Salty Sweet Caramel Macarons

I’ve been a bit of a hermit lately. Last Friday I decided to keep the streak going and texted my friends that I would be staying home after-all. By the time they responded with sad faces I was already in my pj’s, cozy on the couch with my husband and a bottle of wine – but those sad faces instantly reminded me that time spent with my friends really is special and I shouldn’t take that for granted. It also helped that they were only a mile away at our friends’ new gastropub, BRÜ Haus (definitely stop by if you live in Los Angeles – they have giant bavarian pretzels and sweet potato tater tots! They also get their sausages from the same distributor as Wurstküche). 

So - I hopped off the couch, threw on some clothes and slapped on some makeup. In the end, I was so happy that I went; good times were had and great memories were made. I saw some friends who I hadn’t seen in years, which I found to be comforting. We ended up closing the bar down – I can’t even remember the last time I did that. The next morning, I didn’t wake up until 10:30. I wanted to just lie there, but I mustered together what energy I could and rolled out of bed. … I had some macarons to make.

I made the macarons posted here – Chocolate caramel macarons topped with a sprinkling of fleur de sel. I love the dichotomy of salty sweets, and the hint of salt really shines through in macarons which have a high ratio of sugar to other ingredients. I’m definitely getting comfortable with making macarons. I still need to fiddle around to perfect the shells, but I realized as I made this batch that I don’t have to intensely concentrate while folding the meringue into the dry ingredients like I used to. Instead, I casually chatted with Eric as I folded away. It’s almost as if the process is becoming more natural for me and I’m not the sweaty nervous wreck I used to be when I first started playing with macaron making.

Macaron Shells:
100g Egg whites, aged 4 days
66g caster sugar
2 drops brown food coloring gel
2 drops yellow food coloring gel
120g almond flour
180g powdered sugar
Fleur de sel for topping the macaron shells
Chocolate Caramel filling, recipe below

In a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites. When foamy, add the caster sugar and food coloring drops. Continue to whisk until stiff peaks form. Meanwhile, sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar. When the egg whites are nice and stiff, fold into the almond flour/ powdered sugar and continue to mix until the batter ribbons back into the bowl.

Transfer the batter into piping bags, and pipe onto silpats into rounds about 1 1/4 inches wide. Sprinkle a tiny bit of fleur de sel on top of each shell and let sit for half an hour. Preheat oven to 320 degrees F, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. When cool, match up the shells by size and fill with the chocolate caramel filling.

Chocolate Caramel filling:
170g chocolate caramel bar, cut into pieces
140g whipping cream
30g unsalted butter, cubed

Pour the whipping cream into a bowl and microwave at 30 second intervals until hot. Add the chocolate bar pieces, and using a wooden spoon, mix for about 5 minutes. Add the cubed butter and continue to mix until everything is smooth and completely combined. Let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Source: Mad About Macarons!

About these ads