Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast Macarons

I do wish I could take the credit for this flavor combo, but, alas, I can’t. My friend Nicole is the culprit. Nicole loves eating my macarons, but once upon a time she piped up and said something like “Can you make one that tastes like a pancake? I’m tired of chocolate.”

After I slapped her for dissing chocolate, I dug a little deeper. Maybe she had something. While I’m not a huge fan of maple, I started thinking that it could work. If you think about it, macarons aren’t all that different than a breakfast food…sugar, eggs, vanilla…why not make it taste like breakfast? And who doesn’t love French Toast? Better yet, who doesn’t love Stuffed French Toast? I know I love it, full of cream cheese and fruit – yummmm. Good stuff.

So I put my thinking cap on. Should I make a filling with maple syrup and a shell using a fruit flavor? I guess I could have done that, but I didn’t. I found maple flavoring and added it to the shells, and stuffed the center full of a cream cheese butter cream that I packed full of fresh raspberries.

Verdict? It tastes exactly like French Toast, only sweeter. Crisper. Decadent. So unusual but so delicious. Try them yourself and tell me what you think!

Stuffed French Toast Macarons

• 2 ounces almonds
• 1 cup Confectioners Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 Egg Whites, Room Temperature
• 5 Tbsp. Superfine Sugar
• 1/4 tsp. Maple Flavoring Flavoring
• Splash Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Powder
• 1 Tbsp. Meringue Powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/4 to 1/2-inch) ready.

Grind together the powdered sugar, cinnamon and almonds in a food processor until finely chopped.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, add in the granulated sugar a little at a time, until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes. If you can turn the bowl upside down and the meringue stays put, you’ve got it.

Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. Before dumping in the second half of the dry ingredients, add the meringue powder, Maple and extract. Stir quickly and gently, then add remaining dry ingredients.

When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).

Pipe the batter on the prepared baking sheets in 1-inch circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch or more (3 cm) apart.

Rap the baking sheet a few times on the counter to flatten the macarons.

Place an empty baking sheet on the lower oven rack, then place the macarons in the upper third of the oven. Bake them for 12-15 minutes.

Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet. Macarons that are not being baked (waiting their turn on the counter) are fine, and can be left out unbaked for a half hour or more.

Fill cooled shells with Cream Cheese Buttercream that has a few fresh berries blended in – I used Raspberries but strawberries or blueberries would be great, too!