Salted Maple French Macarons with Maple Syrup Italian Meringue Buttercream (made with no raw egg whites)

"Mum, these macarons smell so yummy!!!" said my boy as his nose was sniffing a tray of freshly made salted maple macarons on our dining table.

At the back of my head, I saw my boy reaching for a macaron and heard some nibbling. Strangely after a minute or so, it was then totally silence...

"Hey... Don't eat all the macarons!" I said. Then, I turned back and saw my son lying on the floor.

"Hey, sweetie! Are you ok?" I was feeling very concerned.

"Mum, your macarons are really good and so I fainted," my boy replied.

Seeing what my boy did can really make me laugh and smile. It is really a nice feeling being appreciated.

Salted maple French macarons with maple syrup Italian meringue buttercream 

As always, I used the Italian meringue method to make my macaron shells.

Combine both mixture together and pipe into circles.

I don't have any maple salt and so, I made mine with fleur de sel plus maple extract.

After baking...

I found this grade B maple syrup in a specialty shop and use it to make the maple buttercream.

Instead of using raw egg white, I have meringue powder to whip this buttercream

Yum! This maple buttercream is so sweet-smelling, smooth and fluffy!

Pipe a generous dollop of cream on each shell and sandwich it with another.

This is one of the macarons that make my son fainted :)

Here are the recipes that I have used to make my salted maple macarons with maple syrup Italian meringue buttercream.

This is the Always-Successful-Italian-Meringue macaron recipe that I always use. It is mostly adapted from here including what I have also learned at William Angliss

Makes about 18 macaron or 36 shells
(number can vary depending on the sizes that you made)

100g almond meal (ground almond)
100g icing sugar
75g egg whites, divided into 2 portions
100g caster sugar
25ml water
a few drops of colouring or flavoring or decorations - I mixed a few drops of maple extract with a pinch of fleur de sel and sprinkle the maple infused salt on the macron shells

Preheat the oven to 150°C (NO fan forced).

Combine almond meal and icing sugar and sift them three times or more and set aside.Using an electric mixer, beat one portion of egg whites at medium low speed at first for about 10 mins. While beating, combine water and caster sugar in a small saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and cook the sugar water syrup to 118°C but not over 125°C.

Increase the mixer speed and continue to beat the egg whites while pouring syrup into the egg whites slowly in a steady and fine stream. Continue beating until the meringue is glossy and near-stiff peaks. Allow the meringue to cool to about 40°C.

Place almond meal-icing sugar mixture in a mixing bowl and mix in the remaining portion of egg white to form a thick paste. Add a drop or two of any flavouring or colouring that you desired in the almond mixture if you wish to have your macarons coloured or flavoured.

Fold in half of the cooled meringue first into the almond paste, scooping it up from the bottom of the bowl until the mixture is well-combined. Then, fold in the rest of the meringue into the almond mixture until the mixture is well-combined again.

Continue to mix in order to "deflate" some fluffiness of the meringue in the mixture and this step is usually referred as "Macaronner". In the book, I love Macarons by Hisako Ogita, it suggests scooping the batter from the bottom and turn it upside down for nothing more or less than 15 times but I like to gauge this stage by the look of the batter. I reckon it is ok when it looks firm and dripping slowly from a spoon.

Attach a 1 cm tip (I used Wilton tip 1A) to the pastry bag. Place the pastry bag, tip down, inside a cup or container and pour the macaron batter into it.

Pipe out the batter onto baking tray lined with silicon mat in circles and any shapes that you like. Gently tap the baking sheet firmly against flat surfaces to allow the batter to settle.

Sprinkle small pinches of maple infused fleur de sel on the piped batter and allow them to rest at room temperature, uncovered, for 5 mins. Bake for 15 mins or until dried and slightly crisp. Note: My oven doesn't have bottom heat function and had to bake for another 5 mins at 130°C with NO fan forced to get the bottom of the macarons crisp.

Allow macarons to cool on baking mat as they peel off easily only when they are completely cooled.

Salted Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream made with no raw egg white mostly adapted from King Arthur Flour and Food 52

1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup, preferably B grade.
12g meringue powder*
30ml water
pinch of salt
10g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces

*No meringue powder??? No worries!
According to this website, you can substitute the meringue powder and water with one egg white.

Bring the maple syrup to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the syrup reaches 118°C on a candy thermometer (soft-ball stage) but not more than 125°C

While the syrup is cooking, combine the meringue powder, water and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat mixture on medium low until foamy. At this stage stage, increase beating speed to medium high and add sugar gradually while the mixer is running and beat until mixture is stiff.

With the mixer running, pour hot syrup down side of bowl into meringue in a steady stream. Leave the mixer beating at medium low speed until the mixture cools to room temperature (about 25°C).

Once the meringue is cooled, change the whisk attachment to paddle attachment. Beat in butter a few pieces at a time. Beat until smooth. If it looks curdled at any point, keep beating until smooth.

To assemble:
Transfer buttercream into a piping bag. Pipe dollops of cream onto the macaron shells.

Sandwich with another macaron shell. Press it slightly to secure. As these macarons are made with the firm kind of buttercream, they taste better after resting in the fridge on the next day.

Enjoy!
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