French Turbulence: Walnut and milk jam macarons

So what about the milk jam I made last week and is now dormant in my fridge? It's high time to use it, and I thought we could kick our macarons up a notch. Right Emeril?

Macarons are made up of egg whites, sugar and almond powder. But almond is not an absolute in the equation. You can substitute is for, say, walnut, pistachio, hazelnut or pecan powder. Pecan isn't something I grew up with, but I very often went walnut and hazelnut picking in my tender youth. I found several macaron shell recipes, which would call for half almond and half "another nut" portion. However, I opted for a full portion of the almond substitute in order to get a more distinct taste. In this case - Walnut!

Walnut and Milk Jam Macarons: (Macarons aux Noix et a la Confiture de Lait)

90g aged egg whites
110g walnut powder
200g powdered sugar
30g granulated sugar
2 or 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa (optional)
brown coloring (preferably in gel or powder form)

(Milk jam recipe appears in a previous April 2011 post)
4oz softened cream cheese

In a large bowl, sift together walnut powder and powdered sugar, making sure there is no big lumps/crumbs left.
In a different bowl and using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites at high speed and when they begin to foam, throw in the granulated sugar. Continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form. You should be able to invert the bowl and the egg whites stick to it without falling.
With a spatula, drop the beaten egg white mixture to the dry ingredients and fold them in gently. For this part, Tartelette says: "Move your spatula from the bottom of the bowl to the edges with one hand, using your other hand to rotate the bowl. Now slap the sides of the bowl until the batter falls in a wide ribbon when you raise your spatula. When you can’t see any crumbs of almond flour and the mixture is shiny and flowing, you are ready to start piping. " Folding the whites into the dry mixture is really a trick you get with practice. If you fold too long and hard, the macarons you pipe down will be too runny and ressemble crepes (with no feet) after baking. If you don't stir enough, the mixture will be too compact and, when piped down, will not spread nicely but look like, pardon my French, dog piles... So this is where it really gets tricky. (Good luck!)
Fill up a pastry bag (I use a 40 cm long Wilton bag) with the batter. Cut up the tip of the bag (at about one inch). You can also fit your bag with an Ateco #8 tip.
The macarons can now be piped down on parchment paper or on a silpat mat, forming 1 1/2 to 2 1/2-inch circles. Leave about one inch between each macaron.
The macarons should then rest, untouched, for 20 to 30 minutes. This will help create a "crust", and later on, "feet" will appear during baking.
5 minutes before baking the macarons, pre-heat your oven at 300F.
The macarons should bake about 18 minutes on the middle rack or slightly over this level (which is what works best for me). This time can be adjusted once you learn what works best with your oven. Simply keep an eye on the macarons so they don't turn brown (they should start browning slightly at the feet and that's when you know they are done.)
Let them cool completely!

Once completely cooled, the shells can be buttered up with milk jam. However, I found the milk jam a bit too runny when spread on a shell, so I decided to mix it to 4 ounces of softened cream cheese.
When cream cheese and milk jam form a homogeneous paste, use a pastry bag or a very small spatula to spread it on the flat side of a macaron shell and top with another shell. Repeat with the rest of the shells.

Refrigerate these macarons to let the filling harden and try not to eat any before the next day (or better yet, 2 days!) to let all flavors marry.