Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake Macarons

Spiced pumpkin cheesecake macarons are deliciously sweet and fragrant with a cream cheese filling that's laced with pumpkin puree and a cookie crumb. All the components of a cheesecake, in a macaron! Pumpkin season is upon us and these spiced pumpkin cheesecake macarons make a dainty Autumn snack or elegant Halloween cookie.

If you've been here before, you'll know I love baking macarons and this recipe is one of my favourite fall macaron flavours that I have come up with. Inspired by the famed pumpkin spiced latte, I wanted to create something that used pumpkin and spices but creamy too. And the spiced pumpkin cheesecake macaron was born.

Pumpkins are naturally sweet, so there's no need to add extra sugar to the pumpkin cheesecake filling. The cream cheese gives a rich tang and the spices in the macaron shells bring it all together perfectly.

Try making these pumpkin spiced cheesecake macaron cookies for Halloween and become the favourite house on your street when the trick or treaters come, or serve them after dinner at a dinner party. Macarons are an excellent way to use leftover egg whites and make a light and crunchy dessert or petit four.

First time making homemade macarons? Read my step by step guide to making Italian macarons (with Italian meringue) first.

• Egg whites

I prefer to buy eggs and separate them rather than use pre-packaged egg whites. I never get the same level of results from pre-packaged!

• Fine granulated sugar/caster sugar

I like to use golden sugar in fall macaron flavours, it just gives an added warmth that works really well in the season of pumpkins and apples and all things Autumn. But you can use either white or brown sugar!

• Water

We dissolve the granulted sugar into the water before boiling so that it heats evenly.

• Ground almonds

Ground almonds are almonds that have been

• Powdered sugar/icing sugar

This is mixed with the ground almonds and egg whites to make the almond paste.

• Orange food colouring

Use powdered food colouring for macarons, and not liquid or gel. I didn't want too intense a colour but you can add as much as you like!

• Pumpkin puree

Canned pumpkin puree is so handy for baking, but make sure you purchase pumpkin puree with nothing in it other than pumpkin.

• Cream cheese

I try and buy organic cream cheese wherever possible as the water content is lower, making for thicker, richer cream cheese.

• Ground cinnamon

The cinnamon is added into the macaron shell batter to give it subtle flavour.

• Ground ginger

We also add ground ginger to give extra warmth.

• Digestive biscuits/Graham crackers

To get the taste and texture of a cheesecake base, we grind biscuits/cookies to a fine crumb and mix it into the spiced pumpkin cheesecake macaron filling.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 145 degrees Celsius / 295 Fahrenheit. 

Prepare and weigh out the ingredients, separating the egg whites from egg yolks if necessary. 

Make the almond paste by blending the ground almonds and powdered sugar together until they are a very fine consistency and completely combined. Sieve the mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the ground ginger, cinnamon and orange food colouring.

Mix in the egg white firmly until it is fully incorporated. 

Make the Italian meringue by placing the water and granulated sugar into a saucepan. Gently warm the water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once it has dissolved, turn up the heat, stop stirring and place the sugar thermometer into the mixture. 

Once the thermometer starts to climb above 105 degrees Celsius/220 degrees Fahrenheit, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

When the sugar syrup reaches a soft boil temperature of 115 degrees Celsius/240 degrees, start whisking the egg whites again and pour in the sugar syrup a little at a time. The residual heat of the sugar will mean the temperature continues to go up even once you remove it from the heat and it will be the required 120 degrees Celsius when you mix it into the egg white.

The Italian meringue will turn a smooth, glossy and opaque white. Continue to whisk once all of the sugar syrup has been added to bring down the heat until you can touch the side of the bowl and it feels warm but not hot. 

Now mix the Italian meringue into the almond paste in three stages. 

Firmly mix in the first third of the Italian meringue with a metal or wooden spoon to loosen the almond paste and fully combine the two mixtures. 

Fold in the remaining two-thirds one at a time using the softer spoon or spatula, being very gentle with the final third to not overmix the batter and make it too slack. 

Pipe your spiced pumpkin cheesecake macarons. Move the macaron batter to a piping bag. Tie a knot in the end and relax the mixture slightly in the bag with your hands for a few seconds. Cut half a centimetre from the tip of the piping bag. 

Position the piping bag perpendicular to the tray with the nozzle a few millimetres above the surface. Squeeze the bag without lifting it up for two or three seconds, then stop squeezing and make a little circle to twist it off. Fill the trays leaving a 2cm gap in between each macaron as they will spread slightly as they bake. 

Firmly smack it down onto the work surface twice to settle the Italian macaron batter and get rid of any air bubbles. 

Bake the macarons for 17 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow the macarons to cool on the tray. This is a no-rest macaron recipe, but if you cannot fit all of your macarons in the oven at once, it won't harm the remaining macarons to be out on the worktop for 17 minutes. 

Pumpkin cheesecake filling

Blend the biscuits/cookies to a fine crumb in a food processor or pestle and mortar.

Mix the pumpkin puree and cream cheese together, then stir in the crumbs.

Add the spiced pumpkin cheesecake macaron filling to a piping bag and pipe onto one shell before sandwiching together with another.

Hint: If the pumpkin cheesecake filling seems too runny to pipe, put it into the piping bag and then chill quickly in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Wine pairing

Try a late harvest muscat with these Autumn macarons, or even a Hungarian Tokay.

Variations

After making these spiced pumpkin cheesecake macarons, try some of my other macaron flavours...

• Blueberry cheesecake macarons
• Chocolate cinnamon macarons
• Fig and Cardamom macarons
• Mango macarons
• Festive savoury macarons with goat cheese and cranberry

Love this recipe? You'll want to try this no bake pumpkin cheesecake too.

Equipment

• Weighing scales. Digital is best. Baking is a science, after all, so we need precision! I do not recommend using the cup system to make macarons.
• A sieve to ensure that the powdered sugar and almond flour is as fine as possible. 
• A blender/food processor to thoroughly combine the almond flour and powdered sugar. This ensures a completely smooth finish on your macaron shells. You can also use the food processor to blend the biscuits to a crumb.
• A small saucepan to make your sugar syrup
• A jam or sugar thermometer to measure the temperature of the hot sugar syrup. The sugar syrup needs to be at a particular temperature to make Italian meringue and it is impossible to judge without a thermometer. The best thermometers for sugar syrup do not allow the bulb to touch the bottom or sides of the saucepan, thus ensuring you are measuring the temperature of the sugar, and not the pan. 
• An electric whisk or stand mixer to whisk your egg whites into soft peaks before slowly adding the hot sugar syrup. 
• Two large bowls, preferably glass. Try to avoid using a metal mixing bowl for the Italian meringue as it will conduct heat and prevent the mixture from cooling. 
• A metal mixing spoon for combining ingredients more vigorously.
• A silicon mixing spoon or spatula for further, more gentle mixing. 
• Baking sheets/trays - not high-sided ones as this builds up too much steam
• Silicon mat or baking parchment paper (but the silicon mats are better and allow for lower waste as they are not single-use)
• Piping bags - to pipe your macarons onto a baking tray, and then also to pipe your fillings. 

Storage

Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge and consume within 2-3 days.

Macaron shells freeze very well, use within one month. Do not freeze once filled.