Where can I find the original treat?
- This treat can be found at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe in Disneyland.
Right now I’m missing so many Disneyland treats being stuck at home during this quarantine. Although I love the specialty treats, some of the perennial treats are those I long for the most. One of those treats is the Raspberry Rose Mickey Mouse Macaron, and that’s what we’re making today.
I received a package of raspberries in my grocery delivery this past week and finally made that extra step to stick them in a vinegar bath to make them last longer. I wanted them to last a few days so I could try out a few techniques for making macarons during this bizarre food shortage, although this week I’ve been happy to report that eggs seem to be plentiful on the grocery shelves, at least here in LA. So perhaps the panic buying is starting to slow down now.
And let’s talk about replacing egg whites here! The good news is that if you don’t have fresh eggs you can make a macaron. The bad news is that many issues can arise and that I never really got them looking perfect. The first substitute I considered was aquafaba. Aquafaba is a fancy name for the liquid of cooked chickpeas. I’ve written extensively about using aquafaba in place of egg whites in cocktails on my other site and have also found this a great substitute for meringues. However, when making macarons I found them to be less stable than egg whites. I had instances of macaron batter leaking and tops cracking. And then I tried using pasteurized carton egg whites. Again, many wrinkled tops and unstable shells. They were definitely edible and held their shape, but did not have the smooth, risen tops I would have like to see. So, if you just want some cookies and aren’t too picky about how they look, and don’t have fresh eggs, you can consider one of these subs. I’ve included all the substitutions in the recipe below.
Now on to the flavor of these. Raspberry is definitely the most dominant flavor with these macarons. The rose I’ve always found so faint it was hardly detectable. At home though, you can adjust to your own liking. I wouldn’t though go too overboard with the rose water as it can overpower the whole treat. If fresh raspberries are hard to come by right now, sub in some raspberry jam in the center, or mix right in to the buttercream.
Kids can help pipe the macarons (even if they don’t do Mickey Mouse they can make some shapes). They can also help assemble the cookie as well.
One last note I’ll leave here is the glittery decoration on the outside of the macaron; this is called luster dust (or edible glitter). First, I only had silver so that’s what ended up on the macarons today. It is usually gold but I wasn’t doing an Amazon order just for one tiny container. Second, decorating works best with a high proof alcohol. I know that some states don’t allow certain high proofs, so use what you got. I happened to have a bottle of Everclear from another project and that is 95 proof. You want a higher proof to quickly evaporate and just leave the glitter on the macaron without leaving the cookie soggy. Remember, this is totally optional too! The cookie tastes great without the glitter.
I’ve highlighted these notes in the notes section below. Also, if you are having lots of issues with the macarons not looking like how you’d expect, I’d highly suggest you YouTube some real time macaron making videos to see techniques. Sometimes seeing is better to understand than reading.
Ok, let’s bake!
