How to Make Salted Caramel Macarons (2024)

Macaron Cookie

• dash of Vinegar or Lemon Juice
• 100 grams Egg Whites (approximately 3 eggs)
• 140 grams Powdered Sugar
• 150 grams Almond Flour
• 90 grams Caster Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 5 grams vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Buttercream

• 100 grams unsalted butter (softened)
• 20 grams shortening (e.g. copha)
• 300 grams icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 60 grams salted caramel
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

The day before - Age your egg whites

• First step is to age your egg whites. Separate egg whites from egg yolk. Place egg whites in a clean airtight container (that has been wiped down with a little vinegar or lemon juice) and store in the fridge overnight.

Prepare your equipment

• When your ready to make the macaron batter, remove egg whites from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature while you prepare the equipment & dry ingredients.

• Next prepare your baking tray & piping bag. Place your template (if using) on a baking tray and cover with a sheet of baking paper (If you're not using a template, just line baking tray with baking paper), then put the baking tray to the side. Next place piping tip into your piping bag, and snip off the tip and also place this to the side.

Make Macaron Cookies

• Place the icing sugar and almond flour in a food processer and blitz for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a fine mesh sieve and gently sift the mixture into a bowl. Discard any pieces of almond flour that do not pass through the sieve. If you are discarding a lot of almond flour weigh the amount that is being discarded and replace with the same amount of finely sifted almond flour.

• Wipe down a fresh bowl and your electric mixer with vinegar to remove any possible traces of oil.

• Place egg whites this bowl and begin to whip using your electric mixer.

• Once the eggs start to look frothy, add cream of tartar.

• Continue mixing until eggs look foamy, then gradually add caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each addition until all the sugar has been incorporated.

• Continue to whip the meringue until it reaches soft peaks, then add vanilla extract and continue whipping the meringue until it reaches stiff peaks.

• Once you have reached stiff peak stage it is time to combine the almond flour/icing sugar with your meringue. You want to do this while keeping as much air in the meringue as possible. Best method to achieve this is to add half the almond flour to your meringue and gently fold in - aka use your spatula to scrape around the outside of the bowl until this first batch of almond flour has been mixed in). Then, fold in remaining almond flour using the same technique.

• Now it's time to add the food colouring and perform the macaronage. In this stage we are trying to remove some of the air from the meringue. To do this use your spatula to gently press the batter into the sides of the bowl. Continue doing this until your batter reaches the consistency of hot lava. Check out my blog post on how to make the perfect macarons at home for more information about how to perfect the macaronage.

• Once your batter is at hot lava stage, transfer it to your prepared piping bag.

• Place a dap of macaron batter in between the baking paper and tray in each corner to hold the baking paper in place, then pipe batter onto your prepared baking tray.

• Pick up the whole tray and bang it on the counter a couple of times. This will help the macaron batter to spread and encourage any air bubbles in the batter to rise to the surface.

• Carefully check the macarons to see if you can see any air bubbles. If you find any, pierce them with the toothpick and then use the toothpick to smooth out the surface again.

• Leave the trays on the bench until the tops of the macarons feel dry to touch. The amount of time this takes will depend on the weather in your area. Where I am in Melbourne, it takes about 20mins. You'll know the macarons are ready to bake if they feel smooth and dry to touch.

• Preheat oven to 110 degrees. Remove the template from the tray (if you used it) and transfer the tray of macarons to the oven. Bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 18 minutes. You will know when the macarons are cooked because they will peel easily off the baking paper.

• While your macarons cool you can make the buttercream.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

• Place shortening in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds at a time until melted. Transfer to a new container so that it can cool as you complete next step. Set aside.

• Place butter in a bowl and use an electric mixer to whip butter until light and fluffy.

• Add melted shortening to butter and use electric mixer on medium until the butter and shortening are completely combined.

• Sift icing mixture into the bowl of butter, then add the salt and vanilla extract.

• Use a spoon to start incorporating the icing sugar, then use the electric mixer to combine sugar and butter thoroughly. Using a spoon first will reduce the amount of icing sugar that puffs into the air when you use the electric mixer.

• At this stage the icing will look very grainy. Add caramel, and whip the buttercream with your electric mixer. At this point the icing should come together, however if it doesn't either add more caramel or a tiny drop of boiling water and whip with your electric mixer again.

• Transfer your buttercream to a piping bag.

Assembly

• Sort through your macaron shells to match shells up into comparably sized pairs.

• Pipe a layer of buttercream onto the back of one shell and then place the other shell from the pair on top.

• Now comes the hardest part. Macarons taste best if they are allowed to "ripen" in the fridge over night. If you have the willpower, transfer your macarons to an airtight container and place in the fridge overnight. If you don't have the willpower, transfer the macarons straight into your mouth and enjoy!

Getting exactly 100g of egg whites from whole eggs is a tricky process. However macarons by their nature are sensitive little biscuits so in the case that you have a little more or less than 100g of egg whites, its best to adjust the other ingredients accordingly.

See the section above for more details of how to do this.