Still today, these are my favorite macarons I’ve made, both in terms of flavor and shape achieved. These French Macarons are from my favorite recipe from Ann Readon, and my go-to for macarons!
Recipe: adapted from Salted caramel macarons by Ann Readon’s How To Cook That, with video tutorial.
My macaronage technique is based off Ochikeron’s Panda Macaron video here.
Instead of folding and counting the number of times the batter is folded, she punched down the spatula into the batter, then scrape batter from the sides to the center, and punch again. Then she repeat this for 10 or more times until the batter slowly and continuously drips back into the bowl like a ribbon when you scoop it up with the spatula. It works well for me and have been using this technique over these few years of macaron making.
| Salted Caramel Macarons adapted from How To Cook That
Macaron Shells: 220g (7.76 ounces) or 1 3/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) Salted Caramel Filling: 2 Tbsp dulce de leche or salted caramel, warmed |
To make Salted Caramel Macaron shells:
Preheat oven to 320F (160 degrees Celsius). Use a thermometer to be exactly precise. (I usually preheat the oven while I wait for macarons to dry) Sift together the icing sugar and almond meal using a coarse sieve (if you use a fine sieve the almond meal will not go through). Discard any gritty bits of almond meal that do not go through. Beat together the egg whites and caster sugar on high speed until they are stiff enough that you can turn the bowl upside down without them falling out. Beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add the almond icing sugar mixture and fold in using a rubber spatula. Keep gently folding until the mixture looks like lava, it should have some movement but not be runny. While you are folding periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the spatula to make sure everything is mixed uniformly. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe small circles of mixture onto non-stick baking paper. Slide onto a baking tray and bang on the bench firmly several times on each side, sprinkle with raw sugar (optional) Allow to dry until a shell has formed around the macarons, and then place in the oven. Bake at 160 deg C until a foot has formed and the shells are crisp. This takes roughly 10 minutes for me. Try not to open the oven during the cooking process as this will cause a drop in oven temp and may make your macarons hollow. Cool and then gently peel off the baking paper (if you can’t do this easily the shells are not done yet) and pair similar sized shells. Sometimes I like to flip the macarons over to prevent hollows as it cools (not sure how effective it actually is but no harm) To make salted caramel buttercream and assembly Warm two tablespoons of dulce de leche. Combine the dulce de leche with butter and sea salt and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overmix the buttercream or you may find it will split. Pipe a dollop onto each macaron, drizzle extra caramel, and add the lid. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours for macarons to mature before serving (very important!) |
My Dose of Sugar 