Salted Caramel Macarons
These salted caramel macarons are a perfect combination of sweet and salty. They're made with creamy salted caramel buttercream and topped off with a royal icing drizzle sprinkled with salt.
Servings: 18 macarons
Calories: 130kcal
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Stand mixer
- Spatula
- One 16 inch pastry bag
- Two 8 inch pastry bags
- Round piping tip
- Two silicone mats
- Two half sheet pans
- Oven thermometer
Ingredients
- 90 grams powdered sugar
- 80 grams almond flour
- 70 grams egg whites (room temperature)
- 70 grams granulated sugar
- 2 grams egg white powder (optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 drops orange gel food coloring
Salted caramel buttercream
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick)
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 8 soft caramel candies
- 1 tbsp milk
- ⅛ tsp salt
Royal icing drizzle
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp meringue powder
- ½ tsp water
- ⅛ tsp salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Prepare dry ingredients
- Sift powdered sugar and almond flour using a whisk to break down any clumps. Set aside.
- Line sheet pans with silicone mats.
- Insert the piping tip into the 16 inch pastry bag.
Make the meringue
- Whisk the egg whites on medium speed (speed 4) until you see small bubbles (this can take as little as 15 seconds sometimes).
- Slowly add 3 tbsp of granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, waiting about 10 seconds between each tbsp.
- Whisk until you start to see tracks in the meringue.
- Increase speed to 6 and continue slowly adding the remainder of the granulated sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, until you’ve added all the sugar.
- Once you have soft peaks, stop the mixer, scrape the sides and add the vanilla.
- Whisk for about 2 minutes, or until medium peaks, and then add 2 drops of gel food coloring.
- Whisk until stiff peaks.
Combine ingredients
- Add in the powdered sugar and almond flour mixture in three parts, 1/3 at a time, folding each part until fully combined.
- Once fully combined, fold a few more times to make sure there are no dry ingredients.
- Now you need to deflate some of the air in the batter by taking the spatula and smearing the batter on the sides of the bowl two or three times, and then folding once or twice.
- Repeat the process of smearing some of the batter on the side of the bowl and folding until the batter looks smooth and glossy and runs down the spatula slowly in ribbons.
- You can test the consistency by lifting the spatula and letting the batter run down. If it falls in ribbons and sinks back into itself within 30 seconds, the batter is ready.
Pipe the macarons
- Transfer the batter to the 16 inch pastry bag.
- Holding the pastry bag at a 90° angle, pipe the macarons into ¾ inch circles about 1 inch apart.
- Tap the tray against the counter about 8 times to release any air bubbles.
- Let the macarons rest until they form a skin and are no longer sticky.
- While the macarons are resting, preheat the oven to 310°F.
- Bake the macarons for 14-16 minutes.
- Macarons are ready when they no longer shift if you touch the tops.
Royal icing drizzle
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and a few drops of water and stir with a spoon.
- Continue stirring, adding a few drops of water a time if necessary for a drizzling consistency.
- Once you can lift the spoon and the icing sinks back into itself within 10 seconds, the icing is ready.
- Transfer the royal icing to an 8 inch pastry bag and drizzle on half of the shells.
- Sprinkle the salt on the shells after you've drizzled the icing, doing a few shells at a time because the icing will start drying within a few seconds.
Salted caramel buttercream
- In a medium bowl, using the stand mixer, whisk the butter until smooth.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and whisk until fully combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until combined.
- In a small bowl, place 8 soft caramel candies, milk, and salt and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until melted and let cool for a few minutes.
- Add to the buttercream and whisk until fully combined.
Assemble the macarons
- Fill an 8 inch pastry bag with the buttercream and cut about a ½ inch opening at the bottom of the bag.
- Pipe the buttercream in the center of half of the macarons and top the macarons with the remaining halves.
Nutrition
Calories: 130kcal