Salted Caramel Macarons dressed up in a white shell, dark chocolate, Fleur de Sel and homemade salted caramel.
Get ready for finger licking goodness! Caramel! Salted Caramel how I love thee.
I found the recipe for the salted caramel on Sally’s Baking Addiction website. If you never made caramel before I recommend checking out the step by step photos on her blog. It’s explained very well and easy to understand. (You don’t even need candy thermometer!)
Find her recipe here:
Salted Caramel – Sally’s Baking Addiction
The salted caramel is super handy to have ready. Add some to your buttercream for cupcakes or cakes (one of my fav ways to use it), drizzle it over brownies, fill cakes or cupcakes with it or just eat it straight out of the jar.
I decorated the Salted Caramel Macarons a bit of melted dark chocolate, filled it in a piping bag with a small nozzle (or cut a tiny bit off the piping bag) and pipe little onto each macaron. Sprinkle a little bit salt on top for an extra salty kick.
Lastly I diluted some gold dust in a bit of vodka and splattered it over the macarons.
But hey, you can decorate any way you like. :)
Make sure you don’t fill the macarons with too much caramel as some of it will ooze out. Overfilling will cause a big spillage of caramel.
Recipe Salted Caramel Macarons
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 100 grams icing sugar
- 100 grams caster sugar
- 2x 40 grams egg whites ( a total of 80 grams)
- 37.5 ml water (2 1/2 tablespoons)
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 90 grams butter, in cubes
- 120 ml double/heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon Fleur De Sel
- Combine the ground almonds and icing sugar in the food processor. Turn it on for a few seconds. Stir the mixture and run it again for a few more seconds. Pass the mixture through a sieve, discarding any big pieces.
- Weigh your egg whites separately and put aside.
- Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Stick your candy thermometer in and keep checking the temperature. As the temperature approaches 100 Celsius pour one egg white in the bowl of your mixer and start your mixer. You want soft peak egg whites when the sugar syrup reaches 115 Celsius. Once you have soft peaks and the syrup is 115 C take the syrup and with the mixer running pour it slowly in the bowl. Increase the speed of your mixer until the bowl is cool to the touch and your meringue is thick and glossy.
- While the mixer is running combine the second egg white with the almond mixture until you have a thick paste. Stir in a bit of food colour or add it to your meringue if you are using any.
- When your meringue is ready add a little bit to your almond paste and fold it in. Scrap along the sides of the bowl and then through the middle. Add more meringue and repeat until all the meringue is incorporated. Your mixture is ready when it flows steady from the spatula. Not too fast and not too slow. This is a very important step in macaron making and being careful is crucial. You don’t want to over mix or under mix the macronage. With practice you will get the hang of it.
- When your macronage is ready fill your piping bag. Pipe 3 to 4 cm big circles on your baking paper (or silicone mat). Rap your tray lightly on the counter to get rid of air bubbles. If they don’t pop use a skewer and gently pop them.
- Leave the macarons to dry for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 140 degrees Celsius in the meantime.
- Once dried bake the macarons for 13 to 15 minutes. I like to tap the side of the macarons lightly. If it still moves the macarons aren’t done and need a few more minutes.
- Leave to cool completely. Then remove from the baking paper.
- In a saucepan heat the granulated sugar while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or heat resistant rubber spatula.
- The sugar will turn brown as it melts down.
- Once completely melted add the butter. Be careful as it will steam and bubble up. Very hot!
- Stir until the butter is melted then slowly add the cream. Boil for 1 minute.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in one teaspoon of Fleur De Sel (or normal salt).
- Pour in a heatproof bowl or jar and leave to cool completely.
- Once the caramel has a thick consistency pipe a little onto each macaron and sandwich together with a second shell.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Salted Caramel adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
These are so pretty, I love making macarons and it’s really nice to decorate them using different methods.
Well done on these, I’ve made salted caramel macarons on my blog and they taste just fab, has to be homemade salted caramel though, it’s the best!
Hi Angela, so glad you like them! I too love decorating the macarons in different ways :)
Do I have to age my eggs for this recipe?
Hi Natascha, I never age my egg whites in this recipe.
You pics are lovely! Could you please let me know how to get super white macaron shells?
You can try white food colour.
Thanks! I never thought on that :))
Hi! may i know how do u decorate those lines on all your macarons?
It is melted chocolate. Simply pour it into a piping bag, either with a small nozzle (e.g. PME #2) or cut a very small bit off the end and then pipe the lines on the macarons. The macarons should be filled already otherwise you have to wait for the chocolate to harden before filling them. hope this helps.
How many macarons does this recipe make?
Around 20, depending on size
Hi Angela – could you tell me if I need to adjust the cooking temp for a fan oven ?
Thank you
Jane
Haha these looks like miniature ho-ho’s!! So charming! The flavors are perfect for this holiday season!
Hi, your macarons look amazing!:) Could you tell me how did you splatter gold dust over the macarons? What ratio of gold dust and vodka did you use? Thank you.
Hi Lina, I always eyeball the amounts of it. It’s really easy though. If its too thick, add more vodka. If its too thin, add more gold dust.
do you splatter before baking?
No, after baking.
it didnt work for me at all i spend 2 houres in the kitchen and what comes out NOTHING the pictures in yours look so preety but when i try and i followed each and every step it turn into a big mess if i would rate this recipe i would give it 0 stars.
Hi Itay, macarons require a lot of practice. I have had a lot of failed batches in the few years I’ve been making macarons. Unfortunately they are just more finicky and take a lot of patience.
Can I use Almond Flour instead of ground almonds? Or is it the same thing?
How long will these keep? Do you keep them in the refrigerator or on the counter top?
Keep them in the fridge. They keep for around 3-5 days.
Do I understand your recipe correctly, that only half of the egg whites get beat and the other half just get stirred into the almond mixture unbeaten?
These look delicious and I would love to try making them.
Thank you,
Hi Cyndi, yes that is correct. One part gets beaten, the other part, liquid, is being folded in with the almonds to make a thick paste.
Why do you use vodka to spray on the gold? Where do you get the gold?
Because the vodka evaporates very quickly and the gold dust dries on the macaron. Too much moisture can damaged the macaron, hence why you need something that dries quickly.
The gold can be bought in most cake decorating shops or websites as long as it is food grade.
Salted or unsalted butter?
I only use unsalted.
Do you need your egg whites at room temperature??
Yes. :)
Also when you mix the egg white into the almond mixture does the egg whites need to be beat or just regular??
Just liquid. Not beaten.
how thick do the circles need to be?
Everyone pipes them to a different thickness. Roughly I’d say 3-4mm.