Bakers United

Caramel Macarons with butterscotch cream-

• 200g almond meal (preferably dried, either by leaving out on a tray for 2 days, or in the oven at a low temperature for an hour, you’re drying it not cooking it)
• 200g pure icing sugar
• 150g egg whites (that’s 3-4 largish eggs), left at room temperature overnight (yes this is compulsory)
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar
• 200g caster sugar
• 50g water
• Brown food colouring (I didn’t use this, the macarons turn a golden colour anyway)

Preheat oven to 150°.

Pulse almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor to get a finer consistency, then sieve them into a large bowl.

Divide egg whites into two batches of 75g, mix one batch with the almond mixture to make a thick paste. Put the other batch in an electric mixer and add the cream of tartar.

Place the caster sugar and water in a saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved. When  the sugar syrup reaches 110° (using a candy thermometer), start beating the egg whites. Continue whipping until the egg whites are thick.

When the temperature reaches 118°, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the mixer while mixing the egg whites on medium speed. Continue mixing for 10 minutes, until the meringue cools. Add food colouring.

Mix the almond paste into the meringue mixture with a wooden spoon or scraper, until the mixture is thick and gooey and fully combined.

Place mixture in piping bag with a one centimetre nozzle (or spoon onto tray if you don’t have a piping bag, they just won’t be perfect circles) and pipe onto a tray lined with baking paper (or a silicone baking mat if you have one, but I have never used one and mine turn out fine).

Rap the tray on the bench a few times to get rid on any air bubbles (this is important) and leave the macarons for about 30 minutes, or until they form a skin (they will no longer feel gooey to the touch) this is important for forming the all-important “pied” (french for foot, it’s the textured part of the macaron as shown in the picture above).

Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is hard but the pied has formed and is still soft.

Remove from oven and leave to cool

Butterscotch Cream

• 300g caster sugar
• 150g thickened cream
• 200g softened unsalted butter

Melt sugar in a heavy-based saucepan, making sure you don’t heat it too fast or it will burn and be gross.

Remove from heat and stir in cream (if it looks weird, don’t worry, just keep stirring)

Set aside and leave to cool, but make sure it doesn’t solidify.

Place butter in an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy.

Add cooled caramel to butter and whisk until combined.

Place in piping bag and pipe small amount on one macaron and place another macaron on top, twisting to ensure even coverage.

 

Macarons may be hard to master at first, but they are definitely worth the trouble, and once you have the technique down, they’re really not that hard to make, promise. :D

-Isabella