Salted Caramel Macarons

Ingredients

For the Macarons:

Sift together (if measuring by volume, pre-sift first, measure out, whisk to combine, then sift together:

• 260 g blanched almond meal / flour (3 cups + 2 tablespoons)
• 260 g powdered sugar (2 ½ cups)

Mix with sifted dry ingredients:

• 100 g egg whites at room temperature (1/3 cup / 3 egg whites / 100 milliliters)

For the Italian meringue:

• 260 g granulated sugar (1 ¼ cups)
• 80 g water (1/3 cup or 75 mil)
• 100 g egg whites (1/3 cup / 3 egg whites / 100 milliliters)

For the salted caramel filling:

• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
• ¼ cup water (60 g)
• 2 ½ cups heavy cream (626 g / 650 ml)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cubed (56 g)
• ½ teaspoon salt (3 g)

Directions

For the Macarons:

1. Line 3 – 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. If measuring by volume, separately sift the almond flour and powdered sugar. Measure them out, whisk to combine and then sift together to blend.
3. With a spatula, mix egg whites with sifted dry ingredients until it forms a smooth paste. Cover and set aside.

For the Italian meringue:

1. Place the egg whites in a bowl of a stand mixer with a wire whip attachment. Rub some lemon juice on the bowl to make sure it is completely clean without any trace of oil.
2. Pour granulated sugar in the center of a small sauce pan, as much as possible avoiding the sides of the pan. Pour the water going around to dampen the sides of the pan finishing towards the center to dampen the sugar. Gently swirl the pan to spread the water evenly, but don’t stir. Turn on heat to medium high. Use a candy thermometer, preferably digital, to gauge the temperature of the syrup.
3. When the sugar syrup reaches 235°F, start whipping the egg whites on low. When the sugar syrup reaches 240°F increase the mixer speed to medium. As the temperature increases to between 242°F – 243°F, increase mixer speed to high.
4. Finally, when the sugar syrup reaches 244°F, remove the sauce pan from the heat. With mixer speed on high pour the sugar syrup in a thin, slow and steady stream aiming for the egg whites directly between the bowl and the wire whip. Once you’ve poured in all the syrup, decrease speed to medium and whip until the meringue is thick and glossy and holds a peak.

Folding:

1. Take a third of the meringue and fold it into the almond paste using a silicon spatula. With each fold, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. As you fold over, drag and press your spatula across the surface of the paste.
2. Add half of the remaining meringue folding into blend while dragging the spatula across the surface. Repeat with the rest of the meringue.
3. Each time you drag and press your spatula across the surface, the track left by the spatula becomes less pronounced. The batter is ready when the batter flows back and covers the track.

Piping:

1. Preheat oven to 320°F at this point. Divide the batter among 3 – 4 icing bags fitted with a medium round tip.
2. Place your template underneath the parchment paper on the cookie sheet. Pipe the macaron batter just until you reach the inner part of the circle. Any mark left by the icing tip should slowly dissipate and smoothen out by itself in a few minutes. Pull your template from underneath the parchment paper and transfer it onto the next cookie sheet.
3. Lift the cookie sheet a few inches and drop it onto your work surface to release any air pockets. This will also even out and smoothen any remaining marks left by the icing tip. Top with optional brown sugar while the macarons are still wet.
4. Let sit at room temperature for 20 – 30 minutes, or however long it takes for the surface of the piped batter to form a skin. It’s ready for the oven when your finger remains dry when you lightly touch it.
5. Repeat the same procedure with the remaining batter.

Baking:

1. Bake each cookie sheet 12 – 14 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet halfway into baking after the macaron feet have formed.
2. Remove from the oven and let the macarons cool completely on the cookie sheet.

For the salted caramel filling:

1. Warm cream in microwave for about twenty seconds to bring it to room temperature.
2. Pour sugar in the center of a medium sauce pan, as much as possible avoiding the sides of the pan. Pour the water going around to dampen the sides of the pan finishing towards the center to dampen the sugar. Gently swirl the pan to spread the water evenly, but don’t stir. Turn on heat to medium high.
3. Let the mixture come to a boil. Do not stir. When the syrup turns a light golden amber color, remove the pan from the heat. Gradually pour the heavy cream into the syrup while stirring.
4. Return the pot to medium heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or better still a straight edge wooden stirrer to blend and prevent scorching the pot. It’s normal for the sugar to seize after you’ve added the cream. Just heat and keep stirring and the sugar will eventually dissolve forming a smooth sauce.
5. Still on medium heat, add butter. Continue to cook down and stir the caramel until it has thickened and the color turns golden. Cook it down longer than you would a caramel sauce as you want a filling that will somewhat hold its shape.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the salt. Keep stirring to help the caramel cool down.
7. Once the caramel filling is cool enough to work with, transfer it to an icing bag fitted with a medium round tip and immediately fill the macarons.

Assembly and storage:

1. Hold the icing bag in a right angle straight downward and pipe the caramel filling onto a macaron. Sprinkle a few grains of sea salt on the caramel, if you like, then top with another macaron.
2. Refrigerate the macarons in an airtight container.

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