Ann Reardon

Nut Free Macaron Recipe | substitute almond flour

substitue almond meal macaron

This is a golden macaron. It is special because it contains no nuts. That’s right not a hint of almond meal or any other ground nuts or seeds. Many people have nut allergies and some just can not get hold of almond meal so they asked ‘ Can I substitute almond meal for wheat flour?‘ To which I would answer, ‘Almond meal is high in fat and protein and low in carbs, wheat flour is high in complex carbs, low fat and low protein so the substitution would not work’. But that got me thinking what else could we use.

I have read other recipes that use ground pumpkin seeds. I don’t grind my own almonds, I buy them as almond meal or flour so the thought of buying seeds and grinding them seemed like too much hard work. If you want to try that method, swap in equal quantities for the almond meal.

At first the only other things I could think of that were high protein and fat were also full of water, like egg yolks, which wouldn’t help. Then white chocolate came to mind – high fat, high protein and high sugar. Perhaps if I reduced the sugar in the recipe I could get the nutritional composition of the white chocolate to match the almond meal and it will work – may be!

A couple of trial runs and adjusting ingredient quantities and we have nut free macarons. Now let me warn you they look and taste great but they are not perfect they are a little hollow. If you are after perfect macarons then almond meal is the best way to go.

Nut Free Macaron Ingredients

140g (4.94 ounces) or 4 egg whites
72g (2.54 ounces) or 1/3 cup caster sugar
240g (8.47 ounces) finely grated white chocolate
120g (4.23 ounces) or 1 cup icing sugar sifted

Nut Free Macarons Directions

Whisk together your egg whites and sugar until stiff, add colour if desired and whisk through. Egg whites should be stiff enough that you can turn your bowl upside down and it will not spill out of the bowl.
Gently fold in your icing sugar and white chocolate. Once it is just combined continue to fold some more until some mixture dropped into the bowl very slowly melds down into the rest of the mixture. You do not want a runny mixture or your macarons will be flat. See the video for a visual example of what you are looking for.

Pour the mixture into a piping bag or ziploc bag with the corner cut off and pipe circles onto non-stick baking paper.
Bake at 150C (302 degrees Fahrenheit) for approximately 20 minutes. I like to bake on the top shelf for 15 and then move down for the last 5 – 10 as needed. Leave to cool on the paper and then carefully peel off.
Pair similarly sized macrons and fill with ganache. The recipe should make about 20 macarons.

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

150g (5.29 ounces) dark chocolate chopped
50g (1.76 ounces) or 31/2 tablespoons cream (35% fat)

Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Wait approximately 3 minutes for the chocolate to melt and then stir until smooth. Place in a ziplock bag in the fridge until firm enough to pipe – it thickens as it cools.

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My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

335 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    Just wondering can you use semi sweet chocolate chips to make a chocolate macaron???

  2. Rating: 3.5

    Can this recipe be adjusted to make a caramel version.

    • buthilw

  3. Rating: 4.5

    Isn’t the white chocolate going to melt? Did your white chocolate melt?

    • Or is it supposed to melt?

  4. Rating: 4.5

    maybe you didnt mix the egg whites till there are stif peaks and these are very soft and hard cookies to make i made some yesterday for the first time and they were perfect and since these are such delicate cookies if you mess one thing up the whole thing goes bad.

  5. Rating: 5

    My first try, I did dark chocolate because I’m not a fan of white chocolate… with dark chocolate ganache.

  6. Rating: 1.5

    Hi Ann

    I tried to make these but mine are runny too. I folded like you said but can’t get the mixture to your consistency

    Am I doing something wrong?

    Thank you

    • brobley

  7. Rating: 5

    This worked really well for me! I’ve never tried making macarons before and I’m so pleased!
    I did find grating the white chocolate was a pain, thinking I will invest in a little food processor before the next batch.

    I also added some caramel flavouring to mine.

  8. did they taste nice tough

  9. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann, if i half the recipe will that affect the outcome?

  10. Rating: 4

    you probably mixed it too much. as she said in the video “if you mix it too little to won’t rise, and if you mix it too much it will run”

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