this means they needed a little longer in the oven. Carefully pry them off the mat by sliding a thin metal spatula underneath them.

Make the Pink Macaron Shells:

Make sure the mixer bowl and whisk attachment have been cleaned thoroughly with soap and warm water. Dry completely, then wipe down with a dry paper towel to ensure no grease residue remains. Grease will affect proper meringue formation.
Repeat the same process for making the green shells but use pink food coloring gel instead.

Decorate the Shells:

Since the cookies will be sandwiched, pair them up by size. You can do some with both shells pink, both shells green, and some with one green and one pink.
To add some shine to the pink shells, dissolve some pink luster dust in a few drops of clear alcohol like Everclear and paint the pink shells with the suspension.
To add glitter to the shells, dry brush on some green edible glitter on the tops of the green shells and pink edible glitter on the pink shells with a food safe paintbrush. You can also make a suspension of the edible glitter in Everclear and wet brush the shells.
Add a drop of black food coloring gel to the well of a paint palette. Place a shell in the center. Use a very thin food safe paintbrush to dip in the black, remove excess by brushing on the palette, then paint on the words "defy gravity" on the green shells and "Popular" on the pink shells. You can leave some shells blank for variety.

Make the Buttercream Filling:

In standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter and salt at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. NOTE: If using a hand-held mixer, increase mixing times by at least 50%.
10 tablespoons salted butter, 1 dash table salt
Add powdered sugar and beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds.
5 ounces powdered sugar
Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add heavy cream and vanilla extract, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds.
1 tablespoon heavy cream, ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice. This step is important to create a smooth and whipped buttercream.

Fill the Macarons:

Fit a piping tip such as a #6B large open star tip into a piping bag. Add the buttercream to the bag. Pipe a mound of buttercream into the center of the bottom shell.
Holding the top shell by the edges, place it on top of the filling and carefully press together. You can press straight down, or twist when you press down to change the direction of the pattern the buttercream will make.
Repeat with the remaining pairs until all of the macarons are filled.

Notes

I highly recommend weighing the ingredients listed in grams with a digital kitchen scale. French macarons are notoriously finicky and require precise measurements.

Use cracked whole eggs, not store bought egg whites. 100 grams of egg whites (to make both green and pink shells) is the equivalent of the whites from about 3⅓ large eggs.

"Macaronage," the process of folding the dry ingredients into the meringue, is the trickiest step of macaron making. The batter will be too thick if you under mix it or too thin if you over mix it. I refer you to two resources with visuals as to when the batter is ready to be piped: America's Test Kitchen and Le Cordon Bleu.

5 ounces of powdered sugar is about 1¼ cups.

Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days to allow them to mature and improve in texture. If refrigerated, allow the cookies to come to near room temperature before serving so the buttercream can soften. Unfilled shells or assembled macarons can be frozen.

Nutritional information is only an estimate and will vary based on your ingredients and substitutions.

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