Vanilla Macarons with Caramel Filling

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I love macarons, but I don’t make them often, and to be honest, you can buy them right? But they aren’t the same as making your own. They do take time and they are fiddly, but if you have an afternoon spare, and want to try a macaron that is just the right combination of smooth crispy exterior with a beautifully airy chewy nutty interior, combined with a rich caramel filling - then try these. They are delicious, and well worth the effort.

Now there a few tips I should mention when making macarons:

  • This recipe calls for 4 egg whites, the first two you use to make an Italian meringue, the second two are added to the ground almonds.

  • Macarons are all about the air - be gentle with them.

  • Be careful with the hot syrup and caramel, they will burn.

  • When I pipe the circles onto baking paper, I create a template first and put that under the baking paper. I then pull it out from underneath the piped macarons and use it for the next tray - you will need 2 or even 3 trays depending on the size of your macarons.

  • Letting the shells rest for an hour before baking let’s a skin form on top of the shells, this forms the traditional smooth crust - you can tell if they are ready to go in the oven when you touch the shell and you can feel the skin on top.

  • Filled Macarons should be eaten within 24 hours or popped into the fridge for up to 3 days. I find a day in the fridge makes them taste better. They can be frozen unfilled for up to 3 months.

Happy Cooking

gill


Vanilla Macarons with Salted Caramel Filling

Ingredients

Makes about 30 filled macarons, depending on size.

For the macaron shells:

  • 150g sugar

  • ¼ cup water

  • ¼ cup egg whites, about 2 large egg whites

  • 150g ground almonds

  • 150g powdered sugar

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

  • ¼ cup egg whites, about 2 large egg whites

For the salted caramel filling:

  • 175g sugar

  • ¼ cup water

  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream

  • 175g unsalted butter, cubed

Method

Make the macaron shells:

  1. Bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved then let the syrup simmer until a candy thermometer reaches 116°C (240°F).

  2. In the meantime add the egg whites to a medium-sized, heatproof bowl and mix (with a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment) until foamy and the whites are almost able to hold soft peaks.

  3. Slowly drizzle the hot syrup into the bowl with the foamy egg whites, mixing continuously to prevent the eggs from scrambling.

  4. Once all the syrup has been added, keep mixing until the bottom of the bowl feels cool to the touch and the meringue has cooled down to body temperature. Add food colouring here if you want to.

  5. Mix almonds, powdered sugar, vanilla essence and extra egg whites together to form a paste.

  6. Mix 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the paste. Gently fold the other two thirds of the egg whites into the almond mixture.

  7. Pipe in 4cm circles (they will spread to about 5cm) onto baking paper and let sit for 1 hour at room temperature to let a crust form on the top.

  8. Bake for 20 minutes or until a shell pulls away from the baking paper easily.

Make the filling:

  1. Heat the sugar and water over a low heat stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat to medium/high and cook until the caramel reaches a light golden colour. While the caramel is cooking, heat the cream to almost boiling pot in a separate pot.

  2. Remove the caramel from heat and add the cream carefully and whisk. It will splatter but just keep whisking until it calms down.

  3. Add the butter a cube at a time whisking until incorporated. Cool the mixture and then beat with an electric mixture until it has doubled in volume.

Assemble the macarons:

Pair the macarons according to size. Fill with a teaspoon of the caramel filling and enjoy.