Salted Caramel Macaron

My journey with macarons actually wasn't a long one.  Although my friends probably thought so otherwise.  I first heard about these little cookies from my cousin Vincci's pictures on Facebook 2 years ago.  Then I started searching where I can buy these little cookies, and came across a local bakery - Duchess Bake Shop - to try with Natasha.  Then it all started from there... buying macarons whenever and wherever I see them.  After trying a few places across Canada (Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto), I have found my favourite macaron place - La Maison du Macaron in Montreal!

Since my love for macarons has grown, I have always wanted to try to make them.  The idea quickly vanished as I learned the number of equipment and tools I need and the sheer multi-step processes seem daunting.  Until now... with Justin successfully attempted it, Freddy has a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and Haley wants to attempt this challenge with me did I seriously start researching how to make macarons!  The first batch of green tea macarons, the shell mixture were too thick so the appearance doesn't look appealing but taste awesome.  The second batch of chocolate macarons, the shell mixture was too runny and the shells has many air holes from incorporating too much meringue. 

Salted caramel is a classic flavour.  The key ingredient here is fleur de sel (flower of salt in French), a type of salt collected from the coast of Brittany. What makes fleur de sel different from normal table salt is that only the top layer of the salt bed is used, and so the salt remains as flakes and retains more minerals and a full, sea salt flavour.  And fleur de sel is usually hand harvested, making it more expensive than commercially harvested salt.  But, what it does to this caramel, is it gives it bursts of saltiness, which brings out the sweetness and flavour of the caramel much more.

So here it is... the successful batch of salted caramel macaron (I'd say third try is not bad, despite being a bit too salty since we didn't use fleur de sel hehe)

See my previous post on my research and notes =) to guarantee your macaron success too!

Salted Caramel Macaron

Makes 50-60 macarons

SALTED CARAMEL FILLING

Ingredients
250g fresh cream (33% heavy whipping cream)
350g granulated sugar
5g fleur de sel (used normal sea salt =P --> TOO SALTY should be a pinch or to taste!!!!!)
350g unsalted butter
  

CHOCOLATE MACARON SHELL

Ingredients Part 1
600g sifted Tant Pour Tant (300g almond meal with 300g icing sugar)
120g aged egg whites (about 3 eggs)
10g of cocoa powder

Ingredients Part 2
300g granulated sugar
75g water
120g aged egg whites (about 3 eggs)

Procedure:

***Age your egg whites:  12-24hr before making your macarons, split egg whites from egg yolks and store in fridge.  Bring egg whites to room temperature before starting (about 3-4 hours).***

Step 1. MAKING YOUR FILLING:

1. Chop your unsalted butter into small cubes

chopped butter pieces

2. Weigh 250g heavy cream into a small saucepan and bring to boil, remove from heat as soon as it starts to boil.

3. Weigh 350g sugar into a medium saucepan.  Melt your sugar at medium-high heat, stirring frequently to ensure that it caramelizes evenly.  When the sugar reaches a dark brown consistency remove from the heat and slowly pour in the hot cream whilst continuing to mix with a spatula.  (Be careful when pouring... the caramel will form huge bubbles that can overflow from the saucepan).

Dark brown caramel before adding cream

4. Let the caramel cool to around 45°C and then add salt and  a few pieces of butter at a time while mixing the caramel.

5. Pour the caramel into a shallow container.  Cover the surface of the caramel with cling film to prevent a skin from forming and chill in the refrigerator until needed.

Step 2. MAKING YOUR MERINGUE SHELLS:

1. Sift the 300g of almond meal and 300g of icing sugar together.  Add 10g of cocoa powder.  Make a 'hole' in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in 120g of egg whites.  Mix the TPT with the egg whites, mixing vigorously with a spatula until you have a smooth paste.

Smooth paste consistency

2. Add 300g of caster sugar, 75g water to a saucepan and commence cooking. Stirring occasionally to help with the sugar melting. 

Measuring sugar temperature. It is imperative to make the meringue at the correct temperature!

3. Place the room temperature aged egg whites in the Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment.

4.  Once the sugar has reached 115°C, start whipping your egg whites until they reach ‘soft peak’ consistency (speed 4).
 ('soft peak' - the egg whites should be 'light' and 'foamy' and lightly sticks to the whisk attachment)

5. When the sugar reaches 118°C, remove from the stove and pour slowly on the still mixing egg whites.

6. Turn the speed to maximum (speed 10) for around 2 min and return to medium (speed 4) for another 2 min and then let the meringue cool to around 50°C whilst mixing slowly (speed 2) or until a 'stiff peak' forms.
 ('stiff peak' - the meringue mixture is shiny and glossy and sticks to the whisk attachment without falling back to the bowl. If it is not shiny, the mixture is over-beat)

Stiff peak consistency of the Italian meringue

7. Using a spatula, fold the meringue into the TPT and egg white batter a little at a time. Work the mixture gently from the sides to the middle until you reach a homogenous, shiny texture.  The consistency should be similar to a smooth cake batter.  You may not have to use all the meringue.

(This part is difficult to describe... but if the mixture is correct consistency... the mixture should fold over on itself and incorporate back into the rest of the mixture. It should do this in 12 seconds but I think knowing the right consistency comes with experience... and after piping the mixture will round and smooth itself out and have no peaks forming.)

Folding the meringue into the paste

Step 3. PIPING AND BAKING YOUR MACARON SHELLS:

1. Position the wire rack at the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Place size template (1.5 inch diameter circles spaced 1.5 inch apart) on baking sheet, and cover with parchment paper.  Using a plastic piping bag with a plain round tip (or use a zip-lock bag), pipe the shells onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet according to the size template.

(When piping, press the mixture at the center and let the filling fill the circle. Do not draw circles with the filling. You should stop piping before the mix reaches the outside edge of the template.)

3. Leave the macaron shells outside at room temperature for 15 min or until they have formed a skin and are dry to touch. Remove the template from beneath you baking sheet.

Letting the macaron shell rests before baking

4. Place the macaron shells on the middle rack inside the preheated oven.  Turn the temperature to 300°F.  Bake for ~10 minutes.  Then prop the oven door open with a wooden spatula or chopsticks, and bake for another ~5 minutes. 

(Another important tip I learned was to leave the oven door slightly ajar for steam to escape.  The right amount of steam needs to be released from the oven because too much steam will result in soggy meringues, and too little will mean that the meringues may not rise.  The macaon shells are done if the color of the macaron becomes lighter, and you cannot see dark batches of the ingredients from the top. A smooth round top, feet forming, and risen macaron shells = good looking macaron!)

5. Once baked, slide the paper off the tray and let the shells cool (preferably on a wire rack).

(The macarons should be easy to peel off from the parchment paper if baked properly)

Macaron shells after baking... smooth round surface, feet formed, and risen cookie

Step 4. ASSEMBLING YOUR MACARONS

1. Pull the shells from the paper gently and turn them upside down. Pair your Macaron shells according to size and lay them out on your bench.

Pairing macaron shells by size

2. [[didn't do this part because the caramel filling was too salty! Don't use normal sea salt! Or use very little to taste!!  But the filling consistency is perfect!]] Take your caramel out of the fridge and transfer it to a mixing bowl. Place the caramel over a bain marie to soften the mixture and melt any pieces of granulated butter (take care not to melt the mix too much). Remove from the heat and whisk the caramel energetically. This will thicken the mix to a butter cream consistency (perfect for piping).

Chilled salted caramel

3. Fill one half of your paired macaron shells filling them generously but keeping a space of approximately 3mm from the edge of the shell.

4. Pick up the macaron filled with caramel in one hand and the empty pair in the other and close the macaron by gently twisting the two shells together from left to right. Remember to let the filling spread regularly all the way to the edge of the shells.

Step 5. STORING AND SERVING

1. Put the finished macarons on a tray and leave them in the fridge for a least 24 hours.  (I only left it at room temperature for a day)

2. Prior to serving, let the macarons return to room temperature.


Recipe adapted from Honey and Soy


Notes:

1.  Didn't use the proper fleur de sel, so the filling was TOO SALTY! but I think it's ok, if next time to use a pinch of normal salt or to taste .

2.  The shells turned out perfect this time!  Key differences are: did sift the almond meal and icing sugar together, finally got the consistency of the final mixture right, and figured out the perfect way to bake them.

3. Make sure to make the filling before the shells! The first two times didn't let the filling to cool long enough so it wasn't thick enough to be sandwich between the shells.

4. For some unknown reason, the macarons made the day-of taste too sweet.  But if you let it rest for a day (I just left it room temperature for a day) before serving, the flavours really do develop, becomes chewier and tastes perfect!