Monday, October 27, 2014

Salted Caramel Macarons



The filling for these Salted Caramel Macarons is just about the easiest thing ever. You whip room temperature unsalted butter, some store-bought salted caramel sauce and sea salt together until it's light and creamy and that's all there is to it.

It is absolutely delicious and would also make an exellent filling or frosting for a chocolate cake. Now that I think of it,  pumpkin cake would also be really good .... I definitely have some more baking to do.

In the meantime, here's the recipe:

Salted Caramel Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well.

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch. 
Piped macarons resting before baking.
A side by side comparison of baked and unbaked macarons.
While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Baked macarons sorted into pairs.

Filling the macarons.
Leave them on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Salted Caramel Buttercream.
Store the macarons in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

Salted Caramel Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup salted caramel sauce
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Whip the butter until it is smooth and light. Add the caramel sauce and salt and whip again until light and creamy.
Adding the caramel sauce and sea salt to the butter.

After some whipping it will look like this.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Heidi!!! I've been wanting to comment on these wonderful looking macarons and I think it works now. These look wonderful, but I'm scared of baking macarons hahah, when I overcome my fear this will be the recipe I'll be trying out. Keep up the good work!

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    1. Hi Kelly! Thank you so much for checking out the blog. I know you can can make macarons. You are such a talented baker and the gorgeous decorated sugar cookies you make surely take more time and consideration than a batch of macarons. I'm rooting for you and can't wait to see pics of your first batch!

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  2. Hi Heidi! So glad to have found your blog. Does the caramel buttercream taste buttery at all? It looks delicious! How many Macarons can you fill with that recipe? Thanks in advance.

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    1. Hi Claudia,
      I'm so happy you found my blog. Thank you! The caramel buttercream doesn't taste buttery, just lightly sweet and caramelly. It's really good and so easy to make. When I've purchased macarons, I've always had a problem with them being too sweet so I try to make my fillings less sweet but still flavorful. One recipe makes 50 to 60 finished 1.5-inch macarons or 70 to 80 mini macarons.
      Happy Baking!
      Heidi

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