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Cinnamon Pecan Macaron have the flavor of those fair cinnamon pecans in a macaron cookie. They’re packed with pecan and cinnamon flavors with a hint of caramel in the filling.

This recipe is sponsored by Millican Pecan. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures possible.

So, remember when I told you I thought I needed a pecan recipe for the Millican pecan sponsor? This is that recipe. I didn’t realize, when I added this recipe, that the previous 2 already had pecans in there. That’s what I get for not completely doing my research when I write these recipes on the signup sheet.

Then again, it is #ChristasCookies week and I typically make a macaron for this event. And with receiving the pecan meal from Millican, you had to know I would make a pecan-based macaron. Their pecan meal is perfect for macaron and really has great flavor!

The first time I made macaron with more than just almonds I made my own nut meal. It was pistachios and then peanuts and then pecans. Back then, I didn’t know about other nut meals. Heck, they might not have even made them back then. Or maybe they did and it was just a specialty ingredient.

I still want to make macaron out of macadamia nuts. I wonder if there’s macadamia nut meal. I’ll have to look that up. I plan on making my own, but if there’s a premade version, that would be easier. Yes, my brain is running rampant this morning because it’s 3:45 am and I have been up almost an hour.

I just had to check and there’s quite a few not flours out there. Pistachio, cashew (YUM!), hazelnut, walnut, peanut, chestnut (very interesting!), Brazil nut, and of course almond flour. Chestnut. That’s one I didn’t even think about. I wonder what it tastes like in a macaron. That might be on the blog in the near future.

I have walnuts in the freezer because I planned on making macaron with them. Guess I don’t have to now! Putting the nuts in the freezer is a trick I learned in the first macaron class I took in Sur La Table. Mom sent me there as a birthday present so I could learn how to make these cookies the proper way.

Putting the nuts in the freezer solidifies the fats that are in there making them easier to turn into nut meal. With some of the higher fat nuts like macadamia nut, you will probably just wind up making nut butter if you don’t freeze them first. And you still have to be careful when making the nut meal with any nut. I would put the blade in the freezer, too, to prevent the room temperature blade from turning your nuts into butter instead of meal.

These cinnamon pecan macaron are a nod to those cinnamon pecans you get at the fair. I added a little caramel to the buttercream for that rich flavor to enhance the cinnamon pecan shells. And those shell, I have to tell you, taste like those delicious pecans from the fair!

Now, I’ve made pecan meal macaron before. There’s Derby pie macaron and butter pecan macaron on the blog. Yes, I can’t believe there’s only two, too. I’ll have to remedy that and make more.

Anyway, for the Derby pie I made my own pecan meal and it smelled delicious baking but didn’t maintain that pecan flavor when they came out of the oven. The butter pecan macaron smelled amazing and kept their flavor. I’m convinced it’s because of the Millican nut meal.

And these cinnamon pecan macaron have great pecan flavor, too!

I don’t know why I was surprised, but I really was. Sometimes I imagine how these cookies will taste in my head and sometimes I nail it and sometimes I don’t.

The pepperoni pizza macaron? Nailed it! The berry sangria? Not so much. It’s the sangria part that just doesn’t come through. I mean, it doesn’t taste like wine. At all. But the shells taste like delicious berries! Don’t get me wrong on that one. I’ll have to find a better wine based buttercream to put in the middle.

No matter how many times I make macaron, I am like a kid in the candy store when I see those pretty little feet form. There’s only been a few times where that hasn’t happened since I took the course. And, of course, it’s always because of something I put in the meringue. Like the butter pecan macaron.

I made those cookies, I kid you not, four times. And the first time they didn’t come out I had my suspicions it was the less than par butter extract. When they say you have to be careful with oils and alcohols in your meringue, they’re not kidding! Not that I added it to the meringue while making it. They never would have formed stiff peaks if I had. But I did add it to the shells which kept them from forming feet.

So, if your flavoring has high alcohol or oil content, you might want to keep it to the buttercream instead of adding it to/ the shells. Which really sucks sometimes because the success and the only reason everyone raves about my macaron is that I do flavor the shells. This is a missed opportunity in the commercial macaron market.

I get why, though. It’s not cost effective to add flavoring to their mass produced macaronage. But they could split them out, like they do for color, and add flavorings then. I’ve done that with the berry sangria macaron. One half is strawberry and the other half is blueberry. Yes, the blueberry didn’t really do as well because those berries don’t freeze dry like strawberries. Just throwing that out there.

That just means when I go pro, I will corner the market and have more success with my mac truck. It’s a pipe dream. Maybe if I win the lottery and don’t have to work for a living and can career paths and start a macaron truck. That I will call Mac Truck. I wonder if Mack Truck would mind my copying their branding. Hmm….

Thursday Christmas Cookie Recipes

• Candy Cane Cookies by Blogghetti
• Cherry Coconut Jumbles by That Recipe
• Chocolate Chip Pecan Wedding Cookies by Family Around the Table
• Cinnamon Pecan Macaron by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Cran-Raisin Oatmeal Cookies with Grape Nuts by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Grinch Cookies by Simply Inspired Meals
• Grinch Shortbread Bites by An Affair from the Heart
• Hot Cocoa Cookies by Sweet Beginnings
• Nutty Spiced Ginger Cookies by Making Miracles
• Slice n’ Bake Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies by Books n’ Cooks
• White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies by Swirls of Flavor
• Winter Pecan Horns by Kate’s Recipe Box