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Salted Caramel Macaron

Salted caramel macaron recipe made with a sweet caramel shell and salted caramel buttercream.

After trying the Salted Caramel Macaron at Pix Patisserie and paying $2 for one little piece, I was determined to come home and make a whole batch of them. After a long day I came home and started gathering all the ingredients needed to make these little jewels. Dug up my old and trusted recipe for macarons and off I went…
Out of 3 different flavor combinations that I made that day, these were the best, but that’s not much of a surprise, caramel is one of my favorites!

More other greatMacaron recipes:

 

Salted Caramel Macaron

5 from 4 votes
Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: salted caramel macaron
Calories: 135 kcal
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 24 -36 pcs (depending on the size)

Ingredients

Macaron Shells

Salted Caramel Buttercream

For the caramel

  • 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

To make Macarons

  1. Preheat oven to 300°F.

  2. Line 2 jelly roll sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
  3. Prepare a piping bag with a 1/2 inch round tip.
  4. Separate egg whites from egg yolks, being careful not to contaminate the whites with the yolks. Measure out 100 grams of egg whites (about 3 eggs), cover with plastic and let stand at room temperature overnight. OR – microwave for 20 seconds, in 5-second intervals, mixing after each stop.

  5. In a bowl of a food processor, combine 200 grams powdered sugar and 100 grams almond flour or 100 grams peeled & slivered almonds (store-bought). Pulse to combine, about 20 seconds. Then pulverize for about 2-3 minutes if started with almond flour or about 4-5 minutes if started with slivered almonds.

  6. Start whipping the egg whites with a pinch of salt.
  7. Once foamy, start adding the granulated sugar and whip until stiff peaks form.
  8. Add the food coloring. Mix to somewhat incorporate.
  9. Add 1/2 the powdered sugar mixture and with a very quick mixing motions, make about 5-6 swirls with a spoon, to somewhat combine the meringue with the powdered sugar mixture. Add the other 1/2 of the dry ingredients and carefully fold it in until fully combined. Take care not to overmix. Stop when the batter falls in a thick ribbon and disappears in about 30 seconds.
  10. Fill the piping bag with batter and pipe out 1 inch circles onto parchment paper. Sprinkle half of the piped circles with sea salt. Slide the first sheet in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Do the same with the second sheet once the first one is done.
  11. Let them cool. Carefully peel off the half cookies by just lifting them up, or using a thin knife slide right under each cookie to release it.

To make the Buttercream

  1. Combine 6 Tbsps sugar and 2 Tbsps water in a small saucepan. Turn your stove to medium heat. Cook the syrup to soft ball stage (that’s when a drop of syrup, dropped into a glass of water can be formed into a soft ball). Whip 1 egg to soft peaks. Carefully pour in the syrup between the whip attachment and the bowl while continuing to whip. Whip until the bowl feels cool to the touch. Meanwhile, whip 100 grams of room temperature butter to whiter in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes. When the egg has cooled, continuing to whip, drop 1 tablespoon of butter at a time. The mixture might become runny and might look curdled, continue to whip and it will come together into a smooth buttercream. Set aside.

To make the Caramel

  1. Heat 1/4 cup cream and keep ready to be combined with the syrup. Combine 3 Tbsp water with 1/2 cup sugar and cook at medium heat, until amber in color. Be very careful to not overcook the syrup, as when it starts turning slightly amber it will take about 30 seconds to go from good amber, to burnt amber (unusable). Take off the heat. Slowly add the heavy cream into the syrup, keeping your hands as far as possible from the steam cloud that will form as soon as you start adding warm milk to extremely hot syrup. Once the bubbles have subsided, start mixing with a wooden spoon, to form a homogenous caramel. Let cool to room temperature.

  2. Start whipping the butter cream again. Add the caramel into the buttercream, 1 tablespoon at a time, until smooth, but still some chunks of caramel present. The buttercream will become a little bit more runny then in the beginning, but that’s ok.
  3. Sandwich the cookies with a dollop of caramel buttercream.
  4. Let the macarons sit in a covered container, in the fridge overnight. Then, remove from the fridge and let come to room temperature before devouring 😀

Recipe Notes

*You might want to try making macarons on a dry day. This will drastically increase your chances of getting a good result 😀

**I used Hawaiian Black Salt and Hawaiian Red salt.

Nutrition Facts
Salted Caramel Macaron
Amount Per Serving
Calories 135 Calories from Fat 63
% Daily Value*
Fat 7g11%
Saturated Fat 3g19%
Cholesterol 19mg6%
Sodium 11mg0%
Potassium 11mg0%
Carbohydrates 19g6%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 18g20%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 150IU3%
Calcium 12mg1%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Welcome to Let the Baking Begin! I'm Marina and my love and passion for eating only the most delicious foods drive me to share that love here on Let the Baking Begin (since 2009). With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen, you know the recipes are tested and retested until perfect. I'm so happy to have you here. Enjoy! Read more...

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  • Snowflakes

    Hi Marina,
    I made your basic macrons (Italian meringue). The technique listed for your salted caramel macaron is different I suppose? Which technique do you prefer? I’m going to make the salted caramel buttercream to go with the basic macrons (for decoration on the the golden key cake). I noticed the salted caramel buttercream has a whole egg, did you mean egg white instead? I make so many recipes and I’m so grateful to you. I love everything you post here

    · Reply
  • Emily

    Hello marina, is there any way that I can freeze these macaroons?

    · Reply
    • Molly

      To freeze baked macaroons it is important to first allow the cookies to completely cool on parchment paper or a baking rack. The cookies can then be stored in an air tight container or plastic bag and placed in the freezer.

      · Reply
  • Emily

    Hello Marina, I was wondering if theres any way that i could put just carmel into the macaroon instead of adding it to the buttercream? Will it be to runny if I do that?

    · Reply
    • You could try, but I think the caramel will try to ooze out and make a huge mess. You can try cooking caramel for longer, to make it less runny but I think then your macarons won’t be as soft and fluffy.

      · Reply
  • Therese

    Hi,
    Could you give me a conversion of grams into cups? Thanks

    · Reply
  • Emily

    hi Marina, I just wanted to ask what food coloring color you use to get this pretty color

    · Reply
    • It’s been long so I don’t remember, but I think it was Egg Yellow” title=”egg yellow” target=”_blank”>”egg yellow” like this

      · Reply
      • Emily

        Okay, thank you!!!

        · Reply
  • Natalia

    I cannot find the recipe?
    Where is it?

    Thank you

    · Reply
    • I apologize Natalia, I’m not sure what happened that the recipe disappeared. I fixed it, now it’s up.

      · Reply
      • Raj

        There’s no difference in the stliabity of the foams as far as I know. At least I’ve never noticed any, and I’m not aware of any degradation in egg proteins as a result of aging them. Perhaps another reader might have some insight into this. Anyone?

        · Reply
  • Alina

    Looks very good!!!!

    · Reply
  • Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com

    Do you know of any great macaroon recipes that are completely nut-free? My son doesn’t eat nuts and I’d love to give macaroons a whirl. Thanks Marina!! 🙂

    · Reply
    • I don’t know why I just now noticed your comment.
      The key to making macarons is the almond flour and I don’t know any macarons that you would be able to make without it. Even if you make hazelnut macarons (or any other nut) you still need to have at least 50 % almond flour. You could make regular macarons for yourself and just two discs of meringues for your son 🙂

      · Reply
  • Michelle H.

    Hi, I have a question about the sugar.. It says you’re using confectioner sugar.. But the macaron books I’ve read calls for caster sugar/bakers sugar. Are the ones you using the powdered sugar (the one that goes into frosting)…. Or is it indeed caster sugar. Sorry if that sounds confusing.

    · Reply
    • Hi Michelle, Sorry for taking this long to respond, your comment was sent to spam folder by mistake.
      No my recipe calls for confectioners or powdered sugar, it is not the same as caster sugar. Hope this helps.

      · Reply
  • Sarah

    Hi I was interested in how you kept the topping on the surface of the macaron. did you add before baking?

    · Reply
    • Any topping you want to stick, you sprinkle before baking. Happy Baking 🙂

      · Reply

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