Spicy Cinnamon Heart Candy Macarons

Cinnamon heart macarons with a spicy kick just like the Valentine's Day candy! Use this base recipe to extract flavor from your favorite candies for your French macaron filling.

Jump to:

• Ingredients & Substitutions
• How to Extract Flavor From Candy for Macaron Filling
• How to Pipe Heart Macarons
• Step-By-Step
• Recipe

I don't eat a lot of candy but one of the few I do like is cinnamon hearts. There is something so addictive about them, maybe because I'm a big fan of foods that have a spicy kick. It's pretty cool that such a unique candy flavor exists. This new recipe remains true to taste to the original candy by extracting the spicy taste and cinnamon flavor directly from the heart candies. And if you are visiting this page after Valentine's day when cinnamon hearts are no longer sold in stores, don't worry. This method of flavor extraction can be modified for other kinds of candy too. Just keep reading below. It's pretty versatile. Besides that, I love this new filling because:

• It's so easy to put together and requires very few steps.
• It's stable at room temperature, making it a great choice for gifts, bridal showers, dessert tables, special events and travel.
• It's a unique macaron flavor that has a special spicy kick.
• It's absolutely perfect for Valentine's Day!

I'm pretty excited about the unique flavor of this new macaron filling and I hope you will give it a try too.

XOXO,
Mimi

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Almond flour – it should be ground from blanched almonds. Some brands are more “oilier” than others so for the most consistent results, I like to make my own almond flour (tutorial here). Many readers have had good results with this brand of almond flour.
• Powdered sugar – this is also known as icing sugar or confectioners’ sugar. The type sold in North America usually contains a bit of corn starch as an anti-coagulant.
• Castor sugar – this is also known as extra fine granulated sugar or berry sugar. It’s a finer granulated sugar that dissolves readily into the meringue making it ideal for macarons, which is heavily dependent on a strong and healthy meringue. If you can’t find castor sugar, just use regular granulated sugar. Do not try to pulverize regular granulated sugar in the food processor to make castor sugar, it results in “chopped-up sugar crystals that will not perform well.” (Source: chsugar.com)
• Egg whites, aged – egg whites that have been separated and let to “age” in the fridge have more relaxed proteins which makes it easier to whip to volume without overwhipping. It’s recommended for the beginner macaron baker but is not absolutely necessary. Most carton egg whites are not intended for whipping into a meringue, check the back of the carton. A few (but not many) readers have reported success with carton egg whites.
• Cream of tartar – is an acid that is added to the meringue to make it more stable. It is usually found in the baking aisle next to the spices. If you do not have cream of tartar, you can substitute it with another acid like lemon or vinegar in double the amount. You can skip this ingredient if you can’t find it. Make sure your bowls are clean and dry and whip carefully with room temperature aged egg whites until it reaches still peaks. If your egg whites take too long to whip or breaks apart, reconsider using cream of tartar.
• Gel food color – this is a more potent form of food color that doesn’t add unwanted moisture into the macaron batter. Some brands perform better than others while baking. I prefer this brand for its color stability.
• White baking chocolate - use a good white chocolate intended for baking as chocolate chips and other ready to eat white chocolates contains additives that makes it less stable for use as a ganache filling.
• Cinnamon heart candies, whole - can be substituted with other types of candy. See paragraph below on considerations when using different types of candy.
• Cinnamon heart candies, finely crushed - crush candy with a pestle and mortar or for a cleaner process, put candies in a Ziploc bag and then use a meat cleaver to crush it. Be careful to discard larger pieces as they can have sharp edges.
• Ground cinnamon - spice adds more flavor to the filling since using the candy alone will not be flavorful enough. (I tried one batch without but the flavor wasn't fully coming through. In another batch, I added more candy but the became too thick without sufficiently increasing the flavor.)
• Heavy cream - has a minimum milk fat content of 36% and above. On the other hand, whipping cream has milk fat content of 30-35% and is usually found at 33% in most regular grocery stores. Both will work with this recipe.
• Unsalted butter - make sure it's at room temperature so it can be easily incorporated into the warm chocolate cream mixture.

How to Extract Flavor From Candy for Macaron Filling

The process for extracting the flavors from the cinnamon heart candy can be applied to a variety of different candies. To extract flavor from candies for your macaron filling, just use the same method of melting the candy in the hot cream and then pouring it over the chopped chocolate. You can use the same amount of cream as in this recipe but please note that I've tested the amount used here and it takes into account the amount that will evaporate during the melting stage. Take a look at this Basic White Chocolate Macaron Filling recipe for another method to effectively incorporate small amounts of hot cream into white chocolate.

Candies that are easier or more difficult to melt will require a different amount of cream. The texture of the candy will also change the consistency in the finished filling so it's important to test out your creation before committing to a large batch. Lastly, I sprinkled the crushed cinnamon heart candy onto the filling during the assembly because it further adds to the flavor. Remember that the candy you're using is already a finished product and not an extract so to get the flavors to pop and be more true to taste, it will help to add small pieces of it back into the finished macaron.

How to Pipe Heart Macarons

These cinnamon candy macarons look amazing piped into heart shapes for Valentine's Day. Just print out the heart macaron templates pipe using this technique: use a piping tip Wilton 10 Round and squeeze a dollop of pink macaron batter into the rounded curve of the heart on one side. You don’t need it to fill entirely as it will spread later. Pipe slowly on a slant while decreasing the amount of pressure as you move further down to the tip. To stop piping, flick quickly back upwards towards the center. Do the same for the other side. Smooth out further with a toothpick.

Step-By-Step

Set butter out at room temperature. Chop up chocolate into slivers.

In a small sauce pan on medium heat, heat up cream with the whole candy and cinnamon. Stir to combine, keep stirring until candy melts. If the cream starts to boil, take off heat intermittently and keep stirring until candy melts completely. Do not let boil.

Once candy is completely melted and the mixture comes to a light simmer, pour it over chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute. Stir to combine.

Add butter and incorporate. Let cool to room temperature. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the chocolate filling to prevent a skin from developing on the surface. Place in fridge to firm up slightly for piping. Check on it every 15-20 minutes. Do not let harden or it will become too hard for piping. If time allows, leave it at room temperature to set instead.

Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe a dollop of spicy cinnamon filling onto one of the shells. Sprinkle finely crushed cinnamon candy onto the filling, assemble with the other shell. Sprinkle some more crushed candy onto the filling that’s exposed on the side of the macaron. Place in an airtight container and let mature for 24 hours before consuming.