Saturday, August 6, 2011

Salted Caramel and Praline Macarons for Sarah

These are for new mum, Sarah.

For the shells:
150g ground almonds
150g icing sugar
150g castor sugar
38g water
110g egg whites

Method:
Sift almonds and icing sugar into a bowl. Add 55g of egg whites and set aside.
Place 150g castor sugar with 38g water into a saucepan - heat until it reaches 118 degrees on a sugar thermometer. When this mixture reaches ~110 degrees, start whisking the remaining 55g of egg whites until soft peaks form.
Carefully pour the sugar syrup into the egg white mixture whilst beating (to make an Italian meringue)
Fold the meringue mixture into the almond mixture, put into piping bags and pipe into rounds.
Rest until a skin forms, then bake at 150 degrees for 12-13 mins.



Filling:
200g castor sugar
200g good quality unsalted butter
150g fresh cream
7g good quality salt flakes

Method:
Make a toffee with the sugar (heat until melted and golden)
Carefully add the cream in slowly (continue to whisk but beware of steam burns!)
Add the butter in gradually in chunks until melted and combined
Cool in fridge over night (or for a few hours)
Whisk until it becomes pale and fluffy (I used my electric mixer for ~5 mins) then add in salt flakes




6 comments:

  1. THese look and sound AMAZING!!!! I want to make them so bad. I am going to attempt to make these . Wish me luck. I LOVE your site. I am not sure what some of the ingredients are but hopefully I can figure it out :-)

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  2. Good luck! Feel free to email me if you need help working out ingredients.

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  3. Hey Erica I'd love to see a video of how you make your macarons!

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  4. I tried to make the filling but when I had mixed it (not quite for 5 mins) and left it on the bench for a minute, the butter started to melt and separate. do you have any ideas what's happening

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    1. The butter needs to melt for you to incorporate it into the caramel...but you need to whisk or mix it pretty vigorously to make sure it's all in. If it separates, I would try heating it again and mix it until shiny and glossy. Hope that helps!

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    2. P.S if it melts while whisking at the end then the mixture needs longer in the fridge

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