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My absolute favorite things to bake are French macarons. I make them for family gatherings, potlucks, or just to give to my public library. A huge issue, however, is that often times I just make them at home for my family, but my mom is allergic to eggs, so she can never eat them. For a while I've wanted to find an alternative to egg whites for the meringue. I found out about chickpea water (Aquafaba) and other legumes, and started to plan getting those and making meringue using Aquafaba. But then I ran into another issue. My mom told me how she's allergic to not only chickpeas, but ALL legumes. Now I am completely lost on how to make macarons for her.

I thought about whipping up heavy whipping cream into hard peaks (assuming it could function the same as meringue). You're whipping air into something and I thought that's the most important part of macarons. Does anyone know if this works or does anyone think I should try using heavy whipping cream?

Finally, is there anything other than legumes that I could use in place of egg whites in meringue? A reply would be greatly appreciated.

Bryan Ovens
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  • Maybe change the title to "lacto-vegetarian"... – rackandboneman Jun 22 '17 at 23:52
  • I thought I found a recipe, but the foaming agent is soy-derived, so no-go. Still, here's a list of edible cooking foams that might provide some leads? http://www.molecularrecipes.com/culinary-foams-class/ingredients-foams/ – kitukwfyer Jun 23 '17 at 00:08
  • There's this, which certainly helps introduce air. Its made from whey protein apparently.. http://msk-ingredients.com/hyfoamer-200g – Doug Jun 23 '17 at 06:05
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    I think that whipped cream will simply deflate upon heating. I do see some references to successful use of the "ground flaxseed and water" or "mucilage boiled off whole flaxseeds and strained" vegan egg replacement in a whipped role, but those indicate that it won't hold up when heated. – Ecnerwal Jun 27 '17 at 02:55
  • I was going to suggest [a youtube recipe that looked promising](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wBe0ZF_Ye0), but it uses Versawhip, which includes soy. Maybe you can use that as a starting point in combination with zetaprime's answer. – Erica Oct 10 '18 at 13:45

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I believe you can use sun-flower lecithin (make sure you don't get soy-lecithin) as the foaming agent, optionally together with xanthan gum some or some other thickener to get the desired thickness you want.

You'll need to beat the lecithin+water+sugar until it gets foamy. And then fold in the almond flour.

zetaprime
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