Caramel Fleur de Sel Macarons
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I’ve done a lot of reading about macarons and the one common theme on every food blog is that making them is hard. And yet, I still stupidly attempted them. Let’s just say I now understand why these cookies are $1.75 each–they are a huge pain to make.
I had a few different problems–cracked tops, air bubbles, no feet, and a runny filling. What I learned: The cracked tops were remedied by doubling up the baking sheets. The air bubbles could be prevented by tapping the baking sheet on the counter before letting the piped macarons rest. The no feet issue I have no idea how to solve, as some of my macarons had feet and some didn’t, and they all came from the same batter. The runny filling I attribute to lousy weighing by my cheap kitchen scale I bought years ago when I was actually weighing food and counting points. (Some of you know what points are, right?)
While these taste good, the frustration just wasn’t worth it. I think it’s safe to say the next time I have a craving for macarons, I will drive myself the three miles to Paulette in Beverly Hills.
Caramel Fleur de Sel Filling Ingredients
200 g sugar
¼ cup water
2 tbs. corn syrup
1 vanilla pod (I used two teaspoons vanilla extract)
200 g cream
5 g fleur de sel
140 g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
Macaron Ingredients
1 cup blanched almond meal
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
3 egg whites from large eggs.
1/4 cup white sugar
Preparation
Sieve almond meal & confectioners sugar together.
Beat egg whites until foamy on medium. Slowly add sugar, and turn to high. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix well, until batter becomes fluid (lava like–slow moving, but moving nonetheless). Use a HUGE piping tip, and pipe onto parchment lined baking sheet. The batter should spread out to another third of its size. Also, any peaks from piping should very slowly fall back into the shape. If it stays a peak, you didn’t stir it enough.
Let the cookie sheets sit out for at least 45 minutes, as this forms the crust.
Bake at 325 for about 12-14 minutes. The macarons should be able to be removed from the paper. If they stick, something went wrong. (I experienced this on two of the four baking sheets.)
Fleur de Sel Caramel filling recipe from Veronica’s Test Kitchen.
Macaron recipe from Jess.
Comments
16 Responses to “Caramel Fleur de Sel Macarons”
I’m impressed that you even tried them–they seem daunting. And I would eat your macarons in a heartbeat…they look delish!
I want some!
Wow! These sound really, really good! We vacation in Brittany every summer which is just next door to the salt mines in Guerande and salted caramel is the local specialty. In addition to macarons like these, one of my favorites are crepes stuffed with salted caramel sauce. I’m gonna have to try this recipe SOON! 🙂
Drive yourself over on a M/W/Th and let’s try to meet there at lunch! (I’m in the office on those days in BH.)
I have yet to attempt macarons…I’m too scared. I must say, though, even though it was quite a trial, your macarons do look great. And they sound delicious! I’m with you, though: seems like I might as well shell out a few bucks and spare myself the hassle!
The caramel sounds delish … I would like that on some vanilla bean ice cream! Mmmmm. Neither my husband nor I are fans of the macaron, but they are very pretty cookies. We made them in culinary school and they can be tricky.
I made some of these (different filling, slightly different recipe) this weekend, and spread out over a couple of days it gave me just enough baking bang for the buck that I was pleased.
Of course, I had a few that were a little flat or cracked, but on the whole they were surprisingly good looking for a first batch (and I have extra cookies to throw into my next batch of ice cream).
Your filling sounds much tastier than mine, so I will have to try that the next time I have the urge to make macaron!
Jami, I will meet you there anytime after March 31 (my last day at work)!!
I’ve been wanting to try them for soooooo long and have just felt intimidated by them. Kudos to you for even trying and honestly – they look pretty darned good. I mean, it’s not like you’re selling them in a patisserie in Paris and I suspect it’s a learning thing.
These sound fabulous! I really need to learn to make macarons, I keep putting it off because I’m intimidated.
I have read in a couple of places that the no feet thing can be remedied by using egg whites which have been separated 2 days in advance and left at room temp. Not sure how I feel about that, but may give it a try one day if I’m feeling brave. Well done, they look lovely.
Hi! Great job on the macarons! Just wondering where exactly did you get the recipe for the macarons? I haven’t tried the caramel filling, but it looks good! Congrats!
Jess, the recipe is from a friend of mine, also named Jess.
Hi Hilary, not bad for a first try. I had been trying to perfect the macarons for a while and it took me some time to get them like laduree’s but they are now just as good and just as pretty. I have made chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, red velvet, pistachio, caramel fleur de sel, lemon, hazelnut nutella and vanilla (with vanilla bean). It is true that they can be very tricky but once you get all the little tricks, they are truly worth it. Don’t stop making them, you will see that you will eventually perfect them every try. Good work!
I made a batch for the first time using a slightly different recipe. They all came out perfectly. The ones that stick are because the need to cook more. the cracked top usually means the ovens too hot no more than 300. the lack of feet means something changed in the eggs, maybe they were sitting for too long before being piped. its also important to pipe them.
if you ever want to try them again, let them cook for 2 or 3 minutes longer, I did 15-16 at 295. I was told that if they seem too hard its okay, to fill them and let them mature in the fridge, the filling softens the cookie in 2-3 days, and they come out perfectly. this way you wont end up with runny middles. 🙂
[…] that she's a seasoned baker and even she said it was difficult and not worth the effort. However: Caramel Fleur de Sel Macarons : Nosh With Me Also: let me know if you need me to come over and taste-test them for […]