Walnut Macarons

Ingredients: 90 g "aged" egg whites left 2-3 days in the fridge (these are the whites of 3 small eggs, but always weigh them on a scale), 150 g walnut kernels, 50 g pumpkin seeds, 200 g powdered sugar, 40 g granulated sugar, a pinch of salt and 20 g natural corn starch. Optionally you may add food coloring (I added 2 drops of red).

Making the walnut French macarons:

1. Take the egg whites out of the fridge and let them warm at room temperature for one hour. It is best to beat them in a metal or glass bowl.
2. Grind the pumpkin seeds in a chopper or blender, not too fine. Do the same with the walnut kernels. Mix the two kinds of flour together with the starch and return to the blender. Grind once more to get a finer flour. Sift through a sieve and measure out 110 g of the sifted flour. Mix with the powdered sugar and stir.
3. Beat the egg whites with a mixer after adding 40 g granulated sugar and the pinch of salt. Beat until the whites are firm, glossy and with soft peaks. When you turn the bowl over the mixture should not fall.
4. Beating takes between 8-10 minutes at maximum mixer speed. For the inexperienced this can serve as a guide. If you are going to color the mixture, add the color to the whites and stir 2-3 times. The dry ingredients are added to the whites in 3-4 additions, sifting them directly over the whites. After each addition stir briefly (4-5 folds).
5. Once you have combined the whites with the walnut flour, fold the mixture 55-60 times, scooping from the middle, turning and pulling toward the edge. The mixture for these walnut French macarons should be moderately thick and glossy, but not runny.
6. Draw circles 3.5-4 cm in diameter on parchment paper beforehand. Place the parchment in the tray and, using a piping bag with a smooth tip, distribute the mixture in the outlined circles. Tap the underside of the tray with your palm to release any air bubbles trapped in the mixture. Let the macarons dry for 1 hour. This mixture makes 2 trays of size 40/30 cm.
7. Baking is done in a preheated oven at 150 degrees. The baking time for the walnut macarons varies. I baked the first tray like the almond-flour macarons and found the shells were soft, or more precisely like gum. The second tray I baked for 22 minutes and they came out perfect. Naturally I returned and baked the first tray for another 5 minutes — I had already written them off. They baked too and I did not throw them out.

Buttercream for sandwiching: I sandwiched my walnut French macarons with a buttercream made as follows: I beat 125 g room-temperature cow's butter with a milk sugar syrup and 1 packet vanilla. I made the milk sugar syrup by adding 40 g granulated sugar to 80 ml fresh milk. I cooked it on the stove for 3 minutes at moderate temperature (be careful not to boil the milk over). I cooled the milk syrup to 30 degrees (use a thermometer, it's a must).

Beat the butter until fluffy. Add to it 1 teaspoon of the milk syrup, without stopping the beating. Gradually add a little of the sweetened milk and once the butter absorbs it, add again. The cream becomes white and very fluffy. Finally add the vanilla. Put the cream in a piping bag and pipe it onto half of the shells, leaving a small part near the edge without cream.

Cover with the remaining shells, pressing lightly so they stick. Arrange the finished walnut French macarons in boxes with lids and leave at least 12 hours in the fridge before eating. They are tastiest after a day or two.

Notes: You can sandwich these walnut French macarons with another cream — with chocolate ganache (white, milk...), a mascarpone or cream cheese cream, add fruit or some jam... You have the choice to develop the recipe to your taste. You can add different aromas, but you don't have much choice in color because of the walnuts. They will always be in the darker shades.

I share this successful recipe of mine with great pleasure. I ask that when you publish it somewhere you put an active link to it, because this is my recipe and until now I have not seen anyone make these small and so tasty sweets without almond flour.